Eric Kripke, who’s currently celebrating the success of his ultra-violent superhero series The Boys, is not a fan of TV shows that play out like one long movie. Before he entered the streaming industry, Kripke developed several network TV shows, including The CW’s long-running fantasy drama, Supernatural.
Supernatural ran for 15 seasons, each consisting of 20+ weekly-airing episodes, unlike streaming shows that release multiple episodes, sometimes the entirety of a season, at the same time. However, some actors and showrunners like Ewan McGregor and Anthony Mackie have described their TV series as “long movies.”
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Eric Kripke, who’s used to the episodic format, which usually involves telling a self-contained story while simultaneously advancing the season plot with each episode, doesn’t agree with the “long movie cut into 6 parts,” approach. In an interview with Vulture, Kripke said a viewer shouldn’t have to wait till the final episodes before the show gets going, which he thinks is the case for most streaming shows nowadays.
Several TV shows are engaging from start to finish, but Kripke does have a point, especially considering how the Star Wars and Marvel shows on Disney+ are inconsistent with their formats and runtimes. Some episodes introduce crucial characters and clock in at 30-something minutes with the credits, while others can almost be categorized as filler. And all this in a six-episode series.
“The downside of streaming is that a lot of filmmakers who work in streaming didn’t necessarily come out of that network grind. They’re more comfortable with the idea that they could give you ten hours where nothing happens until the eighth hour. That drives me fg nuts, personally. As a network guy who had to get you people interested for 22 fg hours a year, I didn’t get the benefit of, ‘Oh, just hang in there and don’t worry. The critics will tell you that by episode eight, sh*t really hits the fan.’ Or anyone who says, ‘Well, what I’m really making is a ten-hour movie.’ F**k you! No, you’re not! Make a TV show. You’re in the entertainment business.”
But the question arises: if it’s really a lengthy movie in the first place, why release the episodes weekly? Well, it retains the subscribers and keeps the buzz going for months while sacrificing the narrative in some cases. The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi received criticism for the same reason: they should have been movies instead.
Perhaps, the TV shows that Kripke is targeting can take some lessons from The Boys, which airs weekly yet features intense, visceral action and shocking plot twists in each episode.
The Boys Will Return For Season 4 Sooner Than Expected
The Boys season three ended with several shocking revelations: Starlight is part of The Boys, Homelander has no accountability, and Victoria Neuman, aka Head-Popper, is running for vice-president. There will be much to explore going into season four of The Boys. Hopefully, Kripke and team will continue to impress.
We’re still early, I think right now we’re in the middle of breaking Episode 3 and I’m reading a draft of Episode 1. And even in that stage, it’s early with some heavy rewriting and we’re still in there figuring it all out. But it’s super interesting and fun and really, really emotionally rich. Probably as emotionally complicated as we’ve ever done. So far, that’s been my big takeaway. Everyone is really facing their core issues in a way that’s pretty exciting, a very character-driven season."
