When Did TV Get So Good?

[bunnielovekins]

"So, then. When The Escapist asked me if I wanted to take up writing a regular TV column (in addition to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. recaps, which will continue as their own thing), I ultimately said yes."
Looking forward to this.

On the subject however, I have to agree. I'm constantly told by my coworkers (all about 20 years older than me) that I should be watching walking dead, game of thrones, house of cards, etc. but they're really not my thing, I'd really rather sit down with an episode of star trek than a dry character drama. If I'm watching a show where the setting is a zombie apocalypse, I want that to be the focus of the show, not just the backdrop to a soap opera.

Pretty sure I'll be disagreed with for saying this, but there you go. Opinions, etc.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

This should be cool. I hope they are done Intermission style rather than AoS. I'm less interested in recaps with stream of conscience commentary than big picture, critical analysis. I'll still read it either way, and I assume AoS is a more efficient use of time.

I hope it's the same sort of thing. It's kind of weird that he didn't drop a title or a release schedule, but with luck he'll do that soon (and maybe get this column on the Escapist calendar).

 

[SNCommand]

I find myself more interested in TV shows than I do movies

There was a time when good acting and good cinematography was only found in movies because of low TV budgets, but that seems to have changed, and because of the increase in quality, I find it far more interesting to watch TV shows who have far more time to tell a story

I have a far more memorable time watching shows like The Wire, Band of Brothers, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Game of Thrones and Archer than any movie I have seen the last decade or so

MSNBC?
Really, Bob?

I'm not that surprised, Moviebob has let slip his political bias before

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Meh as long as every 45min show has roughly 20min of advertisment in between TV can go f* itself.
The only reason i use my TV nowadays is to hook up my laptop via hdmi and watch something on the big screen - or DvDs.

 

[mindfaQ]

Yes, there are a few good, recent series, but nothing that really makes me vomit rainbows and frown upon people that haven't seen the respective series. It seems to be a trend everywhere that people hype things they like - video games, shows, music, books. Guess part of the story are the social networks that try to awake the need to share your experiences with everyone. A series is something you spend more time with than a movie, so it will be shared more, aswell.

To be fair, I do like it a lot when I get more time to know the characters in a story, so that's a plus for series. Movies on the other hand have the advantage of perfectionist finetuning, more eye for the detail, so they can deliver another level of experience if done right. In the end the format must fit the story, not the other way around.

 

[SNCommand]

I can understand missing like 99% of these shows people rave over, but missing Breaking Bad or Banshee is just criminal.

I actually haven't seen either of them because the premise does in no way interest me

 

[Burnouts3s3]

I think with the lower budget, more creative control, and long-term planning that Hollywood seems incapable of making if not tied to a major blockbuster gives Television a lot more freedom to work and do stuff around.

Joss Wheadon had his beginnings with Buffy and that gave him the experience to make the Avengers. Seems logical to me.

 

[LiMaSaRe]

The thing that makes all these tv "gasps" so much worse is that the Godfather is a 3 hour movie-why not set aside an afternoon to experience a cinematic classic. But the show Breaking Bad, for example, had a 62 episode run in a 1-hour timeslot. So your friend insisting that you simply have to watch it is asking you to devote nearly 8 full-time work days to a work of entertainment-or they wont even talk to you about tv.

 

[Another]

Honestly, I don't watch TV hardly at all. Mostly because the amount of time needed to get into a series,especially one that already has been going for a couple of seasons. I don't have the time to binge on a series and catch up anymore, though I suppose if I had been watching from the beginning and just watching the new episode weekly instead of waiting for netflix or box set releases it would be easier to digest. But as I said, I can't be bothered to catch up to most of this stuff.

The one exception I made is Game of Thrones. I have all three seasons on disc, but am only partway through season 2 D: That's how little time I have.

 

[Briney-]

I think the quality of programming on television (at least in North America) has come a long way in the past 10-15 years, but we still have a long way to go. I hope we see a continued push towards shorter, tightly-woven narratives (6-10 episodes) that tell an entire story and explore themes that don't show up in the glut of police procedurals and medical dramas currently on display on most major television networks. HBO, and AMC in recent years, are examples of "specialty" networks that seem to understand the merits of strong writing and well-paced series (The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men and Breaking Bad are just a few examples). The BBC is another great example of a network that blends high-production values and tightly-scripted narratives over short series to produce some truly excellent television. All this to say: the blueprint for great television exists. Let's hope more major networks are willing to take the plunge to try and captivate their audience.

 

[RandV80]

Hah I've never seen the Godfather, and could really care less. I've seen a few others like Goodfella's and can honestly say I hate the 'mobster' genre. I'm probably too much of a white hat at heart, these just feel like they're romanticizing what are essentially a bunch of criminal scumbags that are a plague on our society.