Succession Shows When To Call Time On Great TV

• Succession, Barry and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are just some of the shows ending in 2023.
• Executives and creatives are often at odds on when a TV show should end.
• Succession’s Jeremy Strong told Newsweek he’s “ready to be done” with Kendall Roy.

At the peak of its powers, Succession is coming to an end this week—but is it the right time to bow out?

When a TV show has reached the levels of broad appeal and is a consistent creator of water-cooler moments, there’s always the fear that TV studios will demand more seasons until the quality drops, or people have stopped watching.

The longer a show goes on, more often than not, the more likely the critics’ ratings will decrease, as has been seen in Game of Thrones, Two and a Half Men and The Simpsons. Then there are the TV shows that seemed to finish on their own terms, leaving the audience wanting more. Think, Seinfeld, The Office (UK), Breaking Bad and Friends.

Fortunately for Succession, there’s been a clear pathway as to what the end of the show has been, as far back as October 2021, when Georgia Pritchett, writer and executive producer of the HBO show, told Newsweek about the “ending in sight.”

When Is It the Right Time To Call Time on a TV Show?

The length of certain classic TV shows has been investigated on numerous occasions by social media users. Reddit in particular has a number of threads comparing and contrasting the length of a show, and the overall effect it has on quality over time.

Redditor u/gammafission00 used the user ratings from IMDb to measure a show’s quality over time on a season-by-season basis. A common trend throughout reveals that the quality usually diminishes the longer a show goes on.

“Television shows have a lifespan, and like all things, it is often hard to predict,” Stefano Da Fre, director, producer and president of Rosso Films International, told Newsweek.

“The phrase ‘all good things must come to an end’ is a hard lesson to learn for television audiences who have emotionally committed themselves to storylines that may have already peaked beyond their expectations, hoping television writers will somehow continue to forever extend their favorite shows.”

Sitcom creator Bill Lawrence has seen both sides of the double-edged sword of audience expectations. On the one hand, if a show looks like it’s going to finish too early, as it currently is with Ted Lasso and Season 3, fans will beg for more. But if a show outstays its welcome, ratings and viewership figures will plummet, as it did with the ill-fated Scrubs reboot in 2009.

When it comes to deciding to end a show, there’s a balance to be found between quality and profitability.

When the Executives End a Show

While creatives have to wrestle with the quest for a perfect ending, the TV executives care less about a show’s legacy, according to Da Fre.

“The truth is, financially for television executives it is worth the risk because the audience is already built in for another season, and therefore more economically stable than testing out a new show. These are calculated risks that have more stability, than the opposite problem of ‘ending a show before its prime.'”

While a TV studio can seemingly choose to extend a show past its sell-by date, it can also cancel it prematurely. Fan campaigns have started in the past after favorites such as Community, Sense8, Firefly, Freaks and Geeks, and Friday Night Lights were terminated prematurely.

Da Fre pointed out that David Fincher’s Mindhunter is a recent example where Netflix cut down a show in its prime, but even the Oscar-winning director understood the decision from an economical standpoint.

“I’m very proud of the first two seasons. But it’s a very expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we didn’t attract enough of an audience to justify such an investment,” Fincher told French magazine Le Journal du Dimanche in February. “I don’t blame them, they took risks to get the show off the ground,” he added.

“This is a cold, hard example of how television’s current financial model disrupts the relationship between the ‘audience’ vs. ‘its network’, and how ending a show prematurely leaves everyone feeling cheated,” Da Fre said.

When the Creatives End a Show

There are fewer examples of a show managing to end on the terms of the creator, giving them an opportunity to fully realize their story.

Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad, Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men and David Chase’s The Sopranos are a few examples of American TV shows with memorable finales which finished on top. Ironically, its often noted that British TV shows end prematurely, leaving the audience wanting more.

Examples of impactful shows from across the pond with fewer episodes but lasting impact include Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s The Office, John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers, and James Corden and Ruth Jones’ Gavin & Stacey.

The Office could be a good signifier of the British and American approach to programming. While the Brits’ version ran just 14 episodes (two seasons and a Christmas special), the US version featured 201 episodes over nine seasons. The U.S. edition surpassed its British origins in terms of accolades and viewership, but there was a clear drop off in reviews and viewership after Season 7 when Steve Carell’s Michael Scott left the show.

Entertainment industry and reputational management expert Ryan McCormick believes there is a key time that creatives know when to end their shows.

“When all the main pivotal characters have reached logical, desired destinations (mentally and/or physically) that are far from where they started from. Once these arcs are complete, the show is done,” the founder of Goldman McCormick PR told Newsweek. “Cobra Kai is probably the best example of how to create a brilliant engaging program without overstaying its welcome.” The Karate Kid spin-off was a surprise hit on Netflix and the upcoming sixth season will be its last.

“If a show does go on too long, it loses its relevance and becomes boring. People no longer care about the characters and the series legacy becomes tarnished.” McCormick continued, “A common trend seems that programs are ‘can’t-miss TV’ the first three seasons, and afterwards they coast on their laurels until fan interest eventually bleeds out.”

Why Succession Is Ending Now

While being an American show, predominantly based in New York, Succession actually has some surprising British roots, which may explain why it’s following the examples of its predecessors.

Jesse Armstrong, the creator of Succession, also made the British comedies Peep Show and Fresh Meat, and he also wrote on The Thick of It and the American crossover In The Loop. The British producers for Succession include the aforementioned Pritchett, Tony Roche, Lucy Prebble and Jane Trantor.

In October 2021, Pritchett told Newsweek the team had a “good end in sight.”

As far as the cast, perhaps they’re happy that the show is coming to an end, as Jeremy Strong, who plays Kendall Roy, told Newsweek.

“I feel ready to be done, I think similarly to Jesse. I feel that the arc of this character in particular had run its course, and I didn’t wish to try and extend that for the sake of making more seasons,” he told Newsweek in March, ahead of the Season 4 premiere episode.

“It feels like the right time. I feel relieved to be free of it, and I’m also going to miss so much about it. I mean, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the magnitude of what this journey has been.”

American TV shows appear to have been adapting to a “less is more” model in recent years. While there’s Grey’s Anatomy and NCIS which have been running for decades, there’s a new wave that is ending early on.

Succession will finish at four seasons, Bill Hader’s Barry with four, Donald Glover’s Atlanta finished last year after four, Ted Lasso could be finishing after three this year, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is wrapping up with Season 5 too.

Newsweek asked a number of writers to contribute to this article but they were unavailable due to the ongoing WGA strike in the entertainment industry.

The season finale of Succession, “With Open Eyes,” airs on HBO on Sunday May 28, 2023.