Star Trek: The Next Generation had a really rough first season. So rough, in fact, that Denise Crosby just left the show. Wil Wheaton once revealed that most of the cast didn't think the show would last after one year. Can you imagine them making Star Trek: The Next Generation now? It would never have had a chance today to become what it became.
If we count the Star Trek cartoon TNG was only the second adaptation, maybe not even an adaptation but continuation if the cartoon is cannon. The Acolyte is something else.
they were flying by the seat of their pants back then, churning out episodes as fast as they could, sometimes filming the end of seasons while the beginning of the season was already airing… so they were able to make adjustments, figure out the characters, change the stories… even change the uniforms and sets as they went along. now days they spend years developing the project and have it all mapped out ahead of time, with ridiculous amounts of money sunk in, too, so they’re locked into to what they have and can’t make adjustments. …I’d imagine Headland already had an outline for a second season drawn out even before the show premiered, and combined with the sort of stubborn narcissism of the modern entertainment industry, I don’t see how they’d ever change their trajectory on a project like this 🤷🏻♂️
I'm glad The Acolyte's cinematography was brought up. Even it was even bad at that with its' transitions and scene compositions. Lack of respect for the property seemed to ba an issue as well. We all know what its' biggest hurdle was and was never going to be able to move past that.
is anyone seeing a pattern of when Lucasfilm tries to make an ambitious project/season that's meant to propel the star wars brand, it fails underneath the pressure. But when they do not have to expand the brand (The Bad Batch, Skeleton Crew, Andor, Mandalorian before season 3), the stories actually work?
I don’t know, Obi Wan and The Book of Boba Fett were functionally doing the same thing in terms of brand as The Bad Batch or Andor (filing in gaps in the timeline) and those both sucked. Further, I would argue that Skeleton Crew is expanding the brand as it’s introduced an entirely new cast of characters and concepts (hidden “jewel” planets). It really just feels like Lucasfilms doesn’t know how to hold their creatives to a consistent standard or vision. They seem to let them just run wild which leads to highly varied product quality.
They need to embrace the EU instead of running away from it for Star Wars to have any future. Give us new stories or faithful adaptations. The reason all these projects failed is because they're a poor man's bastardization of the EU, watered down from the source material. But as we all know, Lucasfilm rejects source material - it doesn't exist to them.
It's hard to give modern shows multiple seasons to figure things out when the cost and time between seasons is so high. An episode of Cheers was 2.2 million, Acolyte was 28.7 million per episode. That's a lot of money to just throw after the chance of a show eventually getting good. Even if cost wasn't an issue it takes 2-3 years to get 8 episodes out. That's just not feasible turnaround for a show to pick up steam over time. By the time season 4 comes out and the show runners figure things out it'll have already been a decade or so. Who is sticking around for that long for a show to get good. There are comedies and animated shows that still sneakily get 5+ seasons even if they're not amazing (Big Mouth, Harley, Star Trek Discovery) but big budget Star Wars shows can't go that route. Maybe they could have a cheap soap opera style show a la CW but does anyone really want to cheapen the brand like that? Isn't that already half the problem with The Acolyte's approach?
Seeing this reminds me of the director of Transformers One( ironically did Toy Story 4. So a big improvement from that mediocre movie) and he stressed the importance of telling a good story. That sequel baiting and teasing for future events is pointless if you can’t get enough of the audience to connect and engage with what you’re doing now. This is precisely why the Acolyte failed. Beyond the horrendous writing, it’s so evident LF and Headland took the audience for granted. They thought the Star Wars brand was enough. All they needed was to throw in a few lightsaber fights, some quasi philosophical BS about the Jedi being evil etc and they got it. Not realizing that you still need to write something well. Do things make sense inside the series? Because in this day and age audiences don’t have to watch or read what you wrote. Their time is limited and there are plenty of other things to do. Kennedy and LF lost the moment their hubris took control and thought the audience would just accept what they did. Your diehards indeed but they aren’t the majority and never will be.
