For two seasons, it felt like no one but a few people on social media were watching The Gilded Age. (This is a hyperbole, but you get the point.) We weren’t sure whether there’d be renewals or not, and despite it being a Julian Fellowes production, it wasn’t gathering the same viewership Downton Abbey did, with the show airing on HBO Max instead of PBS. But The Gilded Age Season 3 has consistently done better with numbers, proving that shows simply need time to gain their wings.
It’s understandable that not every network or streaming site can continue giving a big-budget show time to grow when they really aren’t making enough, but really, how much of it is tied to corporate greed? How many series are truly not turning a profit, versus the executives behind the thinking that they’d make double or triple instead? Very few people actually have the numbers behind the scenes. In addition, time and again, fans have said that they refuse to start new shows without the guarantee of renewals because they’ve been burned in the past. At what point does it truly become a fair bargain, especially today, when the future of this industry is already so horrifically bleak because of AI?
Time also matters here. While the opportunity to binge works for some shows, others are better with the weekly air drop. Further, shows like The Gilded Age airing in the summertime when there are few others on TV give people the time to try something new. It’s so hard to believe that the people in charge of all this aren’t aware of what’s happening because there’s no way that they aren’t. So, surely, there’s something I’m missing. I’m not going to pretend I know all the ins and out. But I do know fandom, and I do talk to many people who aren’t in the industry who say the same things: promo and timing matter. And letting shows breathe matters.
I can’t help but wonder what the viewership for Prime Video’s My Lady Jane would have been like if the show had aired weekly instead of dropping all the episodes at once during the summer Olympics. People continue to discover the show today, only to learn of its cancellation right after they finish. This can’t be a good method because again, it forces countless viewers to pull away from TV until after they have a guarantee of renewal.
It’s also true that The Gilded Age Season 3 is significantly higher in stakes than its first two seasons, but still, people happily sat through the slower arcs regardless. Because a genuinely good show will eventually find its viewers, and those viewers will tell their friends, too. Again, I realize that there’s a lot I can’t properly speak on, but it’s getting to a point where we’ve got to at least try giving shows the chance. A real, honest chance. One season isn’t a chance; it’s a step. We need two at the very least, and three tops. Because if a show like Parks and Recreation were canceled after its okay debut, then it wouldn’t have had the opportunity to grow into the gem we know it to be today. And that’s just one of out of the many examples.
The Gilded Age is now streaming on HBO Max.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Photograph by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO