The Problem with Modern TV shows

Back in the day, I used to try to keep up with TV shows that were coming out, including movies, it wasn’t that hard to do back in the day, and it was for a multitude of reasons. Let the rant begin, of how modern TV shows are different then how they used to be years ago. Grab your popcorn, take a seat, and enjoy. 🍿

Old school TV shows:

When I was growing up, it was as easy as breathing, keeping up with and watching TV shows, back then, you had TV programs, like, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, those were the main TV programs kids would go to, obviously there were other TV programs people watched growing up, I can’t remember them all. Anyways, those programs kids went to, to watch their favorite shows. So, it was easy to either, rotate between programs, or find one or two that were your favorites and stick with those. Most TV programs, had the shows air after 3 in the afternoon, meaning it was easy to keep up and watch your favorite shows after school.

Relatability. It wasn’t that hard to find a character, or characters that you could relate with in some way or another, I can’t name all the characters I loved and related to growing up, but they were all different in their own ways, and some were completely different from me as a person, but I still related to how the character felt.

Airtime:

TV shows were basically 25 minutes long, 30 minutes with AD’s, each TV program only had so many slots to fill up, so there weren’t 50 shows on each program, it was usually around 5–10 shows. Some shows were ongoing, like Dragon Ball Z, they went on for years, other shows, were short, they would start, and then finish up within a few years. Then after that, a new show would arrive on the program shortly afterwards. Another thing, with shows, every show, would show the next episode the next week after, so it gave the viewer breathing room, and also anticipation for the next episode, something to look forward to watching. Ads, now a days, people hate them, mostly because there so many, and everywhere. But with old school TV shows, ADs were there for two reasons, 1) it paid for the show being aired on the program, and 2) it gave the viewer breathing room, time to go to bathroom or get a snack really quick before the show resumed.

Modern TV shows:

Now within the past few years, we have streaming services, that show basically every TV show, on top on that, there are no AD’s, so you're watching episode, after episode. With no AD’s, there’s no breathing room at all, just one episode after episode, on top of that, the length of the episodes, are almost 60 minutes for one episode, instead of 30 minutes. Now, with streaming services, you don’t have 5–10 shows, now, it’s way over 50 shows, and counting, that’s discounting the movie portion on streaming platforms.

No one has time, to watch or keep up with all the shows that are on these platforms now, I know, because when tried to use Netflix briefly, I gave up fast, because there was too much, too many shows, too many movies, I only saw a few movies, on it, and that was pretty much it. I gave up using Netflix shortly after.

I noticed really fast with modern TV shows, a lot of things are completely different now, than how they were back when I was a child. First, was the length of the episodes, after one episode, I honestly didn’t want to watch another episode that day. There are less episodes per season now, years ago, you would have 20–50 episodes for one season, now, it’s 6–10 episodes per season. That in itself, threw me off.

Character development:

With old TV shows, the episodes were shorter, but the episodes stretched on longer when it came to how many episodes were for one season, so instead of 8 episodes, it was 10–40 episodes for one season. So, it gave plenty of time, to flesh out the characters, with their personalities, the relationships they had, their friends, and family, show their motivation for why their doing what they're doing. Show their family history, showing their dreams, their fears, them struggling, them growing and changing as the show went on.

But now with modern TV shows, yes, the episodes are longer, but that doesn’t mean anything, when you have only 8 episodes for one season. They basically try to cram so much into a few episodes, because the season is so short, yet there is very little to no character development, they try to make it look like a lot happened in the show, when in retrospect, not much actually happened in the season. The pacing with a lot of things is just off now.

Streaming Platforms:

I said it earlier, but I’ll go into more detail here. Now, with so many streaming platforms, people don’t have enough time to watch a lot of the TV shows now a days, and because these platforms need money, there pumping out new TV shows left and right, to where you can’t keep up with them all. So, it makes the viewer feel overwhelmed, and stop watching the shows, possibly to where they might stop using the streaming platform altogether. So, in a way, it’s counterproductive, them having so many TV shows, and so many streaming platforms.

Back in the day with cable TV, TV programs got paid from ADs, now with streaming services, they have people pay a subscription fee every month, it doesn’t seem like much, but over time that adds up, and it adds up fast. Now there’s too many options, and not enough time in the day to watch them all.

Conclusion:

I just wanted to share my thoughts and opinions on how I think TV shows have changed over time. ❤