HBO renewed House for a second year just after the launch of the show last summer, which saw it become HBO's biggest-ever, first-run drama. However, no episode count was given at the time. It's now being reported that the original plan was for a 10-episode run like the first season, but this has now been downgraded to 8 episodes.
According to HBO, the move was "story-driven," but there are indications that this is part of a cost-cutting drive across all Warner Brothers-related companies following their recent merger with Discovery (which has led to the gutting of content for the HBO Max streaming service). It will certainly disappoint fans already facing a two-year wait for the second season, whilst executive producer and creator of the source material George R.R. Martin had previously praised HBO for sticking with 10 episodes a year as other streamers ruthlessly moved to 8 or even 6 episodes per season.
However, the silver lining is that HBO may give an early third season order for the show, allowing it to flow from work on Season 2 straight into Season 3, in a bid to reduce the gap between the two seasons. Season 2 had a number of late script rewrites (partially a result of the episode compression) and will only start filming in the next few weeks, over two years after shooting on Season 1 began.
The length of modern TV seasons has proven a thorny issue, with fans increasingly irate at waiting multiple years for a very short run of episodes, whilst increased production costs and a shortage of vfx studio capacity encouraging streamers and cable companies to look at shorter runs with more of a focus on quality. But with quality also being criticised for many productions, and the shorter (and thus less-well-paid) working periods forcing writers and even showrunners to split their attention between multiple projects simultaneously, it appears this move is not working for everyone.
Some venues are now experimenting with a return to longer runs. Andor on Disney+ was recently praised for its 12-episode first season (divided into several shorter arcs) and the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again show will consist of a remarkable 18 episodes.
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