A Legendary Star Trek Writer Has The Same Criticism As Fans About Short TV Seasons

As hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when seasons of weekly television shows ran a whopping 26 episodes. Every week for a solid nine months — usually from late September to mid-June — Hollywood would churn out one-hour-drama after one-hour-drama, hoping to keep their series high-quality, varied, and intriguing. The lengthy seasons assured the cast and crew intense, steady work for most of the year, while fans would be assured a high volume of drama and adventure. Also, at the time, only daytime soap operas gained dramatic traction by telling prolonged, interconnected stories. Nighttime TV viewers weren't necessarily going to see episodes in order, something that became doubly true in reruns and re-broadcasts. As such, each episode had to stand on its own. That meant writers ha