Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
I’m going OT, but I see this a lot and I just don’t get it. I don’t watch television, but if I did watch television, I wouldn’t watch television anyway if I thought it the “vast wasteland” of Newton Minow’s famous speech, if that makes sense.
I don’t watch television because I don’t like television. I don’t like the noise or the light and I’d rather read anyway. But if I wanted to watch television, this seems likes a golden age to me with tons of quality choices. Maybe not for hours every single evening, but for a few shows per week? I’d have a hard time narrowing it down.  |
It's not quite off-topic since TV is going to way of book publishing in one very neglected way: fragmentation. And the newer shows are becoming increasingly faithful to the source material because of the freedom from having to appeal to everybody everywhere. The new paradigm isn't about volume viewership as much as delighting the right niche.
It used to be that TV was lowest-common denominator programing because the number of distribution channels was limited and the dominant revenue was ad sales, which demanded huge numbers. So, while TV was never a true wasteland, those with specific tastes and expectations had tobe on the lookout for the few programs that came close to matching their taste, for as long as they might last.
That ended, to an extent, with pay cable and niche cable originals. A tge same time, broadcast programmers discovered (with St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues, STNG, and BUFFY, among others) that viewers weren't quite as...low attention span...as previously assumed and programing became more sequential, often serialized, and more sophisticated.
By now, though, with the dawning of narrowcasting and streaming, TV programing has evolved into a collection of niche series, ranging from fun mindcandy to challenging and sophisticated video novels. There truly is something for everybody.
However... The old paradigm of turning on the TV to see what's playing no longer works. To truly exploit the world of streaming you have to know exactly what you're looking for, very much like going into an online ebookstore.
Pick a genre, do a bit of sampling, and you'll find true jewels in many genres and from many sources. And what is available is stuff unthinkable just a decade ago. Korean or Australians soaps? Check. Cult clasics like THE PRISONER or THE AVENGERS? Yes.
Mysteries like Agatha Christie's ABC MURDERS (John Malkovic as an aging Poirot who's no longer viewed as a superstar detective), book series adaptations like BOSCH or LONGMIRE, or cat and mouse crime dramas like KILLING EVE or THE BRIDGE (both the original and the remake). Science Fiction and fantasies all over; things like ALTERED CARBON, WATCHMEN, (remade and ridiculously improved) LOST IN SPACE, WITCHER, THE BOYS, etc.
All available at the viewer's convenience: day or night, one at a time or in a binge. Usually without commercials and cheaper than paying for 500 channels you don't watch.
It is truly a golden age of video entertainment but it requires more engagement than just turning on the TV and hoping something watchable is sent out by the three (only) networks. Just as ebooks provide an eternal backlist, the new streaming services are evolving into decades-deep archives accumulating everything that ever ran alongside all-new genre specific series. Much like with books, the consumer is now king and creators are much freer to tell their stories their way.
We're almost where the old QWEST commercials promised in 1999.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAxt...&persist_app=1
So yes, Golden Age is exactly right.