A rant about TV shows
I grew up watching TV in the 90s, which means I grew up watching TV series with 20+ episodes per season, released weekly, and that ran for years and years. Too many episodes, for too long, really. Beverly Hills 90210 had 10 seasons and some of them had more than 30 episodes! That's insane.
But you know, for a while, around the 2010s, we had the perfect balance. The Americans, Breaking Bad, Mad Man... those were great quality TV shows that ran for 6, 7 seasons, released consistently every year, and that had around 13 weekly episodes per season. It was perfect: 13 quality episodes every year and a proper ending.
And then, we ruined it all. It was fun for a while, having all these series with the whole season released all at once, binge-watching them for two days and moving on to the next one. But now it sucks. Quality wise, yes, we still have some great shows, of course. But they have like 7, 8 episodes per season, released all at once, we watch everything over a weekend and then we have to wait for like two, three years to watch the next season? And even when the episodes are released weekly, waiting for years for the next season is just ridiculous. And that's even being optimistic, since lately most shows get canceled after two seasons. I'm sick of it and I don't get it.
in 2023 I started watching The Great Door Prize (apple), and I was really into it. The show was renewed for a second season before the first season was released, and then it was canceled before the second season was released. What's up with that?
Also, there's the social aspect of it, which is mostly lost. We don't watch the same things at the same time anymore, so there's barely any conversation about it. I miss that. Remember how it was watching Lost? Waiting every week for a new episode, talking about it the next day, making stupid theories, arguing about the finale... Those were good days.
or don't.