Books Similar to Breaking Bad, Scandal, and Other Popular TV Shows discussion

Hello again.
OK, so I have been doing a lot of writing which is why my updating on Goodreads has been so sporadic. But I have always been trying to get some of my TV watching in and just finished the first season of Betrayal. Now, I know that Betrayal is not a very popular show (it came on ABC on Sunday nights at 10) but its limited 13 episode run got me seriously think about TV shows and books these days. It hasn't been officially cancelled and had low ratings but did have the initial 13 play without the back 9 being ordered as per a usual network series, but I was wondering how cool you all were with this.
Clearly, one of the shows in this group (Breaking Bad) generally always had an abbreviated season and apparently the Sleepy Hollow show is having its season finale tonight after only 13 episodes, so my question was how good do you think this is? Do you tend to like a show with more episodes per season or less? If you watch shows in regular time (anti-binging) would you prefer a long 22 episode season from October to May of the following year or are you cool with your favorite, can't-get-enough-of-it show going on long haituses afer only a few episodes. Frankly, that was one of the things that bothered me about Breaking Bad which made it so much easier to binge-watch it.
Also, since we're talking about books and TV, how do you apply that logic to book series? When I ask that, I mean the length of the series not necessarily an individual book. For instance, some long-running series like Lee Childs' Jack Reacher or Patterson's Alex Cross or a slew of other series seem to never end. If you read all of them, have you ever considered that maybe the authors should end it with those characters and move to something else? Would The Hunger Games or Harry Potter have been an even better book series if they were one book shorter or longer? Let me know your thoughts.

These days I tend to prefer shorter seasons for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, the pay services (HBO, SHO, etc.) proved early on with their original programming that you can tell a novel length, cohesive story with all the detail and character development you could wish for while keeping the adrenaline pumping with intense and exciting pacing. Many is the time a 25ish episode season ends up with 5 to 10 episodes crucial to the overall storyline while the rest end up as fluff and filler. Would much prefer to have 6-12 weeks worth of meaningful story versus 25 weeks of so-so that's not engaging me. The networks have improved on this over the last ten years, but I think they still frequently fall into that trap (Lost immediately comes to mind, what I ironic show title that turned out to be).

Also, I'm just too busy. It's hard to be beholden to a set time every single week, stuff happens. I don't have a DVR so thank goodness for folks kind enough to stream their shows afterwards. That's the only reason I'm getting to watch Helix right now.

I'm probably in the minority, but I love how Walking Dead is 8 weeks on, 8 weeks off, 8 weeks on. Plus its on Sunday night so I'm almost always available for it at that time.

Sadly, when it comes to books, I'm just way over taxed with the number of series out there. I couldn't immediately tell you how many series I've not finished. Not because I didn't like them, but I'm just too slow of a reader to keep up with that many, and my tastes are fickle. I can start a horror novel today, and be wishing I was reading fantasy by the time I'm halfway through the book I'm on. Case in point, I started The Gunslinger around 1991, and I'm on book 6 right now. It's taking me longer to read The Dark Tower series than it's taken King to write it.

I love the British format of very short seasons with very long episodes like Wallander, sherlock, Luther etc. I still feel completely satisfied and it's always extremely well done. Sometimes with shows that have 20+ episodes it gets so overwhelming! especially if you're trying to keep up with a new season on TV. Supernatural is one of my favourite shows of all time but I just can't keep up with it on TV. I end up just waiting for the DVD set. I think the newer format that American shows are starting to adapt is working quite well. Like American horror story or Hannibal, they have like 12 or 13 episodes and they're all flawless and we don't get stuck with never ending story lines and loose ends.

Wade wrote: "These days I tend to prefer shorter seasons for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, the pay services (HBO, SHO, etc.) proved early on with their original programming that you can tell a novel le..."

I get exactly what you are saying, Wade. Personally, while I still enjoy a great deal of the longer seasons, I do like quite a few abbreviated season series. But the thing I find is that it is hard for me to really stay excited about the brief seasons when they tend to be gone for so long sometimes. I mean, that Breaking Bad hiatus I could never have done. I binge-watched the series and enjoyed it greatly.

As for books, I understand there too. While it is nice to see how certain characters we love end up growing and progressing in life, sometimes it can be a drag from book to book. But at the same time, as an author it can sometimes be hard to put a character or a "universe or world" down for too long because you love the characters so much.

Bilbo wrote: "I love the British format of very short seasons with very long episodes like Wallander, sherlock, Luther etc. I still feel completely satisfied and it's always extremely well done. Sometimes with s..."

I get what you're saying. Sometimes, for me, it can be overwhelming too. For instance, I will try to watch some series as they air but then halfway through their run (only six episodes in) another series will start its run... and another and another and another. It gets to the point where I'm watching all this TV and writing and reading and I keep having to say, "oh when I get time to do..." and "I'll have time as soon as everything goes off and I finish these books" but there's always a show on now. And this is even while I'm trying to be selective with what I watch.

Oh, and Wade and Bilbo, did you guys say Hello in the group Introductions folder?