ugly95 I know I’ve gone back and re-watched some old stuff that I remember being really good, and it turned about to be absolutely wretched.
Can you give me some examples? For me the only ones that pop into my heads for re-watching are shows like Star Trek, Stargate, Farscape, etc., and they’re all just as good / bad as I remember them to be. A couple of them I like more now because it’s like sitting down in that comfortable reclining chair in your living room that the rest of the family can’t sit in.
I’m not sure how far or recent you go back with “old” but I recently re-watched the entire run of Person of Interest because of all the AI stuff and lol’d at myself because I recall thinking when the show came out how far-fetched everything was and maybe in the future this might happen but no time soon. It seems we’re in the future now…
ugly95 As for the rest of it, I’m not going to be sucked into culture war bullshit about box checking.
I don’t think you can avoid “culture war bullshit” especially since it seems to be directing our availability of shows.
It really takes a unique configuration of a showrunner and a network executive who grants that showrunnner the freedom to do whatever they want without checking those boxes. HBO is a great example of a network whose corporate ethos was “if you make a good show, you make our brand better” rather than networks like Netflix and Amazon who go out of their way to procederally check boxes to make sure they satisfy special interest groups.
Rick & Morty seemed to have that level of freedom but the problem is, they brought in writers who want to check those boxes. Justin Roiland was axed from the show due to the allegations of impropriety and Dan Harmon had inferred that he’s stepping back to give younger writers a chance to write for the show.
ugly95 But these big companies really only care about reaching the largest audience possible.
Not true, unfortunately.
“Amazon Studios Releases Inclusion Policy and Playbook to Strengthen Ongoing Commitment to Diverse and Equitable Representation”
https://press.amazonmgmstudios.com/us/en/press-release/amazon-studios-releases-inclusion-policy-and
Eventual link to Netflix initiatives on hitting “inclusion metrics”:
https://about.netflix.com/en/inclusion
Disney is grossly impacted by activist investors who demand boxes be checked.
I feel like we might have peaked a few years back during a glory period with HBO, FX, AMC, and Showtime where they were just belting out quality hits unfettered by network executives. Rick and Morty debut right at the tail end of that network freedom and I can’t help that it’s tanked in later years because of a shift in that less creative direction, not so much because of network control but because of an overall shift in creative groupthink.
ugly95 It’s why like every single Marvel superhero was basically the same character complete with quippy dialogue. I remember the most jarring thing for me when The Force Awakens came out was pretty much in the first scene, when they get captured and Poe Dameron immediately makes some quippy remark about who talks first. I remember the whole theatre gave a quick laugh, but to me it felt totally out of place.
hah, that we can agree on. I’d almost say that Disney finds a way to hit that ‘box checking’ nail on the head while also raking in the dough but then I recall their most recent flops and I realize that no, it’s not always perfect.
I feel like your Force Awakens example falls under the same umbrella as what’s happening with Rick & Morty - amatuer writers who are terrible at writing good shows that connect with the original content when it was good.