TV Making History

After a long day at work, I just want to relax and enjoy a movie or TV show. As I was sifting through the thousands upon thousands of options on Netflix, a thought came to my mind. Is Television replacing Movies?

The deeper I got into the Netflix Lists, I decided I was going to look up the best TV Shows of the last seven years. So, I hit up our best friend Google, and came across this list made by IMDB. This list called the 100 best TV Shows since 2000. I started to examine it for the shows that I have seen (I’m not a freak and haven’t seen them all). As I scrolled down I got to thinking, what makes each of these shows so good? Here is what I came up with.

1. They all tell a story that just can not been done in a two and a half hour movie. They all have a long game. The character development in shows like Dexter is something that can not be told in such a short amount of time. They need to plant the seed and let it grow.

2. Next you have stories that just would not sell tickets at the box office. Let’s take Breaking Bad for this example. If you told me there was a movie coming out about a high school teacher who decided to make and sell meth, I would have thought you were talking about a comedy starring Seth Rogen and Michael Cera as Jesse Pinkman. Instead you get one of craziest yet, in a weird way, believable stories ever told.

3. Next you can do things that just would not work in a movie. In Game of Thrones a major character dies literally every episode. They take the time for you to love or hate these people just so you can wait and see them die. And we can not get enough of it!

4. We are starting to see great actors from the movies join these shows, and not because they are on the back nine but because they want to. Westworld is littered with stars from the big screen, bringing that big time acting into my living room. Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris can pick exactly what projects they want to do, they have earned it and yet we see them opting for a longer schedule and more involved roles to play two of the biggest characters in this show.

I have rambled enough and I didn’t even get to Netflix! Talking about Netflix’ transformation and their original content is a whole 'nother blog itself. I think what my point is, is that TV has gotten so good that it is starting to cannibalize the movie industry because we can get great stories with great characters without having to leave the Lazy Boy or having to wear pants.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Best regards,

Bryan "The Mad Scientist" Banner