TV shows are shooting themselves in the foot with inconsistently long running times

GQ

"When a drama tinkers all season long with episodes that can run from 45 minutes to 75 minutes, it creates a narrative uncertainty that I, the viewer at home, can sense on a subconscious level," says Drew Magary, echoing a recent complaint that "overly long episodes are the manspreading of TV." "It makes me uneasy. I have no sense of structure for the story."  Magary adds: "Take The Americans, for example. Now, I bailed on this show in its penultimate season because of its comically turgid pacing. It’s like living through the Cold War in real time. I think there was an entire episode that just consisted of Oleg touring a supermarket. After a trial separation, I have returned to that show in its final go-round, mostly because I wanna see if Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys get busted, or maybe even betray each other and square off in the Octagon. But the very small amount of goodwill I’m willing to extend that show gets severely tested when I queue up an episode and I’m greeted with a running time of 1:23. Come on, man. What the f*ck. I know not every story fits properly into a set time frame, but did you REALLY need all those extra shots of Elizabeth pensively smoking a Camel out on the patio?"