TV Watch: Further thoughts on the short final season of "Parenthood" -- and the question of how long a TV season should be

A promo for last week's episode (No. 5 of Season 6) of Parenthood

by Ken

Almost exactly a month ago I voiced mixed feelings about the launch of Parenthood's sixth and final season, in a 13-episode format. The good feelings had an obvious cause: the return of a show I'd joined well into its run but come to value a lot. And the not-so-good feelings had equally obvious causes: the "final season" part, and the "13-episode format" part. Although he show in fact launched in 2010 with a 13-episode season, Seasons 2-5 contained 22, 18, 15, and 22 episodes.

I did note, however, that "judging by the expert way showrunner Jason Katims handled the shorter seasons imposed on him later in the run of Friday Night Lights, he's probably as good a writer-producer as there is at taking advantage of whatever program arc he's given. And five episodes into Season 6, I can declare myself fairly well pleased. There's a highly workable assortment of plot lines: patriarch Zeek's (Craig T. Nelson) open-heart surgery; granddaughter Amber's (Mae Whitman) pregnancy; the brewing crisis in Crosby's (Dax Shepard) life; the train wreck of Sarah's (Lauren Graham) boyfriend Hank"s (Ray Romano) relationship with his out-of-control daughter (with Hank's ex); the apparently final collapse of Julia and Joel's (Erika Christensen and Sam Yaeger) marriage.

And, oh yes, the launch of Kristina and Adam's (Monica Potter and Peter Krause) school. I hope the remaining scripts deal with Kristina's so-far-displayed stunning incompetence at the role of school headmistress, for which after all she has no training. Even apart from her stunning refusal to even try to distinguish between her relationships with Max as a student and as her son, she keeps blurting out nonsense about what-we-do and what-we-don't-do at the new school, nonsense that's making her look as if she shouldn't be allowed any role in the running of the place.

As we wait for the remaining eight episodes to roll, I'm also thinking that maybe the six seasons of Parenthood will be enough.

But there's still that age-old question of just how many episodes there ought to be in a TV season. I should stress that Jason Katims's 22-episode seasons, of both Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, have been outstanding from a creative standpoint. As he himself noted in a Friday Night Lights DVD audio commentary concerning NBC's cutback order, while he liked the idea of being able to focus on a 13-episode arc, at the same time it almost meant all but eliminating the secondary plots that had lent such extraordinary richness to the show's first season. I suppose, however, that from the network standpoint, you have to hope for higher ratings than Jason's shows command to justify that 22-week commitment, and he is starting to look like kind of a 13-episode kind of guy, commercially if not creatively, if we include his newest show, which I'm just catching up on as it starts its second season:

• Friiday Night Lights (2006-10): 76 hour-long episodes in 5 seasons of 22, 15, 13, 13, 13

• Parenthood (2010-15): 103 hour-long episodes in 6 seasons of 13, 22, 18, 15, 22, 13

• About a Boy (2014-present): so far, 1 completed season of 13 ½-hour episodes

22 EPISODES IS A LOT OF EPISODES

And what's wrong with being a 13-episode kind of guy? I don't know that three's anyplace else in the world where even the current U.S. network standard of 22 episodes would be regarded as anything other than nuts. By coincidence, this week I happen to have received my DVD orders of the complete runs of two much-loved shows, which both ran for seven U.S. network seasons. On consecutive days my mail persons brought me:

• the long-available individual-season sets of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1971-77): 168 ½-hour episodes in 7 seasons of 24 episodes each

• Shout Factory's lovely new boxed set of the complete Hill Street Blues (1981-87): 146 hour-long episodes in 7 seasons of 17, 18, 22, 22, 23, 22, 22

I don't suppose this seems exactly a killing pace when you look at, say:

• Perry Mason (1957-66): 271 hour-long episodes in 9 seasons, of 39, 30, 26, 28, 30, 28, 30, 30, 30

Even at the "slimmed-down" U.S. season length, if you stay on the job, the episode totals really mount, as for example:

• M*A*S*H (1972-83): 256 ½-hour episodes in 11 seasons of 24, 24, 24, 25, 25, 25, 26, 25, 20, 22, 16

• Or especially Law and Order (1990-2010): 456 episodes in 20 seasons of 22-24 hour-long episodes (except Season 18's 18)

Yikes! As I've mentioned, I'm not in possession of a boxed set of the complete 456 Law and Order episodes. It's kind of like a piece of furniture. However, the current U.S. network standard still makes for one heckuva lot of production. And I know of one great U.S. TV-maker who seems still mad as hell and still determined not to take it anymore.


ANOTHER APPROACH TO THE TV "SEASON"

I've mentioned before the glorious evening at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria -- despite the torrential downpour outside -- when David Chase was on hand to talk about The Sopranos after a screening of the show's first and last episodes. As I've mentioned frequently, before The Sopranos Chase was already one of my TV heroes from his work on three sensational -- and different-as-could-be network series: The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure, and I'll Fly Away. So I was a little surprised to hear him speak with what sounded like stingingly present bitterness, or even horror, at the factory-like way network series are produced.

His case in point was Universal, where of course he cut his TV teeth, and where at the time almost uncountable hour-long series were being churned out in full-network-season helpings. And I guess that's an experience, as both participant and observer, that can leave permanent scars. The obvious question, which has been raised frequently, is how it's possible to produce creative work of top quality in such quantity. It sure sounded as if Chase isn't likely to go back to that world anytime soon.

Cable, of course, has offered TV auteurs a different way to go. Compare:

• The Rockford Files (1974-80): 2-hour TV movie pilot + 123 hour-long episodes in 6 seasons of 23, 22, 22, 22, 22, 12 (the latter owing to James Garner's physical incapacitation)

• The Sopranos (1999-2007): 86 hour-long episodes in 6 seasons of 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 12+9

In the wake of The Sopranos, other TV auteurs have taken excellent advantage, as for example:

• Mad Men (2007-2014): 92 hour-long episodes in 7 seasons of 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 7+7

• Breaking Bad (2008-13): 62 hour-long episodes in 5 seasons of 7, 13, 13, 13, 8+8

Still, the networks, major and minor, aren't likely to be converted to this model anytime soon. It just doesn't fit their economic model, in terms of either program scheduling or the aftermarket where U.S. TV shows finally pay dividends -- syndication and, now, DVD sales. Amazingly, some awfully good work gets done. In addition to the shows just mentioned, think of:

• The Good Wife (2009-present): so far, 112 hour-long episodes in 5 completed seasons of 23, 23, 22, 22, 22

• House M.D. (2004-12): 177 episodes in 8 seasons of 22, 24, 24, 16, 24, 22, 23, 22

• Gilmore Girls (2000-07): 153 episodes ini 7 seasons of 21, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22

But my goodness, it's hard. I can scarcely begin to imagine the kind of fanatical dedication it took, and the toll it took, on Gilmore Girls creator-showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino to maintain the episode-to-episode quality of her show through the six seasons she survived with as little help as her network provided, only to be forced out over that very issue.


MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE POND

As I noted above, seasons of this length are, as far as I know, a uniquely American phenomenon, and are endured because the potential financial rewards are so large. I've also been looking at the numbers of some British shows, and I want to continue with that in a 9pm PT/12 midnight ET post.

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