u/winmichelle7

Wanted to point something out that I saw in the main sub because I know some were disappointed that S4 didn't make Netflix's top 10.

Netflix's calculation for total hours viewed is directly impacted by run time. Season 4 has a runtime of 8 hours 45 mins compared to Season 3's runtime of 7 hours and 55 mins. That's a whole hour more.

This is how Netflix calculates the views: Total hours watched ÷ runtime

If we reverse the calculation for both seasons to derive at total hours watched, it would like this (assuming S4 got 95m views, the higher end of the estimated range):

S4: 95m x 8.8h = 836 million total views

S3: 106m x 7.9h = 837 million total views

Virtually identical. Meaning if S3 had the same runtime as S4, it would also end up at a calculated 95m views.

Just wanted to put this out there because I'm getting so tired of the fandom treating viewership numbers like Kpop stan wars. The show has always done well and has consistently gotten 90 to 100m views. I hope it continues to do so.

Been seeing a lot of commentary on how Bridgerton handles past leads due to how Off Campus has been handling their season switch and their showrunner mentioning the S1 leads won't be disappearing. I wanted to discuss how much screentime is actually feasible for prior leads. Some are also talking about the writing and the plots given to some characters which I won't be including here cause that's a whole separate conversation.

Before anything, I did want to point out that Off Campus will have four couples compared to eight couples that the audience falls in love with and want to see more of in future seasons. Double the number of characters right there.

Let's start off with a few non-negotiables. I think we all agree the main couple should have 45-50% of the screentime. This is what Saphne and Benophie got. Any less and you'll get valid complaints like we saw from Polin and Kanthony fans.

The B plot should have about 10% to set up the next lead, ala Francesca in S4.

Then there are the characters introduced for the "non-Bridgerton" lead for about another 10%. This would be the Penwoods and Downstairs staff in S4 for Sophie's set up. The Bridgertons as a family typically also get another 5%.

That's 75% right there for non-negotiable screentime. Imo, you cannot allocate less for the above without hurting the main lead or the setup of the main lead (again the content itself is a whole other conversation).

After all of that, you're left with about 25%. This is reserved for the future leads (Hyacinth and Gregory), some time for the previous season's leads (Kanthony in S3 and Polin, mainly Pen in S4), Violet, Lady Danbury and Queen Charlotte (usually the same plotline), and the Mondriches. I agree that the time for Danbury/QC/the Mondriches should be cut since I don't really see what the show can possibly give them that's not repetitive and interesting enough. For Violet, this is a bit more complicated since she needs to be a part of every main couple's story somehow. At most, you can reduce her time to just supporting the main couple and maybe leave her individual wants on the shelf until her eventual spinoff.

So that's about three to four storylines that can be removed and given to the previous leads instead. If we split that time up and give it to the previous four leads in S5, there will likely only be time to explore their lives as a couple rather than the characters as individuals (seen a lot of other complaints say that the women's stories do not expand past being a wife and a mother). If they were to explore the actual individuals, they'd likely have to prioritize one half of each pairing (ie. Pen prioritized over Colin in S4). Even in this scenario, there would have to be a phaseout of older leads to make way for the newer leads fresh off their season. There's only so much time available and after every season, you're adding on one more couple to incorporate. If you don't do a phaseout, you're splitting this time between five, then six, then seven couples.

A lot of people reference Season 1 as the best balance of an ensemble but Fran, Hyacinth, and Gregory were non-existent and they didn't have to worry about incorporating past leads.

As a caveat, there's also the issue of the budget. Netflix makes the final call on how much the show gets every season. These corporations are greedy af and don't want to pay these actors top dollar for less than 5% of screentime. Pretty sure the actors get paid by the episode rather than screentime so that adds up quickly. *Not defending Netflix before anyone says anything*

There are a lot of valid complaints against the show and this is one that most people want to see a solution for. But when you break it down on a granular level, it's a bit difficult to do without the show feeling a bit bloated.