evidently audiences didn’t like tfone if it bombed so hard (neither did I), and don’t use the excuse of bad advertising, the advertising is very much like the actual movie
I've said before that The Acolyte was trying to be too many different stories at once and that's one of the many reasons why it failed. If it had just stuck to ONE simple premise (like Skeleton Crew is doing) instead of trying to balance 5 different genres at the same time then maybe it wouldn't have fallen apart. Like it tried to be a murder mystery, a dark romance, a Rashomon story, etc. - it had no clear identity, vs. Skeleton Crew which is very obviously a pirate adventure in space. Simplicity doesn't equal bad, it usually means having a better handle on your main story arc
As someone who is old enough to have lived before VCRs, there is something I appreciate about modern television entertainment. For the most part, if a studio films a full season of a program, then the whole season will air at least once. Unless the ratings are absolutely atrocious and/or a horrible controversy ignites about an actor or producer or geopolitical situation, the studio will run all of the whole season (or initial half season). Of course, one of the downsides is that streaming shows and movies can be removed from the services at anytime for any reason. I didn't care much for Rise Of The Pink Ladies and Willow, but it was absurd that the shows were deleted within weeks after their finales.
It’s alittle sad there just gone. I argee the finale just sucks. There was a cartoon I was trying to watch and now it’s just…. Gone from streaming services
Skeleton crew is definitely getting solo’d because of what came before it. Everyone I have spoken to says they haven’t even bothered to take a look at skeleton crew after trying to watch at the light we are all huge Star Wars nerds. Tattoos to prove it
A good acolyte season 2 could have good views, a lot of people would watch it because a lot of people actually are liking the show, or at least are fine enough with it to want a season 2. If reviews are positive I think people who didn't liked s1 may give it a second chance
Maybe Disney should have put Amanda Tapping to direct the Acolyte, seeing as she's a veteran of the genre already and has both acting and directing experience. Also her Sam Carter was one of the best written women in Sci-fi. But then she is just a straight white woman and the show REALLY needed to be extremely gay behind the scenes.
@@saberiandream316 She probably would've been brilliant working on Andor. She's won awards for her directing so if any project would've been worthy of her it's that one
@@Sam_T2000 The queen of TV Sci Fi and you don't even trouble yourself to quickly google her work? Alright, ignorance can be forgiven: Stargate SG-1 10 seasons of acting and debut of her directorial career, Sanctuary, the next 3 episodes of directing, Continuum series (since there's a Stargate SG-1 movie with the same name), Dark Matter (2015, series), Travelers (2016-2018), The 100, Anne with an E, Motherland: Fort Salem, Supernatural, The Flash. Now how about you start watching Stargate and enjoy another piece of the "Star" trinity that any Sci Fi enjoyer worth his salt should experience at least once in their life.
What I find interesting is how you feel about the Acolyte and why you wouldn’t want other season. I feel the same way but I noticed that a lot of fans are feeling that way about Star Wars in general. With disappointment after disappointment. Why keep watching? It’s hope for me. Hope that things can get better.
It's a very different era. I love '90s Star Trek but probably 90% of the episodes in the first couple seasons are terrible. Those shows would have been canceled now. But keep in mind that those shows were also pulling in ratings of like 13 million plus viewers, which dwarfs want anything gets today outside of major events. And they had a much smaller operating budget. Modern shows cost much more proportionally and have much smaller viewerships so it's more important they succeed right away
Hey, Thor! In your opinion, what is better (or worse)? The Acolyte or the Holiday Special. I have my own thoughts but would love to hear your take on this. Maybe others can join in on the “fun” too via a special poll. Nevertheless, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
TV shows absolutely need to hit the ground running in this day and age. I think it's partly because there's just so many things to watch now, people are less inclined to watch something that doesn't immediately hook. Also, people on average have shorter attention spans, so you need to have something gripping to make them want to stay engaged with the show. It also doesn't help that these shows are now so damn expensive lol, studios are looking for sure things and if that doesn't seem like its going to be that, the show will not survive.
The Swamp Thing cancellation wasn't really about the quality of the show, it was something to do with the filming location and the budget that made it too cost prohibitive to make a Season 2.
Disney either needs to reduce the budget of their shows or make less shows on Disney+. No show should cost $180 million to make. If Disney can create a reasonable budget and focus on quality or quantity they can make more seasons of the Star Wars shows on Disney+.
If your season 1 is mediocre at best, you can´t expect to continue it, especially if it costs as much as season 1 did. The budgeting over at disney is ridiculous, but even they have limits.
