It's definitely happened. Over the past
five to ten years or so, since sometime around the early 2000's, a
major shift has taken place. TV today is vastly superior
entertainment to films. The good stories, the good actors, the good
production value (although Hollywood admittedly still has the good
budgets), all of it has moved from the big screen to the small one.
If you need proof, just flip on any one of half a dozen stellar shows
presently on HBO. After that, poke your head briefly into a movie
theater and catch a glimpse of some of the crap being pumped out of
those places nowadays. When did this shift begin? It's a fascinating
question, because the change happened so completely and so quickly. I
don't know the exact reason, but I have a few ideas to toss into the
ring anyway.
1. The Execs at AMC
I did next to no research before making
this list, beyond tapping into the wealth of trivial information
already inside my noggin, but I like to imagine a board meeting at
AMC that went something like this. A young associate is giving a
presentation to the executives of AMC. It's 2006. Profits are down,
he says. Only old people watch this network. We need something to
revitalize things. And I have an idea: let's make TV that's actually
good. Because strangely enough,
nobody's doing that.
In the
few short years since AMC began producing original series like “Mad
Men”, “Breaking Bad”, and “The Walking Dead”, the network
has skyrocketed to the top of the cable TV food chain, past that, and
into the stratosphere. They almost managed to surpass HBO, the
original network of quality TV, who, with shows like “Six Feet
Under” and “The Sopranos”, has swept the Emmys pretty much
every year since 2000. AMC getting into the game was the first sign
of an overall shift to
the magnificent.
This board meeting
could have been the moment that the change was set into motion, but
how did it happen in the first place? Well, for starters, there was
the fact that...
2. TV Now Exists In Two Worlds:
Scripted And Reality
“Survivor” more-or-less began the
reality TV era (there was The Real World before that, but who cares).
After its success, TV seems to have hit a major fork, with every new
show eventually drifting into one of two zones: either towards
well-casted, well-written, high grade scripted TV, or down into the
Bog of Eternal Reality. As much as I hate reality TV, I am grateful
for its existence. The production of that drivel has made everything
else better. It's satisfied the demographic of idiots that enjoy
watching The Situation flex his over-tanned muscles. Reality TV
satiated the heathens, leaving the path wide open to scripted gold.
The Wire was approximately 10 years
ahead of its time. Shows like 24 and Lost in the early 2000's hinted
at the shift. But then Breaking Bad came along and broke the mold.
No, that's not right. Breaking Bad shattered the mold, completely
rethought the idea of the mold, and brought Mold 2.0 out in all its
shining glory for everyone in the world of TV to behold. (yes, I'm
one of those people. Breaking Bad is awesome. Deal with it.)
3. TV Is Now Infinite Access
Entertainment
There's a terrific scene in one of the
later seasons of “Breaking Bad” that I quite enjoy (spoilers
light if any). Jesse and Walt are having a disagreement about an
endeavor Jesse plans to make. It turns physical. They roll around on
the floor and fight. When the rumble is over, Jesse asks Walt, “Can
you walk?” Walter indicates that he can. “Then get the fuck out
of here and never come back.” Jesse replies.
This is not the first F-bomb in
Breaking Bad; Walter tells off his boss in the pilot of the show
using the word. So why the F word? The show airs on AMC. The
producers know that it'll have to be censored.
It's because the environment of TV has
changed. Sure, when Breaking Bad airs on TV initially, the F-words
will be silenced. But we live in an age when TV is on demand (both
literally and on Comcast). People can have their TV now, later, next
week or next month, on DVR, on Tivo, on BluRay or DVD, whenever and
wherever they want. They can pirate it illegally, they can stream it
on Amazon or Netflix, and they certainly can get it in a situation
where it doesn't have to be censored. The FCC has lost all its
leverage anymore, and even though F Bombs are still censored in one
tiny context, producers of shows understand that the practicalities
of the 2010's make their TV timeless. If an F Bomb is called for, it
ought to show up- it will be heard soon enough.
