How many episodes should you watch before giving up on a TV show (and what do statistics say)?

[human7]

That's not true at all. Look at "That 80's Show". Look at "Firefly". Both of those shows were gems that were canceled for whatever brainless reason. Both had greatness & potential! At least Firefly got a dignified send off with the Serenity movie and all the book & comics.

Oh it's true. Firefly not getting a second season was a great disappointment.

It's not a judge of quality, and I do make exceptions, but like I said, I'd rather watch a show once I know it's not just canceled after one season. Not gonna get my hopes up just to be let down for some brainless reason.

 

[Raytrace3D]

In the case of the Acolyte, I got half way through episode 3 and stopped watching. Lesbian space witches... am I right?

 

[Liranan]

I binge watch Disparu, Nerdrotic, Drinker's, Kinel's and others reviews of the horrid tripe that is spewed out by the DEI (DIE) crowd. The reviews are not only more entertaining than what Wokewood puts out but they also get more views.

 

[Liranan]

I've totally given up on using ratings or even other peoples opinions when deciding what to watch, or even for how long. I've come to the conclusion my "pleasure" in watching something usually has nothing to do with other peoples or studios opinions.
I.e.
Babylon 5
Andromeda
Firefly (thank the multiverse for Serenity)

There are quite a few Star Trek shows (not the modern tripe) and you forgot The Expanse.

 

[mbk34]

It's usually a short clip on youtube that does it for me. The "I am the one who knocks" scene from "Breaking Bad" had me hooked. Similarly the "Carousel" scene from "Mad Men". I recently got into "Designated Survivor" as it was interesting seeing how a relative nobody could rebuild a country and then contrasting it with the tragicomedy currently playing in America that is turning it into a laughing stock around the world.

 

[whateversa]

I won't give a show more than a few minutes, unless the trailer pointed out something I am specifically drawn to. So I might give it half to 1.5 episodes to be interesting.

 

[trgz]

The problem with those stats is that 'fanboyism' cuts in - if you're dedicated enough to keep watching, then of course you're going to rate it high.
I tend to find that iMdB scores for series tend to be rated at about 1.6 above an equivalent film - so my personal guide is that a series has to be 8.6 to pass muster (ie a 7) - they have to be at least that before I even try an episode, or a trailer.

 

[lonetac]

Game of Thrones ruined TV shows.

So many shows now clearly try to follow the formula Game of Thornes established. Big plot with lots of frustrating cliff hangers to make people feel hooked on a show regardless of if it's good or not.

I find it much harder to get into shows ever since the GoT style became so common.

this actually started with Lost. At least GoT tied up more loose ends than Lost but yeah, same concept.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

This study ignores survivorship bias. The ratings for shows will go up as people that don't like it stop watching and therefore rating the episodes.

You would have to be able to view only people that kept watching the shows ratings on the earlier episodes to have a comparable episode score.

All this proves is that people still watching at episode 8 probably like the show. Deciding you dislike a show sooner is unrelated to that fact.

 

[human7]

This study ignores survivorship bias. The ratings for shows will go up as people that don't like it stop watching and therefore rating the episodes.

You would have to be able to view only people that kept watching the shows ratings on the earlier episodes to have a comparable episode score.

All this proves is that people still watching at episode 8 probably like the show. Deciding you dislike a show sooner is unrelated to that fact.

Either that, or it's a study on what the survivorship bias itself is. Would probably require a bit of changes in the statistics done to get the right answer and not something misleading, but one could look at the chart and say "for a show to survive, what do the ratings need to do over time"?

 

[arrowflash]

I guess it depends on the type of the show too.

I only watch anime. For anime, the old "3-episode rule" touted by the community often works very well for 1-cour (11~13 episodes) shows. For 2-cour (22~26 episodes) shows I extend it a bit more with a 5 episode leeway. Many shows that start poorly actually improve and become better by the 3rd to 5th episodes. Of course, I've watched some shows that were so bad, I couldn't stomach watching past the 1st or 2nd episodes.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I guess it depends on the type of the show too.

I only watch anime. For anime, the old "3-episode rule" touted by the community often works very well for 1-cour (11~13 episodes) shows. For 2-cour (22~26 episodes) shows I extend it a bit more with a 5 episode leeway. Many shows that start poorly actually improve and become better by the 3rd to 5th episodes. Of course, I've watched some shows that were so bad, I couldn't stomach watching past the 1st or 2nd episodes.

The thing with most anime is that they’re virtually identical to other animes of the same genre (ohh… a romcom with highschool students? An Isekai with a harem? ) so if you liked one, you’ll probably like the next and don’t require more than an episode to decide to keep watching.

There are, of course, exceptions and Re:Zero and Overlord rock

 

[Revolution 11]

- The reason show ratings go up is because everyone that doesn't like the show has already stopped watching at that point. It's classic survivorship bias.

