Syndication is why old TV shows feel different. The real money was in getting your show on reruns.
That’s why the 100 episode mark was such a big deal: It meant you could do two episodes a week for a whole year, minus the holidays.
So they wrote the shows to maximize their potential for syndication. Which is why they’re still so binge-able.
And why there are sooo many filler episodes, including the infamous “we went past the budget for the season, let’s do a recut of moments from other episodes”.
I always skip those episodes in Malcolm in the Middle.
I’ve seen all my favourite new shows more than once. Do people who use streaming services not rewatch their favourites?
Netflix: Releases a new show
~ 3 Days Later ~
“The new show has had less than the projected 860 billion views? Fuck. Cancel it. Cancel it now!!”
I’m still so mad about Kaos.
I swear that there has been instances of a season 2 being cancelled before airing the first one.
I feel like streaming shows know this so they always make the season finale the most inconclusive cliff hanger bs possible.
It’s mind boggling to me that in today’s world, TNG would likely never have gotten a season 2 pickup.
The Simpsons too. Not that the first few seasons are bad, but they’re definitely rough and it really doesn’t fully hit its stride until maybe season 4 or so IMO.
Okay, I’m going to make everybody feel old, but 20 years ago was 2005.
I didn’t watch a lot of TV at the time, but two of the shows on in 2005 that I did watch regularly were 24 and ER. My memory was that both of those shows started strong in their first seasons, but neither of them premiered in 2005.
…It looks like shows that I recognize which premiered in 2005 were Prison Break, Rome, Criminal Minds, The Office, The Closer…
The Office is famous for suffering through the first season. I think I watched some episodes of the first season of The Closer and Prison Break, and both were pretty good.
I think when people say “20 years ago” they really mean 30/40…
100%
20 years ago is early 90s in my mind.
Yeah, Firefly suffered from this 23 years ago
Hot take: The first season of The Office isn’t that bad and the show would be considerably worse if it wasn’t there (and similarly, a viewer’s experience would be worse if they skipped it). Not a lot ‘happens’ from a long-term story perspective, but it sets the stage for the tone of the show and more importantly it gets the viewer familiar with each of the individual characters and how they interact with each other. It’s necessary to contextualize their office dynamic in order for the viewer to care about any of the stuff that happens in season 2 and beyond.
That’s actually so good to know. Seeing so many The Office references online, I saw a whole DVD set at an op shop for cheap, bought it and initially thought it was a little boring and didn’t touch it again.
I might pick it back up after reading your comment
Can you handle cringe comedy? If you can’t then The Office isn’t for you.
Exactly why I’ve never ever liked The Office. I’m cringe enough on my own. I don’t need to inject any more into my day.
Some of the memes are pretty funny, though. Not knocking the show. It’s just definitely not my jam.
Partner and I tried to get through S1 it, but it was uncomfortably cringe and unenjoyable. Never picked it up again.
The cringe is kind of the point. For folks who enjoy it, that uncomfortable feeling - the second-hand embarrassment you feel for many of the characters - is the core of that enjoyment. It’s like horror movies, in a way - it’s fun to feel scared when there’s no real danger. It’s fun to feel the cringe when there’s nothing to really be embarrassed or uncomfortable about.
You shut your goddamn mouth.
The office is bad all throughout though
The first season + of 90’s Trek series definitely fall under the former. But it’s worth the journey.
That’s partially because early TNG scripts were adapted from unused TOS and Phase II scripts.
I actually had someone tell me to watch a show, saying that you “just” need to get through the first 3 or 4 seasons of the show, then it will get good.
I still haven’t watched it.
What show is it?
If I recall correctly, it was sons of anarchy?
It’s been a while. Many years.
Oh yea, I remember that show. I couldn’t really get into it, but I heard a lot of good things from other people while it was airing.
I thought you might have been talking about TNG. I’ve heard people recommending skipping the first 2 and half or 3 seasons of TNG to newcomers. I wouldn’t recommend that just because you’d miss out on a lot of character development and plot development. It’s pretty bad though. I always recommend DS9 to newcomers instead.
Early TNG was a bit rough. They had the right people, but some of the plot lines were strange an in some cases quite prejudiced.
Around season 3 they got their stride going.
Not every episode of season 1 is good. They were trying stuff and seeing what resonated with a new generation of trek fans.
I’m not saying anyone should skip it, but there are episodes that make me question why they even thought it was a good idea to do that.
I do remember some decent moments in early TNG, but there’s a lot of racism and prejudicial bullshit. Also a lot of cheesiness. In general, I skip way more episodes of TNG when rewatching than I do with DS9 or Voyager, but I still think it’s all essential to watch at least once if you’re invested in the lore of the Star Trek universe. I’d still take all the bullshit and cheesiness a thousand times over in place of the current generation of Trek shows.
I’ve said it of Buffy.
4 seasons is more than half of the show lol. It’s not really worth it at that point.
20 years ago we didn’t even think about "45 episodes of T.V. until years after is release. We just watched whatever was on because it was Tuesday.
I think a system where shows arne’t rated on views would be better. Like each show had genuine passionate artists and had no input from shareholders. Then shows would naturally be good.
Miami vice did the opposite 😄
Good show overall but it got some weird episodes too
Aliens!
Not too far from now, mostly AI content.
If AI can get to the point where it can make, say, a coherent half-hour TV show, I wonder if we’ll end up going full-circle back to the days when TV shows had like 25 episode seasons and were on almost all the time?
Or it’ll just surpass that because it never needs to take a break so a TV show will have a new episode every 3 days forever or something like that.
Hated because you’re right. and it hurts.
