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What are some of your unpopular TV opinions about shows, the industry etc? (lemm.ee)

submitted 4 months ago by Skavau@lemm.ee to c/Television@lemm.ee

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[–] seeigel@feddit.org 7 points 4 months ago

TV shows are made with great skill but for some reason they lack the timeliness of a great movie.

The movie industry taking all their cues from TV shows has led to the consequence that nothing worth watching is produced nowadays.

[+] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] Skavau@lemm.ee 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Depends on the TV series purpose. Many episodes in 26 episode seasons weren't plot-driven as such, as the episode was entirely self-contained and could be skipped without missing anything related to the wider arc

[–] gila@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The same can be said for many episodes in 10-episode seasons, and due to that constraint those examples are more disruptive to plot progression and tend to be counterbalanced with episodes which rush progression but aren't actually good.

[–] Skavau@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Do you think Black Sails, Dark were constrained?

[–] gila@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think most series are constrained to their respective runtimes and while those constraints do shape the nature of the themes they have the capacity to explore, it isn't always a problem even for series with fewer than 10 episodes. I haven't watched either of those recently enough to speak on them, but I think 10-episode series have become a de facto standard that is problematic for many shows and seasons. Severance S2 and The Bear S3 come to mind as recent examples. Both tend to experiment with the form of episodic storytelling in a way which, while interesting and worthwhile in my opinion, ultimately serves to make their respective season arcs less cohesive as a direct result of that constraint.

[–] Skavau@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I find it strange because when you look at the highest rated TV series of all time, almost all of them are about 10-13 episodes long a season. Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Mr. Robot, Dark. The long-form 22-24 episode a season TV series are not as highly critically acclaimed, on average, in comparison.

I don't mean to appeal to popularity here, but the most 'prestigious' of content has mostly been serialised.

[–] gila@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think the trope developed over the course of the TV renaissance period post-early 2000s. At the time The Sopranos S1 was released, it didn't exist. The most interesting season of The Sopranos is S6, because it subverts expectation of a series runtime to experiment as a kind of celebration of the established universe and characters and their interactions. It is more than a pastiche of itself though, as it goes in genuinely new directions. 21 was the number of episodes which naturally suited the creative direction of the season and series, within reason of course. Not an even number or multiple of 5, not a number designed to perfectly fill a network timeslot.

GoT (earlier seasons) & Better Call Saul are great examples of shows that effectively harness the 10-episode constraint and deliver great story arcs in spite of them, as I recall. The Wire is another. I think Mr Robot S3 is harmed by the same constraint, where focus was diverted away from storytelling and toward marketability, both to studios and audiences. A different runtime could have improved the show, but by that point in the industry & culture that isn't something that would reasonably be on the table. The more modern version of what Sopranos S6 was is Ozark S4 - forced. Format is now restricted to a 'full length' 10-episode season or fewer, or it is purposefully different as a contrivance of industry. And I highly doubt that was a boon for those highly rated & popular full length series, good as they are.

[–] Skavau@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

I think one thing you have to keep in mind is that a lot of leading contemporary actors who get cast in modern TV series are not down to do 20-24 episodes a season as leads. Many of them are on other shows, or films and don't want such an obscene filming schedule - and are able to negotiate that as an outcome. Apart from which, a contemporary 20-24 episodes long TV series really has to compete in a way it didn't 20, even 10 years ago. Unless you're just a by-the-books network medical/cop procedural with a built-in presumably older audience, there's a lot more competition for people's attention now.

When TV shows were airing in the 90s and early 00s and late 00s, people weren't really watching korean TV, or nordic noir for instance. There was very little of it comparatively, and what there was barely made it to the USA. This means getting people's attention for a TV show with such a large amount of episodes compared to everything else is a pretty tall order. Audiences also expect, I think, better budgets per episode now.

I watched Mr. Robot years ago now, but I'd disagree that it was harmed by its episode count. It was intensely serialised and packed a lot in it, whereas the majority of older 20-24 episode shows were primarily 'monster-of-the-week' with some of them having over half of their episodes a season completely self-contained.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 5 points 4 months ago

Lower Decks is just Rick And Morty with a franchise.

[–] dumblederp@aussie.zone 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Bad people can make good art. Weinstein, Gaiman, Spacey, Luc Besson, etc.