Funding a show episode-by-episode would be way more expensive. It saves so much money when you can do things like produce multiple episodes at once, schedule filming locations or actor's time in advance, or leave sets up for months of filming. It can take many months for a single episode to be completed.
Having to shut down production and fire everything up again after every episode based on the how the numbers look after every release seems like a logistical nightmare.
Having to shut down production and fire everything up again after every episode based on the how the numbers look after every release seems like a logistical nightmare.