As the world has quickly moved from regular cable television, to everything being put onto a streaming service–many shows have suffered from this transition in the modern world. One of the biggest examples by far right now is Amazon– and its very own service, Amazon Prime. To produce more and more tv shows by the minute, Amazon Prime has created a system where each and every new show that is labeled under their very own copyright must be limited to only eight episodes per-season. This not only has hurt many companies’ ways of expressing their creativity– but it is currently damaging one of the most popular animated shows in the world right now, being Invincible.
When the comic book adaptation hit Amazon Prime back in 2021, it was an absolute slam hit for audiences across the globe. Not only is the show still getting incredibly high numbers to this day in terms of viewership and ratings, but it is debated that it’s currently one of the most popular animated shows of all time. However, much like other shows that are copyright-owned by Amazon, it quickly fell to the eight episode plague. Currently, the show has three complete seasons, and is beginning to wrap up its newly released fourth season. Each of these seasons only have eight episodes each in them. This particular issue is ruining a huge portion of potential the show–and others included can have for audiences all around.
The Eight-Episode Dilemma
Around the same year Invincible had released, Amazon Prime began to shift towards releasing shows with only eight episodes per season. These very same episodes also became way longer. A majority of the time, it wasn’t a surprise if these episodes were 45 minutes long, or maybe 50, or sometimes even hitting the 60 minutes mark. To try and make a major profit off of the streaming service as a whole, Amazon has been forcing these brand new shows that come out to strictly be limited by the eight episode rule.
This was done for the mindset of quantity over quality. If there are more shows being made by the day, and there isn’t a risk in having to dump an entire budget onto one singular show, then there is a guarantee that money is being made somewhere. Even if there are multiple shows that release on Amazon Prime that are only doing just okay, they will make more money than one singular show that had two underperforming seasons back to back. This is the exact reason why Amazon is forcing shows they have full ownership of to follow this rule.
Therefore, a show like Invincible–that’s based off of a fully finished comic series, will struggle badly by being forced to follow the eight episode rule. Not only does a majority of the episodes reach 50 minutes or longer, but the soon to be released season four finale episode is going to be the first ever episode in the series to be over an hour long. If audiences wanted to go watch long storytelling products, they would have gone to their local movie theaters.
If there are 144 comic issues of Invincible–and the show is limited by the eight episodes per season, then a majority of the time there are at least four to five comic issues being portrayed in one episode alone–or even sometimes it results in a lot of cut aspects from the original story of the comic series. With how far the show already is within the story as well, it is set on the journey to at least have two to three more seasons–as the story has just hit the halfway point in terms of the comics. With how much is still left with so little room in terms of the episodes, how long until most other companies are asking, “What’s worth getting rid of?”, instead of asking, “How can we create a better story?”
Impacting the Budget
As Amazon wants to prioritize more shows rather than a few good shows, it means some of the quality is left behind in a lot of these shows. Which is why in today’s time, Invincible is a prime target of this issue. With much online criticism behind the argument, a majority of Invincible’s overall animation is taking huge blows from this. When Amazon had seen the big hit the show was in the first season, they wanted to make new seasons as soon as possible–but during their speedrun to a new story, they left high quality animation behind.
Because of this, the budget also goes towards less important things in the industry. To get the name of the show out there more, Amazon hires well-known voice actors instead of talented workers who have tried their hardest to land a big break role. This isn’t solely from the hand of Amazon however, as the creator of Invincible–Robert Kirkman, is using people he’s already worked with before on other shows he’s directed–like The Walking Dead.
However when it comes to a big name the team wants to bring onto the show, it costs a pretty penny from Amazon’s limited budget they give–which means they leave things like the earlier mentioned animation team behind. A huge example of this is when the major character of Allen the Alien was revealed to be voiced by Seth Rogen. A name that will simply grab the eyes and attention of viewers alike, instead of Kirkman being able to use his resources respectfully like when he casted Jeffery Dean Morgan as Conquest.
If the show is supposed to follow so many deadlines, be put under the pressure of only eight episodes, given only a certain amount of budget that is spread across so many other different tv shows, and has that same budget blown on popular voice actors instead of high quality animation for the animated tv show, then the rich and compelling story of Invincible will be lost to time and criticism.
Other Shows Fall Victim
To further prove the point of how this is hurting television, there are other shows that have fallen victim to the eight episode dilemma of Amazon Prime. Some of these examples include The Boys–another comic book adaptation show, Hazbin Hotel–an eight episode by season series that has so much compact lore and storytelling that is hurt by this process, and Reacher–a live action Amazon Prime original that causes the show to rush through mysteries and plot holes. All three of these examples fall victim to the same thing that is happening to Invincible, as it also comes full circle to what the show is currently suffering from.
The Boys is a live action comic book adaptation show that has incredibly high ratings and numbers–similar to Invincible. As the show strives however, it suffers a little less than Invincible does. If there’s no animation team to budget out, then there’s a lot less money that has to go around the table for everyone. The show also takes way longer to produce seasons back to back yearly. It takes its time, as it has more of it–but it’s due to the solace of the fact that it overall makes less money than Invincible. Because of this, no real balance is made, and whenever the time rolls around, one of these shows has to suffer for months while the other strives.
Hazbin Hotel is an animated Amazon Prime original show that has been in the concept works for over a decade by its personal indie creator. Similar to our topic show at hand, Hazbin suffers from the same exact fate of prioritizing popular names instead of animation. Many online conflicts and criticisms towards the indie creator have taken the internet by storm, when in reality she had to finally reveal under no NDA protection that she never wanted to be the one to choose some of her characters being voiced by people like Keith David, and shoving the animation team aside like they never matter.
Reacher is a live action Amazon Prime original show that has the stakes up high constantly no matter what the situation is, and is always striving towards creating a mystery for the season’s theme to be solved by. However, with each of the seasons falling towards the eight episode structure, it quickly makes each and every single episode feel less and less rewarding when the mystery is solved way too quickly for the audience to feel the genuine steaks and suspense at hand, similar to Invincible. This further proves that Invincible isn’t the only one struggling here.
Rich Storytelling versus Rich Companies
Despite all of this, Invincible as a show is not struggling at all. The show itself has some of the highest rated episodes of any animated television series of all time. At one point, the show’s season three finale, ‘I thought you’d never shut up’, was actually tied for the highest rated television episode of all time with a perfect 10/10 score when it first came out, which means for a moment it was tied with one of Breaking Bad’s last episodes, ‘Ozymandias’.
The entire show has a rich story to be told, and with the statements from earlier, is being actively hurt as you read this article. So many people will miss out on this incredible show due to either the lack of good animation, or just how much effort it takes to slog through one episode of the show when it feels like a full on movie. If it wouldn’t be for the business practices Amazon takes to make as much money as possible, there wouldn’t be a reason to worry about a show that has such a high standard for storymaking.
This phenomenal show is able to show us how it just takes a few quantity over quality mindsets to almost ruin the capabilities and potential a story has for the public eye to enjoy at its absolute peak of creativity. Invincible won’t be the last show to suffer from this either.
