#Tv stuff

[cassmouse]

Finally finishing S2E2 of HotD and watching Otto realise in real time that Rhaenyra should've been queen after all while talking to Aegon is absolute TV gold

[ironworked]

[...] says veteran ER and The West Wing producer John Wells. “Not having [new episodes] available for a long period of time is one of the reasons why shows decline rather than build an audience — even shows that come on big in their first year.”

A programming exec at a major streamer concurs, arguing that “familiarity” is what sets television apart from the feature film experience.

[...]

Insiders point to three big factors behind The Big Wait:

TV shows have turned into spectacles: in the Disney+ era, both Marvel and Star Wars shows have felt like elongated movies which may or may not get sequels years after their initial release. The outsize ambition of these tentpole projects — even a period costume drama like Bridgerton — means turning around a new season every year “is just physically not possible given what needs to be shot.

Movie people don’t know how to make shows quickly: the near collapse of the mid-budget theatrical-film business has forced less-famous movie vets to seek work in television. [...] “But they came from a different system where things took longer to get made, and they brought that kind of approach to TV.” [...] streaming execs [...] could have found a way to keep this sort of episodic TV factory going, but instead opted to follow Netflix off the short-season cliff, believing audiences wanted to hook up with a sexy new show every few weeks rather than form long-term relationships with a few really good series.

The streaming production model doesn’t encourage timeliness. in addition to more time required for complicated special effects on many shows, today’s global platforms need “as many as 120 days to conform it to all the various territories that it’s going into,” [...] Then, once a new season of a show finally does premiere, streamers will often take their sweet time deciding whether it makes sense to order another season. “Tech companies wait 30, 60, 90 days after a binge drop to get performance data,” [...] “specific metrics: completion rates of episodes and the full season, did it attract new subscribers, did it attract high income viewers.” Those numbers then get measured against the show’s overall production budget [...]

Can This Be Fixed?

The success of linear faves such as Suits and Prison Break has resulted in a new-found appreciation for “network”-style shows which can be produced more quickly, while the post-Peak TV era has ushered in a new age of fiscal discipline. “I think you’re seeing services trying to move themselves back to getting these shows on the air more regularly, particularly those who are not just dropping all the shows at once for binging purposes,” says Wells.

He should know: The veteran producer is currently overseeing a medical procedural for Max called The Pitt that will release 15 weekly episodes in 2025 and, if renewed, will have the potential to turn around a second batch of episodes within a year. [...] to allow the audience to become connected to these characters and be excited when we’re coming back.”

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

When it comes to rating adaptations, I’ve been going by two points of criteria; faithfulness to source material and if it’s good as its own thing. So, just to provide examples of what I mean:

1) Faithful to source material / Good on its own: HBO’s The Last of Us

2) Faithful to source material / Bad on its own: Stephen King’s “The Shining” remake miniseries (1997)

3) Not faithful to source material / Good on its own: V for Vendetta (2005)

4) Not faithful to source material / Bad on its own: The Last Airbender (2010)

[seresinhangmanjake]

I have never seen this show. I do not know these characters. But I saw a random gifset from season 5 episode 7 and now I'm fully invested

[wonderlandleighleigh]

You've got a weekend to binge a show, and you're able and willing to watch 10 episodes. What show do you pick, and which episodes do you watch? Or would you be chaotic and pick 10 episodes of 10 different series?

From your roommate who's definitely considering this kind of weekend to happen sometime soon. :-)

Oh, I would 100% be a chaos gremlin about this.

Keeping in mind that we should do this after the strikes/boycots end so we can use streaming without feeling weird.

In no particular order.

Gilmore Girls - Cinnamon's Wake

2. The OC - The Best Chrismukkah Ever

3. Farscape - Crackers Don't Matter

4. Supernatural - Baby

5. Doctor Who - Tooth and Claw

6. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - It's Comedy or Cabbage

7. The West Wing - The Stackhouse Filibuster

8. Justified - Hatless

9. Community - Pillows and Blankets

10. Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Truth

Bonus: What We Do in the Shadows - On the Run

[leahsstuff]

On Series Finales

Personally, when I spot something that I like in a work of fiction (a relationship, a character, a storyline) and it doesn’t get developed in a way I wish it would have been, simply because that’s not what the writers chose to focus on, I’m actually excited about it. Because that means it’s an opportunity for me to develop a story from something I really liked! I’m free to create it myself! Especially after a series finale, that’s the perfect moment to understand the writer’s intentions while also figuring out where you would have gone in a different direction.

