The season ending cliffhanger loses its effectiveness when you have to wait 18-24 months for the next season.

From the viewer's perspective, the appeal of the cliffhanger is to create anticipation. But this anticipation will inevitably fade if too much time goes by. For cliffhangers back in the day, you either waited a week when a show had a two-parter or a few months when a season ended in June and the next started in September.

I was reminded of this contrast by the last two episodes of Yellowjackets. In one, they dropped a HUGE WTF moment that would have been worthy of a season ending cliffhanger. But it was just a mid season episode.

Fans were blown away! And that momentum continued because we would find out what happened next just a mere seven days later. I don't remember the last time I felt this hyped. While I love Yellowjackets it is known to be a somewhat uneven show. None of that mattered! The anticipation was killing us.

But if I had to wait two years...geez. The anticipation would have long subsided. I'd certainly watch the new season but not with the same excitement. In large part because, while the cliffhanger itself would still be fresh in my mind, I would have forgotten a whole lot of other details surrounding it. Thus taking us out of the context.

Maybe that should be the way going forward. Put the cliffhanger mid-season and then end the storyline at season's end with a few stray threads going into the next.