"croissant-munching, latte-sipping": instances of misconceived media-class self-loathing ITT

I think for a while the thing was that prestige TV became such a concept that a lot of stuff that was as trashy and low quality as anything from the old cable days would also get a prestige sheen just by virtue of being a streaming show or hourlong drama. I don't know that that's still the case though.

at some point cable television just became a nightmare. in the 90s it was actually kinda fun in a wild west sorta way. i have VHS tapes where i just channel-surfed thru the weirdest terrain of local public/christian/weird movies/music videos/bizzare infomercials/etc. people would try all kinds of things to get cable eyeballs. and networks weren't immune to it. the morning/afternoon blocks especially were just mayhem. soaps and shouting. i get live t.v. for my dad via Hulu and other than the news or sports its all a faux-streaming deadzone. just space-filler until prime-time or the news or some awards show or sports thing. its no fun at all to watch 4 hours of reality game wardens with tons of commercials. streaming is a godsend. even with some commercials. Tubi is the wild west now but someone will tame it eventually. all those weird Roku movie channels i get. they're just nuts as far as content.
i just feel: why complain about content being less-than-the-sopranos when everything lives forever. you'll never see all the good stuff that already exists if you are really into t.v.-watching let alone all the MID stuff. also people don't need to get too nostalgic about old bad shows. most of them were truly bad. even as novelties you don't need to watch most of it. i honestly have no idea how they are making so much stuff now. its a LOT of hours. did i read some article where they are actually running out of actors in some place like Sweden because they have to make so many crime shows for Acorn and Britbox and Netflix? maybe it wasn't Sweden.

my MID ideal now is Paramount+. the ease of it. some decent movies and shows via Showtime and tons of seasons of mindlessness. was that me starting CSI:New York Episode 1 Season 1 last night? It might have been...

I think part of what led to the glut and what is crashing now how to do that streaming services are all considered tech platforms, not broadcast networks, and the funding models for tech platforms just got ya led out because the free money era is currently receding because of interest rate hikes.

it still feels like a glut to me. but maybe that will change over time. so many shows. netflix stealing from the entire world of t.v. must mean that it will continue with 20+ new shows a week or whatever. of which 2 are really good. but even my lowly PBS app channel has way more than i can watch. and they add stuff all the time.

it is a bit strange to me that we're using this very specific and useful thread to talk about TV but since scott got told off for posting movie stuff on the streaming thread (where this discussion surely belongs) I get it

feel like i hijacked Mark's media-class self-loathing thread though. should probably take it the streaming thread.

it just felt like a really conflicted article to me. *where is the great stuff? but i fold my laundry too don't get me wrong...but the bad stuff was really bad and that was better? and i like hamburgers but they are STILL hamburgers...*

the one thing i did feel was when they talked about the smoothing/AI feel to shows to make them seem slicker/fancier. but that just seems smart to me. more people will watch a shiny thing so why not make it shiny? it also reminds me that i keep forgetting to turn off the smoothing on my dad's t.v. but he doesn't care so i don't care.

x-post!

i think we're done here anyway. haha!

i just feel: why complain about content being less-than-the-sopranos when everything lives forever. you'll never see all the good stuff that already exists if you are really into t.v.-watching let alone all the MID stuff

I don't agree with this. I'll probably never watch every great noir movie and every japanese cinema masterpiece, but I don't want to spend my life just watching near 75-100 year old stuff, I'd like there to be great art that actually reflects the time I live in.

actually, this would have made more sense. though MID is somewhat different from middlebrow i guess.

Middlebrow

"I'd like there to be great art that actually reflects the time I live in."

i just mean that there is no hurry now. or sell-by date. i get mubi and ovid and criterion and there is more great stuff from the last 5 or 10 years on there then i can get to. if there is a lean film or t.v. year there is certainly enough backlog for someone. with network and cable t.v. being kinda superfluous now you can find good things anywhere/anytime. that's all i meant.