The Golden Age of TV? And all Cable?

[civvver]

I was recommending some tv shows to my brother and it struck me how large a list I have in my head of must watch tv. To me tv has surpassed movies as a superior form of entertainment. I get much more excited about the next episode of thrones that any summer blockbuster now and my tv backlog is even larger than my video game backlog. The craziest part of all of it? Not a single show I watch is on a major network. Every single one is a cable tv series.

What do you think has caused this golden age of tv? There has never been this many high quality shows, you used to end up watching shawshank reruns on tnt between syndicated episodes of sienfeld and simpsons while waiting for weekend football games. Now there's so much good stuff I can't find time. I think it's basically the advent of on demand and the internet. More access = more people watching = more revenue for these companies so they invest in more high quality shows.

Here's a quick list off the top of my head of amazing shows I'd recommend to anyone and they are all current or in the last 5 or so years, at least in the last decade for a few (sopranos and rome are almost a decade off air), and easily accessed through netflix, hbo go, amazon prime or whatever means you use to find shows. If I were to quantify I'd say everyone of these gets a rotten tomatoes grade of 80% or better from me, that's how great they are.

Game of Thrones
True Detective
The Wire
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Rome
Deadwood
The Sopranos
Spartacus showtime series
Dexter
True Blood
Weeds
House of Cards
Hell on Wheels
Sons of Anarchy
Breaking Bad
The Walking Dead
Mad Men
Band of Brothers (and The Pacific one too)
Falling Skies
Suits
Archer
Futurama
the immortals Southpark and Simpsons
Homeland
Longmire
Leverage
some newcomers I liked- Halt and Catch Fire, The Strain, Turn.

That's like 30 shows off the top of my head and not even counting some other ones I haven't had time to get into, some kind of more generic but stuff like The Glades, In Plain Sight, White Collar, Royal Pains, and niche stuff like on cartoon network Robot Chicken, Aqua Team Hunger Force etc. Also haven't even started Orange is the new Black or Hemlock Grove.

Feel free to add to the list and comment on why you think tv is pumping out so many good shows lately.

 

[BvBPL]

Nearly all of the above list are dramas about anti-social jerks (and all of the comedies are about the same jerks). If this is the golden age of TV then it is one that celebrates the crook, the bastard, and the psychotic. It shouldn't be any wonder that the GOP is ascendant given how the television celebrates the angry white man who plays by his own rules.

 

[Goodfella]

It shouldn't be any wonder that the GOP is ascendant given how the television celebrates the angry white man who plays by his own rules.

I seriously doubt there's a relationship between these TV shows and any rise of the GOP you may perceive. For one, I'd imagine the demographic profile of these audiences, including its political leanings, is very much divergent with the what you'll find in the republican party. Secondly, many of these shows are about far more than angry white men playing by their own rules and some of these shows don't have much to do with angry white men at all. Mad Men routinely highlights sexism in a conservative society while the Wire is all about urban plight. These issues are not ones conservatives like to concerns themselves with, unless it's through the condemnation of liberal causes. Lastly, many of these shows portray sexuality and violence in depictions that are at odds with the values espoused by the GOP. Consider non heterosexual characters in Game of Thrones, the Wire, Mad Men, Rome, the Sopranos, or House of Cards. These characters are often the antithesis of everything conservatives cherish. This point is particularly strong when you consider how the surge of teahad reactionarism has been fueled by perceived threats to family values, threats that are found in these very shows.

 

[Antilogic]

Putting the political stuff aside for a moment, I think it's a combination of factors that have led television to shift from predominantly one-off episodes to longer story arcs that appeal to niche audiences, as well as movies being geared for international releases which lead to simpler, more generically relate-able plots and big special effects.

(And yes, some of the "cruder" cartoons like Archer and South Park don't fit this format, but those don't really have an analog in old timey 50s-style broadcasting so it's a bit of a new thing that we are all hooked on.)

 

[Quackers]

I don't know why the US has produced such quality television. I think many talented people have been sucked into television. Hollywood has suffered.

