When the WGA strike ended Sept. 27, broadcast networks started ramping up plans for return to production just in time to salvage seasons of at least 13 episodes for their popular returning scripted series.
I hear most Wolf Entertainment crime procedurals were aiming at doing more than 13, with 15 a number circulated, and ABC and Warner Bros.
TV were in a tussle over Abbott Elementary, with ABC asking for 13 and the studio pushing for 17. As weeks went by with SAG-AFTRA and the studios talking but no deal, the goal post started moving again as it had done in July, August and September, a period when network series would typically be in production but remained idle due to the double strike.
Nothing is set in stone but 10 episodes has emerged as a threshold — a “sweet spot” as one agent put it — for season length during the strikes-impacted 2023-24 season.
Read more on deadline.com