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A comment on Is Babylon 5 the most influential TV show of the past 25 years? (2021). Parent comment

Re:Is Babylon 5 the most influential TV show of the past 25 ... by pavlov on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @02:58AM (#35353612)
JMS had unique leeway as a showrunner because he wrote every episode of the show in seasons 3, 4, and 5. (Except for a guest spot for Neil Gaiman in season five.)

Those were long seasons, 22 episodes each. The total is basically an epic novel written for TV. Nobody gets to do that today. Even author-driven shows like "The Last of Us" feel truncated at only 8-9 episodes with no guarantee of renewal.

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Re:Is Babylon 5 the most influential TV show of the past 25 ... by Izkata on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @11:58AM (#35359102)
> Those were long seasons, 22 episodes each.

22 episodes of 42 minutes each used to be standard for a season. 24 episodes was also pretty common. Granted, not all written by one person, but JMS had been planning a 5-season series for a long time before any network picked it up.

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