Have American television executives began to pay people competitive wages with the film industry?

Game of Thrones
True Detective
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Sopranos
True Blood
House of Cards
The Walking Dead
Mad Men
Band of Brothers
Suits
Futurama
Southpark and Simpsons
Homeland

I have watched all of the above^^. You don't find as much quality in England...

Personally, out of this list I think True Detective and the Sopranos are the best. I really recommend them.

 

[warpus]

TV is on a decline but quality TV shows seem to be on the rise. Then again, reality TV and related crap seems to be on the rise still, too.

Maybe there's just more content out there, so you end up with more good stuff.

Plus a whole bunch of the most obvious catchy formulas (family sitcom, boy meets girl story, etc.) have already been done to death, and maybe show creators are more willing to try to engage audiences with more original ideas. With so much media out there, there is almost a content overload going on for consumers, so maybe they need to work harder these days to attract and retain viewers. That means more thought put into larger story arcs and the writing, more emphasis on quality performances by the actors, and of course the availability of much better technology for the CGI than even just 10 years ago.. and that's just to name a few.

Roll all that up into a reason and I think it's driving a bunch of people to try to produce such quality shows that we've been seeing.

Having said that though, my favourite shows tend to not be as recent.. The Wire, Six Feet Under, Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, Star Trek: TNG.. these shows are all more than 15 years old, except for six feet under which finished maybe 9 years ago. So I am not entirely sold on the premise.

 

[bhsup]

Personally, I think the golden age of television was when All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore, M*A*S*H, Barney Miller, etc were on.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I was recommending some tv shows to my brother and it struck me how large a list I have in my head of must watch tv. To me tv has surpassed movies as a superior form of entertainment. I get much more excited about the next episode of thrones that any summer blockbuster now and my tv backlog is even larger than my video game backlog. The craziest part of all of it? Not a single show I watch is on a major network. Every single one is a cable tv series.

What do you think has caused this golden age of tv? There has never been this many high quality shows, you used to end up watching shawshank reruns on tnt between syndicated episodes of sienfeld and simpsons while waiting for weekend football games. Now there's so much good stuff I can't find time. I think it's basically the advent of on demand and the internet. More access = more people watching = more revenue for these companies so they invest in more high quality shows.

Here's a quick list off the top of my head of amazing shows I'd recommend to anyone and they are all current or in the last 5 or so years, at least in the last decade for a few (sopranos and rome are almost a decade off air), and easily accessed through netflix, hbo go, amazon prime or whatever means you use to find shows. If I were to quantify I'd say everyone of these gets a rotten tomatoes grade of 80% or better from me, that's how great they are.

Game of Thrones
True Detective
The Wire
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Rome
Deadwood
The Sopranos
Spartacus showtime series
Dexter
True Blood
Weeds
House of Cards
Hell on Wheels
Sons of Anarchy
Breaking Bad
The Walking Dead
Mad Men
Band of Brothers (and The Pacific one too)
Falling Skies
Suits
Archer
Futurama
the immortals Southpark and Simpsons
Homeland
Longmire
Leverage
some newcomers I liked- Halt and Catch Fire, The Strain, Turn.

That's like 30 shows off the top of my head and not even counting some other ones I haven't had time to get into, some kind of more generic but stuff like The Glades, In Plain Sight, White Collar, Royal Pains, and niche stuff like on cartoon network Robot Chicken, Aqua Team Hunger Force etc. Also haven't even started Orange is the new Black or Hemlock Grove.

Feel free to add to the list and comment on why you think tv is pumping out so many good shows lately.

The only one on that list I've seen is Rome - and to someone who is an avid history buff specializing in the Julio-Claudian era, it's just painful to watch at times. I've seen people wailing that there should have been more seasons, and none of them realize that unless the producers intended to go into alternate history, there simply could not be more. By eliminating Octavian's marriage to Scribonia, they also eliminated Julia - who was the mother of Agrippina the Elder, who in turn was the mother of Caligula and Agrippina the Younger - who in turn was the mother of Nero.

