TV vs Movies

[Nardpuncher]

I've been living in Taiwan for 7 years. I've missed a lot of TV shows, but not movies because thay all come out here too, if not theatrically, then on DVD.
Here's the thing, I caught "Heroes" and adore it. Then finally started "Lost" and loved it. Then I just got "30 Rock" on DVD and am in awe of it.
I'm 35 and my universe is one where movies should always surpass TV...but this wall has broken down. It seems like TV has caught up with, if not at times surpassed, movies. That's great, isn't it?

 

[Hermiod]

Just the opposite for me. I used to enjoy TV a lot more than movies. Now I am gradually getting more and more fed up with TV to the point where I don't think I'm going to be watching very much of it at all in future.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Could you tell me which TV shows have disappointed and wich movies have entertained you? (other than The Dark Knight )

 

[Jim Steele]

I've been feeling like this for a while. I find a good, long running TV series far more satisying than even my favourite films. I think it's just because you have longer to emotionally invest in the characters, as you witness their lives played out in a consistent universe.

I'd take Babylon 5 over Star Wars any day of the week, but I love them both.

 

[Hermiod]

Could you tell me which TV shows have disappointed and wich movies have entertained you? (other than The Dark Knight )

Oh boy.

24 has become almost ridiculous. It's got one more season for me. I dumped the CSI shows and E.R. over a year ago.

Smallville has become irritating. It'll do a really good episode and then blow it the next week with some pile of "let's make Welling take his shirt off and get beaten up by a girl" garbage.

There's no Star Trek anymore, Stargate SG-1, The 4400, The West Wing etc etc are gone, Battlestar Galactica is going and the new shows that a few years ago I would have watched like Sarah Connor don't interest me anymore.

TV isn't being made for me anymore. TV is a women's medium now. There may or may not be anything wrong with that, but it doesn't appeal to me.

As for films, I'm a comic book geek so I'm in heaven right now. Every big movie is based on a comic book. Plus, I'm going back and discovering little gems of movies that I never saw before. DVDs are going for a few pounds here in the UK.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Same here, I enjoy a good on going series more than movies. I almost always feel there's something missing from movies, but good TV shows get a chance to give you proper character growth, real changes and emotional investment with 6-26 episodes per series you get a much longer time to properly explore the story and characters.

You often hear people complain that there's nothing worthwhile on TV (this isn't a vailed jab at you Hermiod), and to be perfectly honest, I think their tastes are just too narrow, and they don't give enough shows a chance. There's been a lot of fantastic TV in the past few years.

 

[Warp Coil]

I've always preferred well-written television. There's something about on-going story arcs and long-term character development that I really enjoy on TV. With a film, you get the entire story in roughly 2 hours. Then it's all over. I like something that you can come back to on a weekly basis.

 

[Harvey]

I've always preferred well-written television. There's something about on-going story arcs and long-term character development that I really enjoy on TV. With a film, you get the entire story in roughly 2 hours. Then it's all over. I like something that you can come back to on a weekly basis.

I agree, but I also have to say, if I had to choose, just one or the other, I would go with film. I could always watch the worst of film--the number of z-grade horror flicks I've waded through is probably embarrassing. I can't watch the worst of television--reality TV, soaps, etc. That's why I could never be a television critic--I just can't get through the bad stuff.

 

[Hermiod]

You often hear people complain that there's nothing worthwhile on TV (this isn't a vailed jab at you Hermiod), and to be perfectly honest, I think their tastes are just too narrow, and they don't give enough shows a chance. There's been a lot of fantastic TV in the past few years.

I know it's not, each to his own. You and I have discussed it before and I appreciate your views.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

You often hear people complain that there's nothing worthwhile on TV (this isn't a vailed jab at you Hermiod), and to be perfectly honest, I think their tastes are just too narrow, and they don't give enough shows a chance. There's been a lot of fantastic TV in the past few years.

I know it's not, each to his own. You and I have discussed it before and I appreciate your views.

Yeah, that's why I thought to put that disclaimer in there, because after we discussed it I can understand where you're coming from.

 

[auntiehill]

As much as I love a good movie, my patience for the same, average films has run out. I've seen so many good films that I won't settle for the mediocre to crappy movies anymore.

I do find that I get a great deal of satisfaction in watching a really good TV show. I think the really good shows have gotten exponentially better, but of course, the crap gets exponentially crappier, especially with the glut of reality shows on right now.

But shows like Deadwood, Dexter, Burn Notice, Life on Mars, LOST, Heroes--I'm floored by the quality and amount of joy I get from watching them. Sure, there have been some long-running shows that have run out of steam. 24 took a real nosedive last season, and I'm not sure if I will watch anymore. SG-1, one of my all-time favorites, came to an end about 2 seasons too late, but the DVD movies sort of make up for that. SG:Atlantis has gone steadily downhill since last year.

