I thought that by the end, Wednesday season 3 was rather good, particularly the second half of the season that we had to wait a month for. And once again, I’m back to say how awful it is that Netflix keeps doing this and at this point, I think it’s time that Netflix starts breaking what appears to be its singular rule: No weekly releases.
Since its inception, Netflix has employed the binge rule, where all of its shows, outside of some reality or foreign series, are released as a one-day binge, be that 6-10 episodes. But now, Netflix has deemed that almost any mildly or very successful show like Wednesday must now air its episodes in a 2+ month split, broken in half, or in some ridiculous instances, broken into thirds (see the November 26, December 25, December 31 split for Stranger Things season 5).
The goal for Netflix here is to have people forcibly signed up for two months to complete the series, but at this point, if the goal is a two months sign-up, I think it would just work out for everyone if for some series, the type that Netflix is planning to chop in half, a weekly release is going to be the more effective option that is a win for all sides.
Wednesday season 2
Netflix
Well, perhaps not a win for those who want an instant binge for a whole season, but operating under the assumption that Netflix is going to refuse to do that for almost everything, this is better. Here’s why:
- Netflix still achieves its goal of getting two months of a subscription. A show like Wednesday would still have to air across two months to get its eight episodes out. A ten episode season of show would stretch to three.
- Binge-desiring viewers aren’t getting what they want with the split anyway. Binging four episodes and ending on a cliffhanger than needed to wait an entire month for a relaunch is just about the worst way to air a show I can imagine. Yes, in the past, older school shows had midseason breaks, but back then we were talking about 16 episodes seasons of The Walking Dead split in half, not this.
- No episode 4 cliffhanger cuts. The way this is structured almost mandates some sort of big episode 4 finale and cliffhanger to get people to return of the second half, where previously the entire point of the binge was the freedom to tell stories without restrictions like that. Wednesday this past season was especially guilty of this.
- Extended conversation. I mean, how many times do we need to stay that series have the ability to extend their reach with weekly releases, which is what we see from nearly all the biggest, non-Netflix shows on TV.
I know Netflix is allergic to this but it’s been a decade, it’s time to evolve, and this half-season split is not it.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/09/08/wednesday-season-3-needs-to-break-netflixs-biggest-rule/