Wheel of Time s1, was very expensive looked like an episode of Xena/Hercules. S2 was way better and looked like game of thrones. Not every company can afford such budgets
actually, there are lots and lots of examples of TV shows getting better much, much better after the first season or two, once the writers and actors have a chance to figure things out… but they’re almost all sit-coms, with episodic stories, very low budgets, and from the time of network and cable television where viewers had limited choices, and also when studios were willing to give shows a chance 🤷🏻♂️ …not that _The Acolyte_ is worth of a second chance 😑
We keep quoting the Nielsen ratings, but those ratings aren't always accurate to fan base. Look at Owl House, also a Disney property - it wasn't until they released some episodes on TH-cam that they realized a lot of people LOVE that show, they just weren't watching in real time on Disney XD, making its rushed cancellation so unnecessary. Not to say that means The Acolyte deserved a Season 2, and watch rates on Disney+ are also a factor, but just saying, the Nielsen Ratings model has been questioned and poked and prodded a lot in recent years, I don't know if it's the basis by which we should be judging all shows.
I've seen people make similar arguments to defend Rebels, but Rebels got horrible ratings BEFORE being moved to Disney XD. It shows the fanbase just wasn't there.
That’s an interesting point….could it have gotten better. Maybe. That's a subjective opinion. I personally think it was built on a bad foundation and no matter what they do in the future, it cannot erase that. It was always too late for this show. Your points make me remember Babylon 5 which had a pretty bad first season in some ways but unlike the Acolyte it had great promise and potential, was built on an excellent foundation with an amazing story mapped out with great complex characters. It got the chance to continue and in my opinion became one of the best sci fi shows ever made. But from my personal perspective I’m glad the Acolyte got cancelled. Reading Headlands interviews about what she was trying to do made me completely uninterested in anything that might have come later.
I have disliked every show from DC with the exception of Swamp thing, it was honestly good, interesting and... Cancelled before i had a chance to watch it... Meanwhile crap gets 7-8 seasons.. 😪
3 วันที่ผ่านมา
My goodness dude, you can't hate the acolyte that much because you keep talking about it every time lmao
Alot of shows have gotten better after the first season but all the ones i can think of actually had something good to start with and got better over time. Acolyte was some of the worst writing in history. 💯
Yes. S1 was needed but a huge gamble. Making a by the numbers first season primarily focused on establishing the universe and characters and doing very by the numbers conventional safe stories to suck us in then pull the rug out from under us to launch the story into surprising new directions in S2 - S5. It was risky and paid off but almost got the show cancelled.
so you mentioned Cheers most of the biggest tv shows in history have been one room shows and that is a big help to production budget... Shows like The Crapolyte need to be home runs or get cancelled and that show struck out... I think Andor would not have gotten a season 2 if for the fact it was already contracted for 2 seasons
Star Trek: The Next Generation had a really rough first season. So rough, in fact, that Denise Crosby just left the show. Wil Wheaton once revealed that most of the cast didn't think the show would last after one year. Can you imagine them making Star Trek: The Next Generation now? It would never have had a chance today to become what it became.
If we count the Star Trek cartoon TNG was only the second adaptation, maybe not even an adaptation but continuation if the cartoon is cannon. The Acolyte is something else.
they were flying by the seat of their pants back then, churning out episodes as fast as they could, sometimes filming the end of seasons while the beginning of the season was already airing… so they were able to make adjustments, figure out the characters, change the stories… even change the uniforms and sets as they went along.
now days they spend years developing the project and have it all mapped out ahead of time, with ridiculous amounts of money sunk in, too, so they’re locked into to what they have and can’t make adjustments.
…I’d imagine Headland already had an outline for a second season drawn out even before the show premiered, and combined with the sort of stubborn narcissism of the modern entertainment industry, I don’t see how they’d ever change their trajectory on a project like this 🤷🏻♂️
It would have also been called woke
It’s pretty sad these days
@dimitriwarchief301 toxic fans would call it woke
I'm glad The Acolyte's cinematography was brought up. Even it was even bad at that with its' transitions and scene compositions. Lack of respect for the property seemed to ba an issue as well. We all know what its' biggest hurdle was and was never going to be able to move past that.
is anyone seeing a pattern of when Lucasfilm tries to make an ambitious project/season that's meant to propel the star wars brand, it fails underneath the pressure. But when they do not have to expand the brand (The Bad Batch, Skeleton Crew, Andor, Mandalorian before season 3), the stories actually work?
