How Many Episodes of a Show You Should Watch Before You Give Up On It?

Photo by Piotr Cichosz on Unsplash

You know when a friend recommends a show to you, and adds in a fair warning like, “Give it a few episodes, I swear it’s good“?  Well, they’re probably not wrong.

There’s a new study based on IMDb ratings, and it found that you should give a new show an average of SIX episodes to get good. I mean, some shows are so bad they may never get good, but by episode six that should be clear.

Here are 12 shows that took a while to hit their potential, and the number of episodes it took to reach its potential:

This is when the episode’s IMDb rating was higher than the show’s average.

1.  “Breaking Bad”: 6

2.  “Doctor Who”: 6

3.  “Friends”: 7

4.  “South Park”: 8

5.  “Seinfeld”: 16

6.  “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”: 8

7.  “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”: 8

8.  “Community”: 7

9.  “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”: 6

10.  “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”: 13

11.  “The 100”: 9

12.  “BoJack Horseman”: 8

SOURCE: Stat Significant