Why is TV so damn good?
I've had reason to think about this a lot, especially because I frequently feel the need to defend myself when I say that I watch a lot of TV. I'm not watching reality TV, and I'm rarely even watching shows on the actual TV, normally it's commercial free on my computer or on DVD. But really, TV can be so much better than movies.
In the average movie, you have a maximum of 120 minutes to introduce your characters, develop the plot, and come to a conclusion. In an average "hour-long" American TV show (typically about 43 minutes long, 22 episodes per season), they have about 946 minutes to do all of that. And that's just in one season. If a show has a good premise and good writers, it can do amazing things that a movie just cannot accomplish. Character development is slow and steady, there is time to focus on each aspect of the story arc. In a half hour show, that's still 506 minutes per season. And to live viewers, the time in between episodes allows the last episode they viewed to sink in, which in a way increases the length of everything, because the viewer thinks about it.
Sure, some shows completely fail at using this amazing advantage. Sometimes, a show goes on too long. I've seen shows I adore, that used to be amazing, fall to character assassination in order to come up with new plots and stay on air. But some shows are capable of keeping it going, and it provides so much more than a single movie ever could.
(also posted on Tumblr)
In the average movie, you have a maximum of 120 minutes to introduce your characters, develop the plot, and come to a conclusion. In an average "hour-long" American TV show (typically about 43 minutes long, 22 episodes per season), they have about 946 minutes to do all of that. And that's just in one season. If a show has a good premise and good writers, it can do amazing things that a movie just cannot accomplish. Character development is slow and steady, there is time to focus on each aspect of the story arc. In a half hour show, that's still 506 minutes per season. And to live viewers, the time in between episodes allows the last episode they viewed to sink in, which in a way increases the length of everything, because the viewer thinks about it.
Sure, some shows completely fail at using this amazing advantage. Sometimes, a show goes on too long. I've seen shows I adore, that used to be amazing, fall to character assassination in order to come up with new plots and stay on air. But some shows are capable of keeping it going, and it provides so much more than a single movie ever could.
(also posted on Tumblr)