The incredibly slow death of TV shows

Graphic by Angela McKinzie / North by Northwestern

If you’re trying to find a show that was made over 10 years ago on streaming services, you’ll likely find a huge back catalog. You can easily find eight or more seasons, each with over 20 episodes, often over 40 minutes long. But if you compare an old show to a show made recently, you’d be lucky if this newer show’s total episode count matches two seasons of an older show. What happened?

The way TV shows are made changed. Previously...