But on the whole, yes, I suppose I do get more joy from my favorite television shows than I do from the movies.

 

[WillsBabe]

I much prefer TV to film. I've rarely become as fond of a movie and its characters as I have about tv shows and their characters. I think there has been some really great tv over the last few years. I usually find it takes me a long time to really fall in love with a tv show, maybe that's why I don't get to grips with movies as much as I do with tv.

 

[amdmiami]

Lately I've been enjoying TV shows a lot more. I've already seen most of the good movies and these days the crap they're putting out in theaters is embarrassing! Once and a while you get a gem like "Dark Knight" but most of the other stuff just feels like rehashed shit. Last week I watched "The Mummy 3" and it felt like I've seen it before 20 times, only done better. Part of the problem with movies now a days is that they're toned down so its more of a family movie. Take the Mummy 3 for example, compared to the first 2, it feels like a kids movie. The first two were very dark, gruesome, and disturbing. Not one scene in the new Mummy felt that way.

TV is the way to go these days and I think there is something for everyone. If you don't like the recent stuff, there's plenty of amazing stuff that came out in the 90's and early 00's.

 

[tomalak301]

I find I'm loving Film a lot more. With a film, you get a beginning, middle and end. With TV, it seems like you have to dedicate a lot of time to it and because I can't, I've been missing out on shows like Lost, Mad Men, or The Wire. The shows I do watch are either overrated (Battlestar Galactica) or on hiatus for a few years (Doctor Who). I'm really looking forward to the return of Heroes, but I have to wonder how good it will be considering the last time Heroes was on, people were up in arms regarding the lack of quality. Also, 24 is going to be coming back but I was so ticked with the previous season that this season doesn't look interesting either. Give me more movies like No Country for Old Men or The Dark Knight any day. Unfortunately, we're wrapping up a disappointing (Other than TDK) summer movie season so hopfully the good stuff is still coming in the fall and then award season.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I'm not that interested in many 'modern' movies. I think most don't live up to the hype.

I do love classic film and watch alot of 'old movies'...but then I really love those old movie stars. They don't make 'em like Gary Cooper, Clark Gable and Cary Grant anymore, that's for sure!

And so, when it comes to the 'modern' stuff, I generally prefer TV. I have no great love of any modern actors except maybe Johnny Depp...and so that piece isn't a draw for most modern movies. And character development, which is another thing I care about, is usually much better on TV.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Definitely, this trend has been going on for the past few years.

Movies have become eye-popping spectacles, usually of the fantasy type, to motivate people's butts into the theater. They might be good like Dark Knight and WALL*E and they might be bad like Indy, Mummy & Speed Racer, but what they have in common is that they'd lose a lot if you waited to see them on your little TV, or even your ridiculously big-ass TV.

The alternative are all the female and male wish-fulfillment movies: Sex and the City for the girls, Judd Apatow gross-out comedies for the boys. If you don't fit one of those three categories, kiss your box office goodbye.

Movies have therefore become pretty shallow. Sure, there's all the Oscar-bait flicks, and I'm sure we'll get a new raft of them this fall, but they hardly make a blip at the box office.

The situation with TV is very different. It's fragmenting into two big trends: really lowest common denomenator stuff (reality crap, formula cop shows) and much more interesting and substantial dramas and comedies to cater to specific audience tastes. 30 Rock's niche is "smart political comedy"; BSG's niche is "deep, complex, challenging space opera"; Mad Men's niche is "gorgeously produced period drama with complex character relationships." Whatever your niche taste is, it's becoming more common that it will be catered to.

Think about the niches that Lost and Dexter cater to - mind-bendingly complicated and slow-moving sci fi; a show that lets us root for a serial killer as hero - I wouldn't even think they existed much less that anyone would make a show for them.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I find there's more interesting tv shows out there than movies. I go to so few movies every year yet I watch a lot of tv shows. But then tv is free...you gotta pay for the movies so it's more irritating when they suck.

 

[Trubinator]

I used to prefer movies but I can't stand them much anymore. I loved Indy 4 and The Dark Knight, but those are very rare examples. Doubt I'll ever watch movies as much as I used to. TV on the other hand, despite being a disappointing industry for science fiction these days, is still going strong. I'll probably be a lifelong TV viewer.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Production values on TV shows have gotten a lot better recently, too. I can see how Lost or Heroes could pay the bill, but little cable shows like Mad Men and Dexter? I still don't see how they can have production values that good when they get 2M viewers.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I would assume that part of the reason is that they only produce a dozen episodes instead of 22 a season.