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Richard Boone preferred his television series to have shorter seasons
Boone believed that the shorter the season, the better the quality of the series.
The assumption is typically that more is always better, but in many cases, people should be more focused on quality than quantity.
Richard Boone had quite a lengthy portrayal of the character Paladin on Have Gun – Will Travel. The series had about six seasons, with each season carrying anywhere between thirty-two and thirty-nine episodes. Today, that feels like a lot, but it's also important to remember that each episode of the series was about twenty-five minutes. In a typical series on television today, a season will likely have fewer episodes than a show like Have Gun – Will Travel, but the episode runtime will typically be extended to allow more time for plot development and character growth.
Nevertheless, there's good and bad to be said for a longer series versus a shorter one. Of course, someone like Richard Boone, a seasoned actor with an illustrious career, obviously had his own opinion on the matter. Luckily, he wasn't shy about sharing it.
Boone spoke in an interview with The Journal Herald, and it seemed that he preferred a shorter season in a series, at least from an actor's perspective. By contrast, Boone was later cast as Hec Ramsey in the 1972 series, Hec Ramsey. Boone also appeared as a gunslinger like his previous character Paladin, though Hec Ramsey had one distinct difference: A single season only had five episodes.
Granted, the runtime of each Hec Ramsey episode was lengthier than an episode of Have Gun – Will Travel, with episodes ranging between an hour and a half and two hours. However, the difference between the two series was obvious.
Boone stated, "In the days when we did 39, we'd do maybe 13 good ones, 13 that were fair, and 13 you wished to hell you'd never heard of. We spend more time now, cast it more carefully – and I think it shows."
But enough from Richard Boone, we want to hear what you think. Do you prefer a lengthier season, or would you rather a show be shorter and more intentional?
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