Don't Knock TV: It's Going To Get Better

[The Random One]

Lost? Pah! If I want to see a complex story in which complex characters have to unravel a time-traveling mystery in a closed-off world that plays by its own rules, I'll read Homestuck [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/].

But I agree completely. It's curious how television has none of the stigma surrounding, say, videogames and graphic novels, and yet suffers from the same problem that only a few visionaries try to stretch the media to its limit. Television should be considered a long form version of a movie, it should be to cinema what a novel is to a short story, but no, only pragmatic, formulaic shows are allowed to shine.

I wonder how much TV will be hurt by the growth of the internet. I guess not much, because of the so called fourty-five degrees (i.e. you need to be sitting up to use a computer but can be lying back to watch TV, so even if using a computer is objectively better than watching TV sometimes people will prefer the passive activity). Which is too bad because it needs to be shaken up a tad.

 

[beema]

I hope you're right about TV getting better and more creative.
I'm a bit at odds with you about Lost though. Your two week marathon watching was a completely different experience than my YEARS of watching and dedication to the show, which led to a gigantic emotional buildup, among other things. When it got to The End I was entirely furious with the show because of this, something you never experienced. This is both good and bad.

 

[_Nocturnal]

You do realize with continuously excellent writing like this we're going to demand a regular column, right?
It's past time, I'd say!

 

[Sheinen]

I stopped watching stuff on TV a loooong time ago, but that was really just to avoid Barry Scott.

I've been working my way through The Mentalist for the last couple of weeks and it'd be better weekly. I'm loving the show, but the formula is wearing a little thin. The same thing is starting to hit home with Lie to Me and Castle.

And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. A good weekly hit of well scripted drama and intrigue does you well, and gives you something to look forward to on a Tuesday night. By cramming them all together it's like drinking orange squash straight from the bottle - its overpowering and likely to put you off orange squash for a while...

We've also got Dexter, The Walking Dead, Fringe, new seasons of Hung, V, in Britain The Inbetweeners, The Misfits and for the more childish Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show. And they're just the one's I'm into at the moment. Tv's doing pretty well right now - they may have cancelled some excellent shows for stupid reasons, but what's left isn't ALL bad. It's the 'humble' DVR that allows me to watch all these without paying out extra, so Netflix and I-Tunes can do one.

 

[likalaruku]

At this point, it can hardly get worse.

Sure it can; they can stop airing old reruns & replace 100% of the shows with reality TV & morons looking for ghosts.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Won't happen over here. The monopolies (Murdoch) that run us will only show what they think we want to see, so we get drabs of Doctor Who slotted in between Come see "Celebrities" do something else and Come see "normal" people taunted by "Celebrities".

No Colbert Report unless we watch it illegally, No HBO, and you have to escape right out to BBC3 to catch anything new.

And then there's some series that are cancelled without trace and we still have to see Del Boy fall through a bar AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.

Bastards.

And to make it worse, what do we show the world? Mr. Bean - which is exactly what Laurel and Hardy were originally doing.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

It will only get better when the episodes are upped onto the internet with a 30 second ad before a 30 min show with hour shows having a 2nd 30 second ad in the middle, the episode is upped online at the same time each week and if a programme isn't attracting enough viewers the ad company will drop it's sponsoring, therefor we will be choosing the shows success by watching them, there will no longer be networks, it will all be made by small production houses. Buffer rate won't be a problem as internet speeds are increasing across the board.
The future of TV is to emulate the pirate set up otherwise people will always choose to pirate if it is easier

 

[quantumsoul]

I only watch streaming tv via hdmi on my laptop. It's great since I can't afford cable. So more streaming is good new to me, especially if this means better shows.

 

[antidonkey]

Netflix has ruined television for me. These days, I'd much rather wait until an entire season is available for streaming than watch it week by week on TV. There's something about being able to burn through an entire season in a few days.

 

[silentrob77]

Well since Netflix came to Canada that all I've been doing.
YOUR GONNA LOVE MAD MEN! God when I watch that show all I wanna do is smoke, wear a fedora and smack women on the behind and say "Nice job sweetlips"

 

[luas_dublin]

..

The future of TV is to emulate the pirate set up otherwise people will always choose to pirate if it is easier

...or when it's all that's available, netflix, love film , hulu ,iplayer all them aren't available in my neck of the woods , and I doubt they will anytime soon...I'd quite happily pay (something reasonable)to view programs/movies online but there's nothing out there for my region.(bar E4 for some reason , fair play to them).
(In theory I could wait 6 months or a year to see things that other internet people I chat with can see right now , but why should I , when there's no physical reason??
The internet was supposed to make the world a smaller place , and it has , so why do TV companies stick to the old world method of segregation and constructed borders?)

 

[omega247]

If you watch the Wire I feel it is my duty to provide a disclaimer:

Warning: Any show you watch after it will seem slightly disappointing