The COVID Cut

Just a quick (yeah, right!), side rant...have you guys noticed the COVID cut? By that, I mean, when your favorite shows come back, but the season is shortened, and, if they are based on a book, they have taken certain "liberties" with the story lines due to time restrictions due to COVID, because they just don't have the time to fit it in like they "normally" would?

This weekend, A Discovery of Witches started back on AMC+/Sundance/Shudder in the States (and I'll stop being lazy and italicize the show titles). We only got episode one, but all seven episodes were posted in the UK (it should have been a ten episode arch, but it was "COVID cut" due to the pandemic...oh, and someone "graciously", depending on your definition of the word, posted all seven eps on YouTube, more on that later). A Discovery of Witches is based on a triology of books, so season 3 was destined to be the final season. And yes, it has been almost two years since the finale of season 2, but again, we've been in a pandemic, so allowances must be given (although there was the same amount of time between season 1 and 2, so that might be questionable for this show).

This show, unlike Outlander, takes a lot more allowances from the books, and knowing it was a shortened season (which also meant budgetary cuts because they wouldn't have the crew due to COVID restraints), I knew the story would veer slightly more left than normal, but geez! Granted, I still loved it, but my early question to you is this: would you rather wait until the pandemic is over for your favorite show to return in all its glory, or have a shortened, possibly compromised season, so you don't have to wait?

Before you answer that, I need to admit that, yes, I went on YouTube and watched the leaked version of the rest of the episodes, so I have seen the entire season. I know I shouldn't give support to people who post videos like that, but I pay for the streaming service to see the show (and will continue to until my season airs in its entirety). I will buy the digital version when it's available, as well as the blu-ray version when it comes out. I pay for YouTube Premium. I buy Funkos, companion books, magazines with dedicated spreads...basically, they get their money back from me, one way or the other. Everyone else, well, that's their conscious, not mine. Granted, A Discovery of Witches doesn't have as much merch as Outlander, but when I get into a show, well, let's just say that a studio will get their money back from me, and then some. If Sony doesn't have enough of my money in just electronics, what I got deliveried today just in Outlander merch, probably paid for some poor sap's xmas bonus.

I need to also add that, I didn't hate season 3 of A Discovery of Witches, but it was my favorite of the three books, so I did have certain expectations in my head, even with the liberties of the show. I have the path of the show separate from the path of the books straight in my head and I was pretty sure the direction it was gonna go (or I thought I did) for season 3, but I was VERY wrong except for one story line (and I'm at least grateful they stuck true there, thank you Gallowglass!). I'm usually pretty spot on with my predictions, especially when I have source material to draw from. The COVID cut just butchered almost every story arc in ADOW (I'm gonna shorten A Discovery of Witches now, it's just too long to type) though...without true spoilers, big fights got dropped down to one-on-one's or cut entirely, major speeches became casual comments, and love scenes, became, well, love scene...singular (although ADOW has NEVER been Outlander).

I am not, by nature, a patient person, but I am used to British television, so two to three years in between series of a show isn't that big of a deal for me. I can get in an obsessive streak of a show, but I can still be pretty patient (considering) for the next series, sometimes just watching it on repeat is enough, no new material is needed. If I was given a choice between waiting another year and getting a potential longer season that could have fulfilled the story arc better, I would have glady waited the extra time for better material. And, I guess I should reitterate that, when I say "better", it wasn't horrible, far from it, I still cried like a baby, I just focused a LOT on the lost potential, more than I enjoyed all the good moments, which you really shouldn't do in the finale of a series, and I watched it four times all the way through, just trying to absorb all the little nuances they tried so hard to add in with what little time they had.

I get where people have to work and other fans might not be as patient, but what do you guys think? Have you noticed this trend? When the new season of Outlander starts in March, it will also be a condensed season, COVID cut, which means a lot of book 6 will have to be edited out due to time constraints. I would rather wait another year than have that happen, but apparently, I'm in the minority. I get that all of the movie/TV industry can't just stop, but maybe slow down a bit? If they have to cut things due to time or lack of people, then make season 6 half of book 6 and season 7 the second half of book 6 (each season pretty much follows the storyline of each book, ADOW did the same). Instead of condensation, lengthen it. They could have done the same thing with ADOW, since there are two very main story arcs in that book, one for Diana and one for Matthew, but now, it's too late and I have a lifetime of season 3 being, well, what it is, good, but with the potential of so much greatness.

I was going to make some comment about how I'm glad I don't watch a lot of television because, if I watched dozens of shows and they all came back like this, I'd be super pissed, but thinking on it, I honestly think it's worse when you only watch a couple of shows that you depend on for such high quality. It's not like I have those "burner" shows that I can say "well, I only watch those because there is nothing else to watch on a Monday night". I watch only one or two shows at a time, sometimes for a year at a time on constant repeat. Right now, it's Outlander, and has been for the past couple of months. Every waking home-life hour (which often means I sleep for the three hours my medication knocks me out, and then I'm back up again at 3 am until it's time to get ready for work) is spent watching Outlander, reading Outlander, watching YouTube videos about Outlander, and, when I'm at work, I play the scores to Outlander, all day long. The joys of OCD! But basically, a LOT of energy is spent on ONE show.

This weekend, with the premiere of A Discovery of Witches, was my first Outlander break since the end of November, but by Sunday night, I was back in Outlander world again, to take my mind off ADOW, but I just thought I'd drop you guys a quick (ha!) question blog to see if you've also noticed the COVID cut and get your thoughts on it! Maybe, with a bit of distance, ADOW won't seem so bad, and it might just be that Outlander, which ironically, I never noticed how similar the two actually are, is just higher up my totem pole right now and I'm trying to measure ADOW up to something it can't possibly compare to, at least, not at the moment. But for you guys that maybe watch a lot more TV (or maybe are like me and just watch one show), where do you stand?