No marriage with Scribonia = no subsequent generations of characters.

I have watched all of the above^^. You don't find as much quality in England...

Downton Abbey. I binge-watched the first three seasons on Netflix, and am impatiently waiting for the fourth, to see the aftermath of Matthew's fatal car accident...


I don't watch movies on TV anymore. The last time was Star Trek: Into Darkness, as it was on-demand and I had a free coupon - and the posters over at TrekBBS were harassing me because I hadn't seen it. I want those hours back, because the movie was crap.

I'm not even going to bother adding the channel that gets Doctor Who, when it starts up again next month. I can wait for it to come to Netflix, since the expense of a whole bundle of channels just for one is simply not worth it to me.

As for what I do watch on TV: General Hospital and whatever CBS reality show is current, whether it's Amazing Race, Big Brother, or Survivor.


I saw the entire series of The Borgias (Jeremy Irons) and loved it. I saw as much as there was available of the other Borgias series (an American actor as the Pope), and am impatiently waiting for the next season to become available.

 

[KevinLancaster]

Relevant video about how this trend might be caused by adoption of time-shifting technology.

Link to video.

 

[Nobody]

The west wing should be in your list. its in the top five of the ones you listed.

 

[Kozmos]

British TV delivers more consistently for me. Orphan Black, Black Mirror, Utopia...you won't find stuff like that from American shows. At least not originally...

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Having said that though, my favourite shows tend to not be as recent.. The Wire, Six Feet Under,

Thank you for mentioning Six Feet Under.
This is show is so absolutely great and unique - its needs to get more famous. Many other great shows have some spectacular element - but this was just people. Alright, not quit. Some stuff was pretty far out - but principle it were just people. No crime gangs as in the Wire or drug lords as in Breaking Bad or Mafia clans as in The Sopranos or what have you. Just people, but done as good as never before or since.

Personally, out of this list I think True Detective and the Sopranos are the best. I really recommend them.

Just got into True Detective - thanks for the recommendation. Already the very first episode sucked me in nicely. Really originally and well done.

 

[madviking]

Putting the political stuff aside for a moment, I think it's a combination of factors that have led television to shift from predominantly one-off episodes to longer story arcs that appeal to niche audiences, as well as movies being geared for international releases which lead to simpler, more generically relate-able plots and big special effects.

(And yes, some of the "cruder" cartoons like Archer and South Park don't fit this format, but those don't really have an analog in old timey 50s-style broadcasting so it's a bit of a new thing that we are all hooked on.)

one word: netflix

now those niche audiences can get their niche shows with never before seen efficiency

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Have American television executives began to pay people competitive wages with the film industry?

Actually, I believe it has, which is why there are more 'big actors' appearing in television shows now than there used to be.


I think there is lots of good programming out there now, definitely more than there used to be. Of course, there is lots of garbage as well but the important thing is there is nearly-infinite options for people of all sorts of tastes. The only downside is that to get a lot of the programming, you are still locked into Cable TV plans.

I am eagerly waiting for the day of a la carte TV channel selection and cheer every time Netflix or Amazon pick up another good series so I don't have to feel like I'm missing something by not having cable. At this point, I'm really not missing much of anything program-wise.

 

[Wrymouth3]

I saw the entire series of The Borgias (Jeremy Irons) and loved it. I saw as much as there was available of the other Borgias series (an American actor as the Pope), and am impatiently waiting for the next season to become available.

The Czech version of a different, but ultimately similar namesake series is much much better. Good luck with trying to find the next series of The Borgias, it got canned due to fact the show recieved such poor reception, and basically had no viewers for the truly awful 2nd and 3rd seasons. That's not to say that the series as a whole was awful, it was okay, if not slightly similar in quality to The Tudors (A 5.5 out of 10 in my book). The problem was that the series had way too many inaccuracies, and that they excluded some very important figues from the period (Guillaume Briçonnet and Oliviero Carafa both immediately come to mind). If you wanted to depict the absolute lavishness and corruption of the period, you wouldn't forget Oliviero Carafa. Silly Neil Jordan.

