Are today's TV shows more spectacle over substance?

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

What do you think of this year's biggest TV shows?

Does modern TV rely more on spectacle over substance?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Modern TV is a absolutely everything! Given the proliferation of streamers competing with original content, you end up with a crazy hodgepodge of options.

You picked 5 with spectacle, but hit up any "Best of 2022 so far" style list and you'll find a ton of pieces that are much more about characters than special effects.

By removing themselves from the rules for a traditional TV season (exact episode length and number, speed with which they have to be churned out, standards and practices requirements), streamers can allow creators a ton of leeway to lean in to the spectacle, as above, or really focus on complex themes, plots, characters in a way that is hard to do on broadcast TV.

 

[VandVsmama]

Stranger Things is a really excellent show. But you forgot a bigger one...Obiwan Kenobi. Both shows have substance to them.

 

[BrianL]

Here's the deal, people are always complaining that "shows today are..." whatever fly the speaker wants to highlight, but there have always been TV shows that were vapid and lacking in substance, and shows that were deeper than that. "Trash TV" is not a new thing, and quality has always varied. Some shows today are certianly more style than substance, others aren't, and some even have both! It just depends on what you are looking for in your entertainment. Personally, I like middle-of-the-road type stuff, not overly deep or pensive, but not totally vapid either. I am generally entertained by adventure with a moral context - from simple cartoons to slightly more complex live-action "cartoons" - i.e. Star Wars and the like. There's no needc ot get overwrought about stuff like that, but some shows do.