New Delhi, Aug. 20 -- Television shows used to have the decency to show up on time.

I don't mean immediately, of course. Nobody is asking prestige television to work like a microwave dinner. Great shows take time. Scripts need to be written, actors need to be available, sets need to be built, directors need to stare meaningfully into middle distance while deciding whether a corridor should be blue. Art takes time.

Yet the term "appointment viewing" cuts both ways, and shows today have developed the alarming habit of ghosting their audiences. The average gap between seasons of scripted streaming original shows has almost doubled-according to Ampere Analysis-from 12 months in 2020 to 21 months in 2025. That's just the average. The great s...