I don’t know, Obi Wan and The Book of Boba Fett were functionally doing the same thing in terms of brand as The Bad Batch or Andor (filing in gaps in the timeline) and those both sucked. Further, I would argue that Skeleton Crew is expanding the brand as it’s introduced an entirely new cast of characters and concepts (hidden “jewel” planets). It really just feels like Lucasfilms doesn’t know how to hold their creatives to a consistent standard or vision. They seem to let them just run wild which leads to highly varied product quality.
@@Buckeyesteve10 I liked Obi Wan. I get why people didn't, and it probably should have been a movie, but I liked it
need a real Czar/Auteur, id take Filoni taking further charge even tho it means annoying retcons and cameos @@Buckeyesteve10
They need to embrace the EU instead of running away from it for Star Wars to have any future. Give us new stories or faithful adaptations. The reason all these projects failed is because they're a poor man's bastardization of the EU, watered down from the source material. But as we all know, Lucasfilm rejects source material - it doesn't exist to them.
It's hard to give modern shows multiple seasons to figure things out when the cost and time between seasons is so high. An episode of Cheers was 2.2 million, Acolyte was 28.7 million per episode. That's a lot of money to just throw after the chance of a show eventually getting good. Even if cost wasn't an issue it takes 2-3 years to get 8 episodes out. That's just not feasible turnaround for a show to pick up steam over time. By the time season 4 comes out and the show runners figure things out it'll have already been a decade or so. Who is sticking around for that long for a show to get good.
There are comedies and animated shows that still sneakily get 5+ seasons even if they're not amazing (Big Mouth, Harley, Star Trek Discovery) but big budget Star Wars shows can't go that route. Maybe they could have a cheap soap opera style show a la CW but does anyone really want to cheapen the brand like that? Isn't that already half the problem with The Acolyte's approach?
Seeing this reminds me of the director of Transformers One( ironically did Toy Story 4. So a big improvement from that mediocre movie) and he stressed the importance of telling a good story. That sequel baiting and teasing for future events is pointless if you can’t get enough of the audience to connect and engage with what you’re doing now.
This is precisely why the Acolyte failed. Beyond the horrendous writing, it’s so evident LF and Headland took the audience for granted. They thought the Star Wars brand was enough. All they needed was to throw in a few lightsaber fights, some quasi philosophical BS about the Jedi being evil etc and they got it. Not realizing that you still need to write something well. Do things make sense inside the series?
Because in this day and age audiences don’t have to watch or read what you wrote. Their time is limited and there are plenty of other things to do. Kennedy and LF lost the moment their hubris took control and thought the audience would just accept what they did. Your diehards indeed but they aren’t the majority and never will be.
Precisely, they should have adapted from their mistakes, but they keep making misses after misses with teensy hits to make due.
evidently audiences didn’t like tfone if it bombed so hard (neither did I), and don’t use the excuse of bad advertising, the advertising is very much like the actual movie
I've said before that The Acolyte was trying to be too many different stories at once and that's one of the many reasons why it failed. If it had just stuck to ONE simple premise (like Skeleton Crew is doing) instead of trying to balance 5 different genres at the same time then maybe it wouldn't have fallen apart. Like it tried to be a murder mystery, a dark romance, a Rashomon story, etc. - it had no clear identity, vs. Skeleton Crew which is very obviously a pirate adventure in space. Simplicity doesn't equal bad, it usually means having a better handle on your main story arc
As someone who is old enough to have lived before VCRs, there is something I appreciate about modern television entertainment.
For the most part, if a studio films a full season of a program, then the whole season will air at least once.
Unless the ratings are absolutely atrocious and/or a horrible controversy ignites about an actor or producer or geopolitical situation, the studio will run all of the whole season (or initial half season).
Of course, one of the downsides is that streaming shows and movies can be removed from the services at anytime for any reason. I didn't care much for Rise Of The Pink Ladies and Willow, but it was absurd that the shows were deleted within weeks after their finales.
It’s alittle sad there just gone. I argee the finale just sucks. There was a cartoon I was trying to watch and now it’s just…. Gone from streaming services
I belive Caravan of Courage was actually the first Star Wars that was outside the Skywalker story line.
