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Netflix has burned me with shorter seasons twice.
Both My Life With The Walter Boys Season 2 and Heartstopper Season 3 had a limited number of episodes that premiered after a long hiatus.
The seasons were over quickly, which was disappointing enough, but both shows tried to cram too much into their short seasons, leaving some plotlines hanging and giving the shows a rushed feeling.
Why Streamers Usually Have Only 8 – 10 Episodes Per Season
Streaming has changed the way we consume TV.
Rather than the customary 22-episode seasons like on broadcast, most streaming series have only 8-10 episodes, for a variety of reasons.
For one thing, streamers rely more on subscriptions than advertising dollars, so it’s cost-prohibitive to produce long seasons.
The shorter seasons also free up talent to work on other projects in between commitments to the show, allowing actors to take on a wider range of roles during their careers.
This is attractive to top talent, who may not want to be tied down to one show for an entire year like they would be if they were filming 22 episodes for broadcast TV.
And of course, in theory, shorter seasons also mean tighter stories, with more focus, less fluff, and more flexibility to experiment instead of the usual formula every week.
When it works, that’s great. But complicated stories often need more time than they’re given.
My Life With The Walter Boys Season 2 was an hour-long show, more or less (most episodes ran 45 – 49 minutes), so it had a little less than 10 hours to tell several stories.
MLWTB Plots:
- Jackie’s continued relationship dilemma
- Jackie re-adjusting to life in Silver Falls and trying to figure out where she belongs without losing her memories of her late parents
- Will and George (and later Richard) trying to save the ranch but not getting along
- Jackie running for class president and later setting up the college fair
- Cole struggling to get into college
- Rivalry between Cole and Dylan over Cole’s inability to play and Dylan’s rejection of his coaching
- Alex’s determination to make a career in rodeo
- Parker’s hurt because Jackie left her
- Jackie learning to drive
- Jordan playing on the football team this year
This list is not comprehensive and doesn’t include one-off stories, such as the kids attending the Fall Formal.
It’s challenging to condense all that into just ten hours of TV, so it’s unsurprising that some aspects fell through the cracks, contributing to a rushed feeling.
It’s especially disappointing, though, that My Life with the Walter Boys wasn’t able to focus more on Jackie’s grief and fear that she was losing herself or her memories of her parents now that she was settling in at Silver Springs.
There were a few small hints, but not enough to make a coherent story, resulting in the big scenes about it after Halloween feeling like they came out of nowhere.
OK, so Maybe MLWTWB Didn’t Need TOO Many Extra Episodes
If My Life With The Walter Boys had 15 or 20 episodes, it’s true enough that it might have been harder to come up with ideas for each episode rather than including filler material.
However, it would have also given the emotional core of the series more space to breathe. It isn’t just about the love triangle, even though that’s a big part of this show’s engine — that’s part of a bigger conversation about who Jackie is and where she fits now that she’s an orphan.
Similarly, we only really saw Jackie’s Latina culture when she and Richard memorialized her parents.
During the Halloween party, she was upset that someone was wearing a costume that belonged to her culture, but this aspect of her life wasn’t explored before or after, so it again seemed like it came out of nowhere.
These are important parts of Jackie’s story that deserve full exploration, but we didn’t get that chance because the season was so short.
Similarly, her driving lessons disappeared, then reappeared.
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Not all of these arcs were all that important (although Parker’s anger over Jackie’s departure and then her disappearing for the rest of the season was annoying).
However, even the bigger arcs had some missing plot points because of the short season.
I’m not sure why Jackie changed her mind about going to boarding school in Vermont, and the series wasted too much time on Alex’s anger during its short season for the triangle to be as satisfying as they wanted it to be.
Heartstopper Had Even Less Time Because of Its Half-Hour Format
Heartstopper Season 3 was so incredibly rushed that I’m glad the series will wrap up with a movie instead of another 10 episodes, again demonstrating that the short season format doesn’t work for every story or show.
The third season had one of Heartstopper‘s most important storylines: Charlie’s admission that he had an eating disorder, the time he spent in a clinic getting help, and his difficulty adjusting to life at home after his release.
There was no real way to tell that story in four hours’ worth of TV and also do justice to Isaac’s asexuality, Elle’s struggle to be an artist after experiencing transphobia, issues between Darcy and Tara, and the older kids preparing to go to university.
In some ways, the season was brilliant, but in others, it was rushed, with many stories falling through the cracks or not receiving the in-depth treatment they deserved.
Sadly, the Format Isn’t Changing Anytime Soon
The Format is what it is for streamers and won’t change any time soon, but that’s a shame.
The beauty of streamed TV shows is that there is more freedom to tell stories that wouldn’t necessarily air on broadcast TV.
Shows on streamers can address social issues like racism or violence more thoroughly while still telling entertaining stories.
But when the writers have no choice but to pack two or three seasons’ worth of material into one short season, it’s a colossal fail — even if the shows do great work with the limited time they have.
What do you think? Are shows like My Life with the Walter Boys too short or just right?
Your thoughts are the engine that drives TV Fanatic forward, so make sure you comment below and share this article with your friends.
My Life with the Walter Boys Season 2 premiered on Netflix on August 28, 2025. The streamer renewed it for a final season.
The final Heartstopper movie will premiere on Netflix in 2026.
Watch My Life with the Walter Boys Online
Watch Heartstopper Online
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The post Too Short to Shine: My Life with the Walter Boys & Heartstopper Prove Why Streaming Needs Longer Seasons appeared first on TV Fanatic.
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