Deadline reports that episodes of "Stuart Fails To Save The Universe," HBO Max's forthcoming Big Bang Theory spinoff, are unusually short for a streaming comedy, despite the format's freedom from broadcast-length constraints. Creators Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and Zak Penn deliberately kept runtimes brief rather than padding scenes, prioritising storytelling efficiency over convention, in a departure from the 22-minute template Lorre and Prady have used throughout their broadcast careers.

Of the 10 episodes in Season 1, one runs just 15 minutes, four are 18 minutes, and the remainder come in at 20, 21, 22, 24 and 25 minutes. Lorre said the decision was not budget-driven but a creative choice to avoid "padding" once a story had been fully told, arguing that traditional episode lengths stem from network advertising needs that no longer apply to streaming. Each episode ends with the characters landing in a new alternate reality, a structural device Lorre and Prady said naturally emerged as a teaser for the next instalment, helping suit the binge-watching format.