 

[BvBPL]

I seriously doubt there's a relationship between these TV shows and any rise of the GOP you may perceive.

My initial post was a bit of hyperbole, but I think the issue still needs address, and the posters here deserve a better explanation of what I'm thinking.

As you point out, in some forms of social policy, contemporary television shows are relatively progressive. However, the issues I am seeing are not so much about whether or not the show has nice portrayals of gay people as much as the monoculture we are seeing from civver's list of television shows. None of the shows, other than the possible exception of the wire, have leads of color. Some of them, like Spartacus and Rome, have been whitewashed by casting Angelo actors in place of Greek or Italian actors. Very few of them have female leads.

If these shows are demonstrative of a Golden Age of Television then it is a Golden Age for a limited and specified population that does not represent the American public.

In addition, nearly all of these shows star people behaving in explicitly anti-social, anti-community manner. They are almost all about people going outside the system for personal gain and causing suffering to others along the way.

The new serial dramas have certainly raised the bar to, at the very least, lick the boots of Twin Peaks. Certainly an accomplishment to be able to maybe say that a TV show is almost as good as one that came out twenty years ago.

Personally, I think Parks and Recreation deserves credit as one of the best TV shows, and not just because it has a female lead and a communitarian theme, but because it is a fabulous funny show.

If you want a killer serial drama then look up The Killing. It is very good.

Also good is Kingdom.

 

[Quintillus]

I do like the trend towards shows where not everything is resolved in 30 or 60 minutes, and sometimes the show does not end on a positive note. I actually started following (as in, watching multiple previous seasons of) a show this winter for the first time since The West Wing was on the air. And I've heard enough good things about Breaking Bad and The Wire to start to think perhaps some TV shows are worth watching again after all.

I don't know if it's a golden age of cable TV, but there are enough interesting shows that I don't entirely tune out TV discussion any more. And I do like multi-season shows with continuous storylines. It's much more engrossing than your average 110-minute movie.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The Czech version of a different, but ultimately similar namesake series is much much better. Good luck with trying to find the next series of The Borgias, it got canned due to fact the show recieved such poor reception, and basically had no viewers for the truly awful 2nd and 3rd seasons. That's not to say that the series as a whole was awful, it was okay, if not slightly similar in quality to The Tudors (A 5.5 out of 10 in my book). The problem was that the series had way too many inaccuracies, and that they excluded some very important figues from the period (Guillaume Briçonnet and Oliviero Carafa both immediately come to mind). If you wanted to depict the absolute lavishness and corruption of the period, you wouldn't forget Oliviero Carafa. Silly Neil Jordan.

I know that series was cancelled. I'm talking about the other one.


I tried watching The Tudors. It's pretty, but horribly inaccurate.

 

[mangxema]

my favourite shows tend to not be as recent..

Same here. Breaking Bad was the first series since probably the early 2000s when Battlestar Galactica was airing that I'd watched new (and even then only the last season). I've been watching stuff, just the highlights from the previous decade.

 

[sophie]

Nearly all of the above list are dramas about anti-social jerks (and all of the comedies are about the same jerks). If this is the golden age of TV then it is one that celebrates the crook, the bastard, and the psychotic. It shouldn't be any wonder that the GOP is ascendant given how the television celebrates the angry white man who plays by his own rules.

On the bright side we have Girls and Broad City and Jessica Williams on the Daily Show. Uhh...The Wire? Almost Human (but that got cancelled). But yeah, great for White Middle Class and Upper Middle Class America, but still not so great for minorities, especially the black minority:

http://www.avclub.com/article/fox-is-changing-the-landscape-for-black-men-on-tv-105763

Can we have Chappelle's Show back plz? Except considering the audience that would be (me and people like me), I don't necessarily think the show's return would alleviate any of Chappelle's very legitimate concerns when he stopped the show in the first place.