I've more or less given up on TV, it kinda all sucks now, but my general rule of thumb is 3 episodes and if I'm not into it by then oh well.

Problem is a low of shows figured this out and pack their entire budget and plot into episodes 1-3 and then 7-8 (or 8-9 depending on how my episodes shows have nowadays). Episodes 4/5/6 etc end up being slow paced "character driven" snooze fests.

Folks should go back to watching syndicated 90's shows, it's insane how much more content and pseudo cliffhangers are built into everything (because they needed you not to change the channel during commercial breaks), and how every episode is a self contained story. Netflix revolutionized the long arc TV show format, but I think I'm over it at this point.

What was old is new again.

Great points.

What has worked in the past and will continue to work is to never be first at anything. The early bird does not get the worm when it comes to trying out new products/media/services. In fact, the early adopter will always experience more pain, more fuss, and a lower quality of experience vs late adopters.

So when it comes to media (books/TV/films/games), it is always better to be late in experiencing a creative work. Let the crowd determine what is good and what sucks and you will rarely be disappointed. I don't watch any series on a streaming service until the entire season is released and reviewed and my streaming experience has been pretty pain-free.

Watching a film in the theater and wanting that release day crowd experience is the only exception to this rule and this only applies for select films. For the vast majority of theater films, it is still a better experience to go 2 weeks late and enjoy your selection of seats with less audience noise and traffic.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Great points.

What has worked in the past and will continue to work is to never be first at anything. The early bird does not get the worm when it comes to trying out new products/media/services. In fact, the early adopter will always experience more pain, more fuss, and a lower quality of experience vs late adopters.

So when it comes to media (books/TV/films/games), it is always better to be late in experiencing a creative work. Let the crowd determine what is good and what sucks and you will rarely be disappointed. I don't watch any series on a streaming service until the entire season is released and reviewed and my streaming experience has been pretty pain-free.

Watching a film in the theater and wanting that release day crowd experience is the only exception to this rule and this only applies for select films. For the vast majority of theater films, it is still a better experience to go 2 weeks late and enjoy your selection of seats with less audience noise and traffic.

- Yep, sort of my philosophy with everything. Wait for games to be patched and $10, wait for TV shows so I know whether its going to have a worthwhile arc, wait for products to hit version 2 or 3 where all the bugs are worked out etc etc etc...

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Either that, or it's a study on what the survivorship bias itself is. Would probably require a bit of changes in the statistics done to get the right answer and not something misleading, but one could look at the chart and say "for a show to survive, what do the ratings need to do over time"?

That's not how that works. There is a bias in the results from the survivorship. It's a math problem not a view into survivorship.

 

[arrowflash]

The thing with most anime is that they’re virtually identical to other animes of the same genre (ohh… a romcom with highschool students? An Isekai with a harem? ) so if you liked one, you’ll probably like the next and don’t require more than an episode to decide to keep watching.

There are, of course, exceptions and Re:Zero and Overlord rock

Well yeah, nowadays I often write off most anime in a highschool setting or high fantasy isekai setting, unless they appear to offer something quite different from the norm. I know I'm not missing much, it's not like any existing or future romcom will ever be better than Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka? anyways

Overlord's first season is great, but sadly for me it jumped the shark after the first season. I still watched S2 and S3 hoping it would improve and become as interesting as the first season, but then I gave up. Re: Zero is pretty good but I see the new season is receiving lots of criticism, I haven't picked it up yet. And it's been so long that I forgot a lot of the story, guess I'll have to rewatch

It's a shame that just like in gaming, anime production these days has become increasingly risk-averse to experimentation with new things, new themes, genres and variations, especially compared to the 2000s and early 2010s. And outsourcing production to Korea, China and even Vietnam and Phillipines is becoming increasingly more common.

 

[human7]

That's not how that works. There is a bias in the results from the survivorship. It's a math problem not a view into survivorship.

I'm a little confused about what you are objecting to. Of course there's bias in the results from the survivorship. I'm making the point that you could use this data to get an idea of what that bias looks like, to measure it, with the caveat that one needs to be careful so as not to get a misleading result. Are you objecting to that or something else?

 

[PurpaFur]

For anime, you can often get a vibe of a show from the intro song alone. So I'll watch that, and if I'm not feeling it, move on.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

I'm a little confused about what you are objecting to. Of course there's bias in the results from the survivorship. I'm making the point that you could use this data to get an idea of what that bias looks like, to measure it, with the caveat that one needs to be careful so as not to get a misleading result. Are you objecting to that or something else?

You would need more than this data to measure the bias (as I pointed out in my original comment). Your comments suggested you did not understand how survivorship bias worked so I tried explaining it further.