On this Thursday evening, I can say I’m finally all caught up on the second season of Paradise with two episodes left to go.
And with that, I was able to do a Google search and not get spoiled which is how I found out that the series has been renewed by Hulu for its third and what’s believed to be its final season.
Like my thoughts on Mayor of Kingstown, I’m glad that the end is near and not because I dislike the show. Actually, it’s quite the opposite.
The series was originally pitched by Dan Fogelman as a three season series and they have known the end the entire time:
“We know what the end is, and it’s an end that would make it very difficult to make a season four come afterward,” executive producer John Hoberg recently confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter about sticking with Fogelman’s original three-season plan.”
Thank god. Things have got better over time, but how many TV series have you and I watched through the years that go on for one or two seasons too long? Showtime was famous for dragging out series like Homeland, Californication, Dexter, Ray Donovan and Shameless past their creative expiration dates. For many of those shows, the apex is in the first half of the run and definitely not the back nine.
I was late to the Paradise party, but I’m glad someone kept sending me invites. I love it. My wife loves it, actually puts down her phone watching it, and has reactions to it. Incredible.
The show length is great (most are around 45 minutes which is perfect and also with an eye toward an eventual edited network run maybe?) and the story is tight. There’s no filler episodes which is rare for a series like this.
The primary reason? There’s a beginning, middle and end. There’s no talk (yet) of spinoffs or anything of the like. It’s a story that will end and it will result in a long shelf life of suggestions from people like me to watch the show years from now.
More shows should follow Paradise’s lead and Hulu’s for standing behind it.
The show was one of my most anticipated for February. Here’s the rest of the list and March’s while you’re at it.