In the old era of TV, there was a
finite feeling to each episode. The airing of that episode, that
night, for that one moment, was the climax of the experience. We've
left that idea in the dust, and TV shows are now a lasting experience
that people are much more likely to enjoy reliving again and again.
We're rewatching our favorite shows as often now as we rewatch our
favorite movies. That makes TV more valuable than ever.
Also, it's easier to marathon an entire
season in one afternoon, ever since...
4. Season Length Now Favors Quality
Over Quantity
TV used to be season-based. As in,
lasting through multiple seasons of the year. A show's run
could last the better part of 12 months. It was a weekly ritual- you
could count on your show to be there for you for a long time. Sure,
it was mediocre, but it was reliable.
TV is more cinematic now. The number of
episodes per season has shrank dramatically from the mid twenties to
the low teens. The first season of The Newsroom had only ten
episodes. The first season of Breaking Bad had only seven (partially
due to the writer's strike, but still). This changes how we think of
TV, and as a result, how producers create it.
Go watch a few episodes of Aaron
Sorkin-created “The West Wing” (if you don't know who Aaron
Sorkin is, Google him. You've definitely watched multiple things he's
responsible for). “West Wing” sometimes feels very similar to
Sorkin's more recent series, “The Newsroom”. The dialogue is
quick and snappy. The characters are self-conscious and overly human.
The drama gets REALLY drama-ey at times. And yet....The whole
Newsroom season is about
something. There's a predetermined arc to the story that we can see,
hear, and feel as we watch it. In many ways, it is like a very long
film in several parts. “The West Wing” has a much different pace.
It's built on the old model, where writers sat down to pump out
episode 16 after episode 5 already aired. “What new predicament
will the gang get into this week?” That style of television is, for
all intents and purposes, over. There's a new sheriff in town, and
his name is Quality. We don't want TV episodes coming off an assembly
line. We want the good stuff, and if we only get it over the space of
a couple of months per year, apparently we're fine with that. Game of
Thrones is so popular, people have actually started naming their new babies “Khaleesi”, and with only ten episodes a year. Which
brings me to...
#5 Game of Thrones. Nuff said.
My favorite films as an adolescent were
the Lord of the Rings movies. I watched them obsessively, purchasing
the “extended cut” DVDs, which increased the total run time of
the films from 9.5 hours to 13 or so. Those movies were so long, even
die hard fans could get bored. How ironic, then, that despite the
oppressive length, so much of the original story STILL had to be cut
out! The cinematic format just couldn't handle a fantasy epic.
Enter Game of Thrones.
Now, please don't get me wrong: Game of
Thrones could NOT have existed without Lord of the Rings. Period.
Before LotR was greenlighted, people simply didn't make high-budget
fantasy on TV or in movies, at all. In the 20 years before LotR came
out, we had nothing much beyond The Dark Crystal and a terrible Tom
Cruise movie called “Legend” that nobody watched. New Line Cinema
agreed to let Peter Jackson, a chunky, massively under-qualified
doofus from New Zealand, direct Lord of the Rings. They greenlighted
all three films at once, embarking on a financial endeavor that could
easily have bankrupted the studio. But the idea worked, and the rest
is history.
Game of Thrones had the ridiculous luck
of being ready to become a show right as the age of awesome TV was
opening up, AND after LotR proved to everyone that fantasy can make
money. The result is probably one of the most well-made fantasy
anything since ever. That's the kind of accomplishment that only used to exist in cinema. But not anymore.
I'm certainly not saying that Hollywood
is over. It's still a multi-billion dollar industry, with huge
budgets and lots of interesting things to say (and they've still got
comic book movies when they need to make a buck). But TV has stolen
the true cinematic pizzazz from Hollywood, and I don't see them
giving it back anytime soon.
And that, as an Aaron Sorkin character
might cheekily announce, is all she wrote.
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