Skeleton crew is definitely getting solo’d because of what came before it. Everyone I have spoken to says they haven’t even bothered to take a look at skeleton crew after trying to watch at the light we are all huge Star Wars nerds. Tattoos to prove it
We haven't seen the perspective of the rocks that burn yet! That's enough for a whole season. :D
A good acolyte season 2 could have good views, a lot of people would watch it because a lot of people actually are liking the show, or at least are fine enough with it to want a season 2. If reviews are positive I think people who didn't liked s1 may give it a second chance
Honestly, I think The Acolyte (Disney+) should be better off being 3D Animated Series instead of Live-action. Yes, I wish!
Maybe Disney should have put Amanda Tapping to direct the Acolyte, seeing as she's a veteran of the genre already and has both acting and directing experience. Also her Sam Carter was one of the best written women in Sci-fi. But then she is just a straight white woman and the show REALLY needed to be extremely gay behind the scenes.
I'd rather not tarnish her legacy by having her work for Disney Star Wars, lol.
@@saberiandream316 She probably would've been brilliant working on Andor. She's won awards for her directing so if any project would've been worthy of her it's that one
@@aricaj.3006 Disney Star Wars is poison. It's built on inequality and exclusion of fans that don't fit into their big narrow bubble.
you speak as if those are household names… it would be helpful if you referenced the projects they’ve worked on.
@@Sam_T2000 The queen of TV Sci Fi and you don't even trouble yourself to quickly google her work? Alright, ignorance can be forgiven: Stargate SG-1 10 seasons of acting and debut of her directorial career, Sanctuary, the next 3 episodes of directing, Continuum series (since there's a Stargate SG-1 movie with the same name), Dark Matter (2015, series), Travelers (2016-2018), The 100, Anne with an E, Motherland: Fort Salem, Supernatural, The Flash. Now how about you start watching Stargate and enjoy another piece of the "Star" trinity that any Sci Fi enjoyer worth his salt should experience at least once in their life.
What I find interesting is how you feel about the Acolyte and why you wouldn’t want other season. I feel the same way but I noticed that a lot of fans are feeling that way about Star Wars in general. With disappointment after disappointment. Why keep watching? It’s hope for me. Hope that things can get better.
It is not that studios let their shows grow because they had fate, they let the shows go because they had nothing else for that timeslot
The issue is the cash requirement needed per season. Terrible ratings isn’t going to drive subscriptions, failing to justify the costs of production
It's a very different era. I love '90s Star Trek but probably 90% of the episodes in the first couple seasons are terrible. Those shows would have been canceled now.
But keep in mind that those shows were also pulling in ratings of like 13 million plus viewers, which dwarfs want anything gets today outside of major events. And they had a much smaller operating budget. Modern shows cost much more proportionally and have much smaller viewerships so it's more important they succeed right away
I hear ya. TNG Season 1 sucked, and yet it still got better ratings than the crap they have now.
I loved Qmir. Thats about the extent that my interest was piqued. I would be ok w books or comics exploring him
So, Leslye lied when she said season 1 was self contained.
If it ain’t making money studios won’t continue it.
...A Third Season???
...Jeez, The ACOLYTE is out for a little while and 🎶Manny-y-y🎶 gets Delusions of ANDOR!!!
👽 🖖 🤖
now *this* is an underrated comment
Hey, Thor! In your opinion, what is better (or worse)? The Acolyte or the Holiday Special. I have my own thoughts but would love to hear your take on this. Maybe others can join in on the “fun” too via a special poll. Nevertheless, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
too bad they won't adapt anything from any of the books/comics we had in the 90's, before the prequels were a thing.
TV shows absolutely need to hit the ground running in this day and age. I think it's partly because there's just so many things to watch now, people are less inclined to watch something that doesn't immediately hook. Also, people on average have shorter attention spans, so you need to have something gripping to make them want to stay engaged with the show. It also doesn't help that these shows are now so damn expensive lol, studios are looking for sure things and if that doesn't seem like its going to be that, the show will not survive.
The Swamp Thing cancellation wasn't really about the quality of the show, it was something to do with the filming location and the budget that made it too cost prohibitive to make a Season 2.
Disney either needs to reduce the budget of their shows or make less shows on Disney+. No show should cost $180 million to make. If Disney can create a reasonable budget and focus on quality or quantity they can make more seasons of the Star Wars shows on Disney+.
