Whatcha Watchin? (2019)

Oops, haven't posted a question for March yet.

Okay, here's one: Have the Big Four networks just... given up?

I watched the Whiskey Cavalier pilot last week, and it was as dumb and predictable as you can imagine. Some promise as a globe-trotting spy show in the Alias vein, but it's clearly leaning toward safe procedural territory. Edit out the modern technology, and this could easily be mistaken for an ABC series from ten years ago. Except ten years ago, ABC had some prestige TV in Lost, whereas now, they mostly rely on Shondaland. (And even that won't last forever, now that she's moved to Netflix.)

Also watched the Season Two premiere of Good Girls. The show still wants to be a feminist Breaking Bad, but network restrictions hold it back every time. The way the season premiere so tidily resolves the fallout from the S1 finale is frustrating, to say the least, and the Shocking Cliffhangers are losing their luster. I'm mostly just watching for the cast by this point.

Some of the major networks (particularly NBC) do well on the sitcom front. But it increasingly seems like they've given up on producing great drama.

Sadly, no. Which is too bad, because that sounds like it would be a better show (particularly if it featured Rex Banner asking people where they pinched the hooch).

The main problem, as some reviews have outlined, is that it's trying too hard to be a sexy spy dramedy, and just comes off as forced. Probably an easier tone to maintain in a two-hour movie (like Duplicity) than a weekly series.

The problem the networks have is I don't think they can provide the type of working conditions that really good writers want. They have very strict episode time limits, they have to heavily censor even at the 10 PM hour where they aren't regulatory restricted, and the networks will absolutely provide notes for less serialization to help boost ratings from people who can't watch every week and thus get behind. That's not to say a great show can't be made with these restrictions- I think some of those restrictions actually help save the creators from themselves. But why would you sign up to do an NBC show when you can work with FX or HBO or Hulu or Netflix instead?



So they've kind of resorted to comfort food shows, which there is absolutely a market for and give them ratings just as good as what they'd get from the "high quality" shows anyways. I don't really blame them, and I don't particularly care that networks aren't the place I can find really good TV.



Speaking of shows that could have been on a network but isn't, One Day At A Time finds its way after a shaky start to put a pretty good string of episodes together. It's not AS good of a show as it was in Season 2, but it's also not noticeably different, which is something I feared in the early going.

Scott's points are true, and as cable and (especially) streaming outlets continue to expand and multiply, there will be fewer and fewer reasons for ambitious writers to stick with the major networks. (Even longtime established writers like David E. Kelley have announced that they're done with broadcast TV, having experienced the freedom of other outlets.)

For this reason, I don't expect Jonathan Nolan to return to CBS for his future projects - good as Person of Interest was, its status as a quasi-procedural held back some of its potential, and probably led to multiple critics dismissing it early on. Much as people like to criticize Westworld, it's gotten a much wider pool of acclaim and recognition than PoI ever did.

Obviously, the broadcast networks are still profiting from being safe and sterile, but I wonder how long that lasts. Most of their shows aren't very bingeable, so they're not very appealing to streaming services. And while I doubt streaming services will ever force the networks out of business, they will grow more competitive as time goes on.

Oh, and FOX is probably going to be a dried-up husk of itself after the Disney deal begins. So there's that.

Well, I haven't seen Westworld, so I can't comment on that show in particular, but my experience with a lot of HBO/Netflix dramas has been that "fewer restrictions" isn't always a good thing. Not needing to adhere to a weekly structure can sometimes lead to brilliant and groundbreaking television, but it could also lead to bloated, formless stories that last way too long and eventually lose their way. (Looking at you, Marvel shows.)

I need to get DC Universe at some point, so I can watch Young Justice and Doom Patrol. So... many... streaming services...

Also, how about that new Hulu/Marvel deal? It sounds like they're trying to mock the Netflix MCU, by developing four new animated shows (MODOK, Hit-Monkey, Tigra & Dazzler, and Howard the Duck), and then have them all cross over with The Offenders. Let's hope this experiment works out better than the Netflix one did.

I enjoyed S1 of Mr. Robot well enough, but didn't feel the concept would be able to sustain itself over multiple seasons. Word I heard on S2 was that the episodes were given to major bloat, but that the series bounced back creatively in Season 3. Re: buzz, regardiless of the quality of most any show, the media's always moving onto the next big thing. I mean, though it still gets strong reviews, even a show like Bojack doesn't have nearly as much buzz around it as it did a few years ago.