Michael Schur Says Streaming's 'Completion Rates' Are Killing the Sitcom

Michael Schur, the creator of "Parks and Recreation" and "The Good Place," says the sitcom is in trouble because streamers now judge shows by "completion rates" — how many viewers finish a series rather than how many sample it. He made the remarks at Variety's annual Night in the Writers' Room: Awards Season Edition, ahead of the launch of his new Peacock series, "Dig."

"That's part of this new kind of 'tech bro' ethos that has seeped into our business," Schur told the audience. "It doesn't matter how many people sample the show. It matters how many people end up watching the whole thing."

Why comedy needs room to fail

Comedies, Schur argued, need time. Audiences must bond with characters before they find them funny. "Cheers," "Seinfeld" and "The Office" were not out-of-the-box hits. "Parks and Recreation" itself only found its voice at the end of Season 1. "We only got there because we failed a bunch of times in a row figuring out how to get to that point," he said.

"I just wish that we were still in the world where you could fail in comedy for a while and because the failure is the R&D," Schur said. "In the old system, you had a couple months to fail, and now you don't. Because if people tune out in the first two episodes, the research shows that they never go back."

What the old episode counts gave writers

The broadcast model of 22 or more episodes per season — now enjoyed by only a handful of sitcoms — gave writers room to find their groove. Michael Patrick King, co-creator of HBO's "The Comeback," put it plainly: "You get to tell a lot of story, and out of 24 episodes, there's maybe three weak ones."

Lisa Kudrow, King's "Comeback" co-creator and star, noted that even "Friends" didn't take off until the summer after its first season. "Repeats were run after Seinfeld, and that's when it exploded," she said.

With most streaming comedies capped at eight or 10 episodes, Schur worries the craft itself is fading. "There's very few people left who have a muscle memory of how to actually execute that. And I don't want it to go away. I think we need it back."

Can 'Adults' point a way forward?

The panel found one hopeful sign. FX's "Adults," announced that same day, has been renewed for Season 3 with 16 episodes. Creators Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw said the larger order lets them plan holiday episodes and character-driven storylines without inflating the stakes.

"From a production standpoint, we're, of course, very daunted," Shaw said. "But from a storytelling perspective, it's so exciting."

FX showed a rare dose of patience with the pair, asking them to retroactively shoot a new pilot that introduces the characters and universe more fully. "[FX boss] John Landgraf gave us a call and said, 'Listen, the show is responding with Gen Z, which is great. We want it to be bigger. We think it can be bigger,'" Shaw said. The new pilot helped audience sampling.

Is tone even definable?

Streaming's short orders make establishing tone fast a necessity. Matt Miller, executive producer of Prime Video's "Ride or Die" — starring Hannah Waddingham as an assassin and Octavia Spencer as her best friend — said mixing action, mystery and comedy in eight episodes was a tall order. "Humor is the hardest part," he said. "We're always super conscious of, how would a person behave in this. What is the grounded version of this?"

Schur, reuniting with Amy Poehler for "Dig," said she arrived with the show largely figured out. Still, he admitted: "Tone is the hardest thing. No one can actually define it." His method is subtraction: keep removing what doesn't seem right, "and what you're left with is the tone of the show."

King warned that defining tone can kill it — and that shrinking writers' rooms shrink tone itself. "As the rooms get smaller and smaller, you have fewer people creating that tone," he said.

What's next for 'The Comeback' and 'Ride or Die'?

Is "The Comeback" really over? "No," Kudrow said. King added: "It was harrowing to do it again after 10 years. We kind of think we're done." ("Don't say 'kind of!'" Kudrow quipped.)

"Ride or Die" has been canceled by Prime Video, but Paramount TV Studios is shopping it elsewhere. A 20-week Season 2 writers' room already exists, and Miller teased: Octavia's son is getting married, and "wackiness ensues." "If Mr. Bezos called and asked us to do Season 2, we would be delighted," he said. The party, it seems, is still waiting for its welcome mat.