Comic book: New TV shows should adapt the three-episode premiere format

Comic book program Y: The Last Man is the lastest to highlight that the three episode premieres works ahead of weekly releases.

Comic book TV shows have become more popular as time goes on. It’s no longer just Marvel and DC Comics properties getting the attention either. We’re getting all sorts of projects from different studios and networks. Netflix has given us the likes of Jupiter’s Legacy and Locke and Key. The Syfy channel brought Deadly Class to the world. Recently, FX on Hulu gave us the short-lived Y: The Last Man.

Y: The Last Man is based on the comic series of the same name and it’s set in a world where everything with a Y chromosome dies unexpectedly and mysteriously. Hulu debuted the show by unveiling three episodes at once.

Pilot episodes allow the viewers the option of seeing whether or not they’d like the respective show they are watching after one episode. We’ve all been in situations where an episode of a TV show comes out and we bail after the credits roll. A lot of us don’t have the time or patience to wait another week to see if we want to continue watching something. But in many cases, one episode isn’t enough to help us decide. Now, we’re given three episodes to decide.

This is an approach that many streaming service shows seem to be adopting and it’s one that more comic book shows should adopt too.

Y: The Last Man’s release strategy works well for comic book shows

Y: The Last Man isn’t the first comic book project to do this. Recently, the likes of Invincible and season 2 of The Boys (both shows on Amazon Prime) have done this. Both programs have something in common. Neither of the franchises are well known outside of the genre. Most comic book fans are aware of them and their potential but, unfortunately, a show can’t survive just on just comic book fans tuning. They have to branch out and appeal to other viewers. It’s one of the reasons that the source material is often changed when a story is adapted for TV.

Because shows rely heavily on the uninformed comic book fan, they have to give people an incentive to watch and adapt with the times. Among the ways people are modifying the viewing experience is binge-watching. Releasing three episodes at once combines the notion of binge-watching and the typical weekly watching plan. It allows people to do a quick binge of the first three episodes and then gives them the opportunity to anticipate the next episode afterwards.

Anticipation is a good thing. It’s one of the reasons shows like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and Breaking Bad did so well. Something major always happened at the end of the episode and viewers were then forced to wait a week to see how things progress. Releasing three episodes at once and then closing out the third with a cliffhanger – something that season 3 of DC’s Titans did incredibly well – may help viewers become more invested in the story as they would have seen more of the show and know what it’s about. Thus, there would be a strong chance they would return for the next episode the following week.

Streaming services giving people the opportunity to watch the first few episodes gives viewers a better chance to decide on staying with or abandoning a program. Then, once the “trial” is over, people have had more than one episode to decide if they’ll return. Plus, if the entire show is already on the platform, and it’s binged in a day, you’ll be done and may not come back for a while. As we’ve seen with The Handmaid’s Tale, weekly shows are still popular, while also benefiting from the three-episode premiere.

Obviously, this won’t work out for everyone. There are some TV shows out there that viewers won’t enjoy and won’t return to regardless of how many episodes they have. That could happen after one episode. It could also occur before the episode even ends. However, now we’re given more options and this release format will definitely help new projects stand a better chance of picking up more fans along the way so that it can survive the first season and beyond.

What do you think? Are you a fan of the three episodes premieres? Let us know in the comments below.