Padawanbater2
Well-Known Member
"tl;dr: Advertising ruins everything, which is why netflix originals are better than cable TV shows.
I'd like to hijack this comment to talk about why Netflix's shows are so good, because I think it's also relevant to the reason cable is ain't-no-coming-back-double-dead. It's because sponsors have great power over content.
See, advertisers fund cable as much or more than you do. This means that anything any likely advertiser might not want to be associated with has a very difficult time making it on tv. If the Clorox exec feels a little skittish about the episode you ran last week where one of the remarks your characters made was a little off-color, the ad gets pulled. The network loses money. Your writers get a memo from corporate. Maybe somebody gets fired. And nobody dares toe the line of acceptability anymore.
Cable tv is like this because they can only show you one item at a time. As such, it's gotta try to appeal to everybody who's likely to be watching that time slot. Most of those people don't share many of your interests or opinions, and are very little like you. Think about all the people you meet in the street who have no taste, like all kinds of crap you hate, and find the stupidest things funny (no matter who you are, I feel this statement applies). Cable tv is lumping you and them together and trying to make a show for you all. It HAS to, because there are only 24 hours in a day.
This means TV is very afraid to do something risque - no compelling antiheros, no plot twists that might be complex enough to confuse the slower viewers, no violence real enough to frighten the skittish ones, the cast must be multi-ethnic no matter how improbable that may be in the setting (but the main character is probably definitely white)and -above all- certainly nothing that would ever get a sponsor to pull its ads. It must be inoffensive to all.
Netflix's shows are better in general. Because Netflix only has one sponsor - you. Don't like the show? No big deal, they've got something else you like. They can offer you 1,000 shows at once and you're free to pick whichever ones you like and ignore the rest. Time slot? What's that?
Because of this, Netflix can hire a director and scriptwriters to make a show the way that director and those scriptwriters want to make it. Whatever method that director chooses to convey the story is his or hers to own. Risks with plot and risks with offending some viewers for the sake of drawing them into the story can be taken. They don't have to be safe.
Good art and good film is far from safe. It offends you at times. Sometimes it frightens, disgusts, or bewilders you. Often the best protagonist isn't some universal everyman who's smart, strong, funny, a little attractive, completely unbigoted and non-sexist, who learns a lesson in being a better human being every episode; Sometimes the best protagonist is none of those things. Sometimes the best protagonist is deeply flawed.
Because of this, Netflix shows (like HBO and other subscription cable channels) can get away with more. They can tell more interesting stories and take more risks with the plot. They can make shows that are more believable and evoke more emotion in the viewer."
-SmegmataTheFirst
I'd like to hijack this comment to talk about why Netflix's shows are so good, because I think it's also relevant to the reason cable is ain't-no-coming-back-double-dead. It's because sponsors have great power over content.
See, advertisers fund cable as much or more than you do. This means that anything any likely advertiser might not want to be associated with has a very difficult time making it on tv. If the Clorox exec feels a little skittish about the episode you ran last week where one of the remarks your characters made was a little off-color, the ad gets pulled. The network loses money. Your writers get a memo from corporate. Maybe somebody gets fired. And nobody dares toe the line of acceptability anymore.
Cable tv is like this because they can only show you one item at a time. As such, it's gotta try to appeal to everybody who's likely to be watching that time slot. Most of those people don't share many of your interests or opinions, and are very little like you. Think about all the people you meet in the street who have no taste, like all kinds of crap you hate, and find the stupidest things funny (no matter who you are, I feel this statement applies). Cable tv is lumping you and them together and trying to make a show for you all. It HAS to, because there are only 24 hours in a day.
This means TV is very afraid to do something risque - no compelling antiheros, no plot twists that might be complex enough to confuse the slower viewers, no violence real enough to frighten the skittish ones, the cast must be multi-ethnic no matter how improbable that may be in the setting (but the main character is probably definitely white)and -above all- certainly nothing that would ever get a sponsor to pull its ads. It must be inoffensive to all.
Netflix's shows are better in general. Because Netflix only has one sponsor - you. Don't like the show? No big deal, they've got something else you like. They can offer you 1,000 shows at once and you're free to pick whichever ones you like and ignore the rest. Time slot? What's that?
Because of this, Netflix can hire a director and scriptwriters to make a show the way that director and those scriptwriters want to make it. Whatever method that director chooses to convey the story is his or hers to own. Risks with plot and risks with offending some viewers for the sake of drawing them into the story can be taken. They don't have to be safe.
Good art and good film is far from safe. It offends you at times. Sometimes it frightens, disgusts, or bewilders you. Often the best protagonist isn't some universal everyman who's smart, strong, funny, a little attractive, completely unbigoted and non-sexist, who learns a lesson in being a better human being every episode; Sometimes the best protagonist is none of those things. Sometimes the best protagonist is deeply flawed.
Because of this, Netflix shows (like HBO and other subscription cable channels) can get away with more. They can tell more interesting stories and take more risks with the plot. They can make shows that are more believable and evoke more emotion in the viewer."
-SmegmataTheFirst
