#and those seasons were low in quality and added nothing and kind of tarnished the earlier seasons that were actually good? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

undead-moth · 10 months ago

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What you’re describing is not filler. That is not what filler means.

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

#I genuinely cannot handle seeing another person demand filler #who then goes onto to describe meaningful story components #the advice ~cut anything that doesn’t advance the plot~ is a tried and true cardinal rule of writing #that has always been an element of good writing and will always be #it is not a modern style or trend #and what it really means is ~cut anything that doesn’t contribute to the story~#it’s poorly worded I’ll admit but 100% necessary for the writing to be any good #what you are seeing now in television is not the result of ~cutting filler~#it’s the result of condensing a story so that all parts feel forced and rushed and layered on top of each other with no room to breathe #or it’s the result of - and I know this will be hard to swallow - improved writing #because sometimes a story needs 20 episodes and it’s only given 8 #but other times a story just needs 8 episodes. Sorry.#giving a story fewer episodes than it needs results in a story that feels cramped and rushed #giving a story MORE than it needs results in diluting the story’s impact and meaning #have you never watched a show that just kept getting new seasons even after it said what it needed to say?#and those seasons were low in quality and added nothing and kind of tarnished the earlier seasons that were actually good?#didn’t that suck?#like I’m sorry but. this is fiction fundamentals #what you want from stories is often missing and it makes sense to complain about its absence #but the word for it is not filler. you do not want filler I promise.#and it’s also not applicable to every story #a tv show can be ruined by too many episodes or seasons #as easily as it can be ruined by not enough

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