Day Seventy-Six

[xlivvielockex]

JULY 07, 2010
396/1890

Fics Read Today

None

Deep ThoughtsUnfortunately, Wednesdays are the only night of the week that I actually *watch* live tv. Top Chef is on earlier and then followed by Work of Art

Comments

[eilowyn]

I would rather have 13 episodes of totally brilliant television than 22 episodes of mediocrity.

This is a conclusion I've recently come to as well. There are a few exceptions (mostly sitcoms that are consistently funny every episode, as well as every episode of BtVS/AtS, but that's not part of the current TV paradigm - the first season of Buffy was probably its worst, in my opinion, and it met the 13 episode mark), but most dramas I find myself captivated with these days air twelve to sixteen episodes per season, leading to more consistent storytelling and no filler episodes. Lost is the best example of this - the first three seasons were great, but they often dragged in the middle as we got filler episodes that told us no new information other than everyone had daddy issues. The last three seasons, which were sixteen episodes, eighteen hours each, ran at a fast storytelling pace that left you breathless without overstimulating with too much information (most of the time - still not sure what that Greek Mythology episode with Allison Janney was all about).

And I love cable/premium for giving us worthwhile shows during the summer. It allows the shows to get a wider audience, and the viewers something of quality when the networks are busy airing dreck game shows about throwing prizes off buildings.