How long are your seasons?

We just finished our second session on Monsterhearts (or, as we call it, "The Sexy-Broken Teenage Monster Show"), and we're stunned by how quickly the characters are advancing. One of my players advanced three times last session. Granted, he started with 4xp and tried to Turn On almost everyone he met every scene (he had Hot highlighted).

Anyway, when I started the game, I was expecting a season to take about six session. It's looking very much like the season will wrap up after 4 sessions. Is this normal? How long do your seasons usually last? Along those lines, how many sessions do your characters usually last before they retire?

Our season lasted 5 sessions with an additional two part pilot episode (since it started as a one shot which just sorta felt unresolved and grew from there). We tended to have one advance a session, perhaps an advance and a half depending on if we actually remembered to roll dice instead of just RP our way through it.

The pacing is as quick as the players want it to be. Since they determine when they roll for the most part. We actually found ourselves trying not to advance towards the end of our season cause we wanted to milk it for as much angst as we could and it became far more about the RP and less about the advancement.

In regards to the lifespan of typical character. You'll find that towards the end of the second season is where they tend to hit a wall advancement wise. Most skins have a stat boost for all 4 stats, a gang and perhaps 2 other skin moves. With a change of skin you get an additional 2 new skin moves and maybe a new gang. So that's around 10 advances. Not counting growing up moves, which you won't get if you chronically switch skins trying to get more moves.

I think our first season, which will end next time we play, will have lasted 9 sessions.
Admittedly we didn't really roll all that many dice, nor did the players always remember to actually note xp.

Our first season lasted 5 episodes if I recall and we were rolling lots on our highlighted stats, under the classic principle "If someone gives you a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail." I think we even got to the end of our second season in 3 episodes, but we might have fudged things to make that fit because we only had 3 weeks left to play in anyway.

Like anything, your group will play at the pace that suits them; if they like the slow burn, then 9 episodes is fine; if they want more pace, they'll get a season wrapped in 6 episodes. If they hit those hightlighted stats like they're going out of fashion, they can burn through a season in a shockingly short time.

Granted, he started with 4xp and tried to Turn On almost everyone he met every scene (he had Hot highlighted).

How about The Singleton Rule on p. 34?

We used the singleton rule (honest!)

But with every new scene, if there was a seducible person in the scene with him (usually another PC) he'd bring on the charm.

Not really a complaint, mind you. His character's kind of a slick dude, and it's been a great way to get strings. It's just been a big XP mill, too.

Having Cold highlighted in the same session didn't hurt him either. If he wasn't turning someone on, he was in their face shutting them down.

We've had another session between now and then, and the XP wasn't quite as fertile this time--a combination of  highlighting less-used traits and a slower pace. I think the session that prompted this thread may have just been an "on" session for some of the players. It looks like we're going to be able to get at least 5 sessions out of the season.