If your season 1 is mediocre at best, you can´t expect to continue it, especially if it costs as much as season 1 did. The budgeting over at disney is ridiculous, but even they have limits.
The Acoshyte was so bad it made the holiday special look great
Book of Boba Fett? Kenobi? They deserve to be made into something worthwhile.
Could they salvage the stranger character
Yasss yasss
I'm only here so I won't be fined.
Three seasons and a movie is just a saying I think
I think it’s a community reference, 6 seasons and a movie!
Wheel of Time s1, was very expensive looked like an episode of Xena/Hercules. S2 was way better and looked like game of thrones. Not every company can afford such budgets
Yasssss yassss
Hey Naboo...are you aware Thor is 6'4"??
Which makes him a short wookie.
actually, there are lots and lots of examples of TV shows getting better much, much better after the first season or two, once the writers and actors have a chance to figure things out… but they’re almost all sit-coms, with episodic stories, very low budgets, and from the time of network and cable television where viewers had limited choices, and also when studios were willing to give shows a chance 🤷🏻♂️
…not that _The Acolyte_ is worth of a second chance 😑
We keep quoting the Nielsen ratings, but those ratings aren't always accurate to fan base. Look at Owl House, also a Disney property - it wasn't until they released some episodes on TH-cam that they realized a lot of people LOVE that show, they just weren't watching in real time on Disney XD, making its rushed cancellation so unnecessary. Not to say that means The Acolyte deserved a Season 2, and watch rates on Disney+ are also a factor, but just saying, the Nielsen Ratings model has been questioned and poked and prodded a lot in recent years, I don't know if it's the basis by which we should be judging all shows.
owl house isn’t popular outside cartoon centric echo chambers
I've seen people make similar arguments to defend Rebels, but Rebels got horrible ratings BEFORE being moved to Disney XD. It shows the fanbase just wasn't there.
That’s an interesting point….could it have gotten better. Maybe. That's a subjective opinion. I personally think it was built on a bad foundation and no matter what they do in the future, it cannot erase that. It was always too late for this show.
Your points make me remember Babylon 5 which had a pretty bad first season in some ways but unlike the Acolyte it had great promise and potential, was built on an excellent foundation with an amazing story mapped out with great complex characters. It got the chance to continue and in my opinion became one of the best sci fi shows ever made. But from my personal perspective I’m glad the Acolyte got cancelled. Reading Headlands interviews about what she was trying to do made me completely uninterested in anything that might have come later.
Agree... The premise and many of the characters were repelling, flat and didn't invite further investigation.
Oh my god these people are delusional. Keep on that pace spend over a BILLION on this train wreck with two more seasons and a movie. Hilarious.
I have disliked every show from DC with the exception of Swamp thing, it was honestly good, interesting and... Cancelled before i had a chance to watch it... Meanwhile crap gets 7-8 seasons.. 😪
My goodness dude, you can't hate the acolyte that much because you keep talking about it every time lmao
The Acolyte was fine if you watch with a half full glass. This video some up the problem well. th-cam.com/video/aCeBhloG56Y/w-d-xo.html
This is why I stopped watching Thor
Alot of shows have gotten better after the first season but all the ones i can think of actually had something good to start with and got better over time. Acolyte was some of the worst writing in history. 💯
Babylon 5 really needed a season before it started gettng good.
Yes. S1 was needed but a huge gamble. Making a by the numbers first season primarily focused on establishing the universe and characters and doing very by the numbers conventional safe stories to suck us in then pull the rug out from under us to launch the story into surprising new directions in S2 - S5. It was risky and paid off but almost got the show cancelled.
Yes but its season 1 was still entertaining and showed promise whereas The Acolyte was crap from the beginning.
@@istari0 A better comparison might be TNG Season 1, lol, which I always SKIP during rewatches.
so you mentioned Cheers most of the biggest tv shows in history have been one room shows and that is a big help to production budget... Shows like The Crapolyte need to be home runs or get cancelled and that show struck out... I think Andor would not have gotten a season 2 if for the fact it was already contracted for 2 seasons
JESUS CHRIUST!!! SEASONS ARE EIGHT FUCKING EPISODES NOW!!! YOU CAN'T SIT THROUGH EIGHT FUCKING EPISODES???