[cyberr-v0id]

POV: you just found out that the actor of your favourite character from a kids-teens show you watched when you were thirteen wasn’t actually a few years older than you like you thought but was twenty four 👁👄👁

[enigmaticmoonchild]

These are the two best stills of a tv show opening I’ve ever seen. This opening in general is just top tier

[operationmorewhitecollar]

White Collar rolled around as episode numbers were transitioning downward (though certainly not to current streaming levels), so we’re lucky we have as many episodes as we do. But, some of the most popular episodes of the series are ones that aren’t fully wrapped up in the overarching, ongoing storyline. Filler episodes with no “point” within the larger plot? Maybe. (Though we tend to think of them more as “stand alone” episodes.) But we’re very glad we got them, and got a chance to learn more about the characters. (Especially Mozzie, who was frequently the focus of those “filler” eps.)

genuinely one of the worst things that’s happened to television in the last few years (exacerbated by streaming services) is death of Filler. going from 20 episodes to 8 because “we didn’t really need that episode where the main characters went to the beach right? it had no long lasting effect” but we DID!!! we needed to see how they act without the Big Bad Plot and to establish the dynamics between the characters and lay in the sun (do they forget sunscreen? how do they react to a thieving seagull? do they get buried in the sand or do they do the burying?). the plot isn’t everything. the action doesn’t hit as hard without the quiet moments. give us character development and our little scenes back

[cassmouse]

I JUST FINISHED. HOTD S1. AND I AM ABOUT TO START BAWLING NOT LUCERYS NOT MY BOY 😭😭

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED HIM HE WAS MY FAVOURITE OUT OF THE SONS ARE YOU KIDDING ME RN

That scene was cool as hell but absolutely fucking tragic like I was terrified for him the whole time

I have never hated a character more than I hate Aemond like I hated him more than anything ANYWAY AND NOW THIS

[ironworked]

Only 41 scripted series will air in the fall lineups of the big five networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW — this year, marking a nearly 50% decline from a peak of 76 just seven years ago.

The contraction is particularly pronounced at Disney’s ABC, where just five scripted shows are set to debut before the new year — down from 11 two years ago — and only one night a week, Thursday, will include no unscripted titles in primetime.

It’s not unreasonable to suggest that the drop in scripted series is a lingering aftereffect of last year’s strikes and that the tally could rebound, at least partially, over the next couple of years, as writers continue to work on developing new projects. CBS, after all, is still producing almost as many dramatic series as ever, while NBC’s tally is the highest it’s been since before the pandemic.

But if reports on the ground in the industry are any indication, the chill in the content market has yet to show much evidence of thawing, as new overall deals remain elusive in the post-peak TV environment. Nor is this the only indication that the broadcast landscape may be undergoing a more permanent shift.

[...]

It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see broadcast networks become secondary windows for streaming content.

[...] Indeed, cable networks’ fate in general may be a roadmap for the future of broadcast: Original scripted content shuttered post-peak TV, programming time filled by unscripted shows and recycled content, unique identities hollowed out in the name of cost savings. It may take time to arrive there, but broadcast’s journey down that road has already begun.

(That's basically the whole article, heh! but under the Read More, a very clear and concise explanation of what's happened with The CW)

The CW’s previous business model was built on co-owners Warner Bros. and CBS (now Paramount Global) producing shows for the network and leveraging the licensing rights to generate cash. The two companies struck a lucrative deal in 2016 to loan CW shows to Netflix, a pact Variety once described as “one of the richest TV output deals ever.”

But that all changed with the advent of the streaming wars. In 2019, Warners and Paramount ended the Netflix deal in order to retain CW shows for their own streaming platforms, cutting off the revenue stream that funded the series in the first place.

This led directly to a gutting of the network ahead of the Nexstar sale — in May of 2022, The CW canceled half its slate — and the station group took control later that year, with a mandate to take a more cost-conscious approach to programming.

[karmelarts]

this isn’t normal. this isn’t how life is supposed to feel. if you don’t think about it it can’t hurt you. I found our hearts and they were still beating. there is still time.

[angelofdumpsterfires]

how i feel about all the changes in s3

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Do you think it’s humanly possible for The P*lladino’s to write a great middle and end to a tv show of there’s? 

I think it can be hard for a lot of writers to put aside what they want and write a story that fully serves the characters.

I also think public criticism is something very few people are good at fielding. They've always been very reactionary in the way they write.

If they can learn from past projects, they have a shot.

[cosmicrot]

i'm insanely curious but also aggressively bad at math

[toohottohoot]

HOT TAKE:

BIG PUPILS = Scary / creepy

TINY PUPILS = Scared / creeped out