The Future of Televison?

[JollyApe]

Is there such a thing as a future for television?
There are lots of great shows out there, but they all seem to be cancelled within a few years. Why? What's to become of television?

Firefly, Futurama, Angel, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me, Star Trek Enterprise(ok perhaps this one was justified), are only some of the shows cancelled recently. So what is going to happen? Wouldn't it perhaps be better just to make shows into dvd's straight away and never even let the networks touch them? But then again there is the entire money issue.

Ok what do you think will happen to televison in the next few years? (btw Would Buffy have been picked up after the first season in todays TV climate?)

 

[pyromaniac]

With the way TV is going at the moment, in a few years there'll be nothing but re-runs and 'reality TV' on.

 

[SlayerThe]

I think the TV Powers that Be are more concerned with ratings and "in" genres than actual substance.

You're right, many of the best written television shows have been cancelled in the past few years, and the television shows that actually show promise are quickly going down the drain (Smallville, The OC). The only shows that I can really think of being well written and staying true to their mission without doing certain things for ratings are Gilmore Girls, Everwood, and maybe a few others.

I find it ironic that the WB cancels Angel, but yet keeps Charmed and 7th Heaven on the air. Did these shows get higher ratings? Probably. But are they one tenth as critically acclaimed? No.

And then you have the issue of what is good television to us is not exactly good television to everyone else....

I honestly do not think Buffy would have been picked up if it were to air now. It might like two or three episodes before it was cancelled.

 

[nerd4hire]

I don't know, you know. As bad as things are with the reality shows, and the done-a-thousand-times sit-coms, and the juvenile pap, and the character-free, factory built, crime shows; bad TV is nothing new, and some TV might even be better now than it's ever been.

As bad as some stuff is, there's some good and even great stuff out there. I'd say higher quality in general than previous decades.

Personally I find myself anticipating something that's coming up all the time. Like right now the new Doctor Who is coming in a matter of weeks, and there's a documentary March 23 examing the details behind The Davinci code, and who on the island is going to die in the finale of Lost?

Also we've got DVDs now. Quality shows turn up there, and producers of series that are on the bubble prepare the story in anticipation of cancellation, so it is a complete tale with a satisfying ending. For an example check out the Wonderfalls DVD - no seriously, check it out.

So no, imo TV isn't sinking so far into the pit of crap that there's nothing worthwhile, nor ever will be. Yeah there is a lot of crap, but what's wrong with TV has always been the same thing. It's what's wrong with democracy. From any single person's POV the rest of the world are idiots, and they want the wrong stuff, so that's what they get.

 

[eponinethen]

I used to be seriously worried about TV, lol.. But well, I don't believe there will ever be a TV show as good as Buffy, well, not in years anyway, but I don't know.. I spent all last week watching TV shows and that sort of restored my faith in TV, heh.. I think there's still hope.. Or yeah, I'm trying to believe that..

 

[Faith]

It never used to be like this, and if it was then I certainly was not aware. At the moment two of the new shows that I watch have yet to be given a second season. Those being Veronica Mars and Point Pleasant, both great shows with excellent potential.

But one thing that does provide some light is Family Guy. They cancelled it several times and based on the high dvd sales they brought it back.

 

[Xander]

I think theres a new wave of TV emerging, with some interesting shows being produced. One the one hand we have the popular Desperate Housewives, The OC and Lost. On the other we have the less popular but still interesting Point Pleasant, Veronica Mars etc. So I think TV has potential but I dunno whether this will last.

 

[SlayerShel]

I don't really watch any current shows. Reality shows just don't do it for me. I thought like a couple seasons of the Real World were cool... like 8 years ago or something, but grew tired of it. I just will not watch reality shows.

 

[Faldor]

TV is not in such a bad way. but your enterprise slagging is totally ignorant. this seasons been a complete turn around with it actually doing what it set out to do and not just Brannon Bragas BS.

whenever theres good telly theres always bad telly. the problem is the networks don't have an accurate way to get ratings. you can't just put a box in every 10,000'th or whatever home and expect to get a fair reading. the reason reality shows are so quote unquote popular is because they register in the ratings because their watched with people who have nothing better to do then make sure their home when they go out.

programmes like firefly, buffy, angel, Lost, Futurama etc are watched by Intellectuals who are going to set their Video, or download the episode at a later date.

as a result you get these enormousely popular programmes which knowone realises til they go out on DVD and the sales summersalt!

Firefly and Family guy are prime examples here.

now what the next works *should* be doing is setting up a sort of Legal download system where you can save the programme and adverts to your harddrives or atleast view it online similar to what BBC radio does or Yahoo music video thingy.

the networks think their still in the 90's but its an alien landscape to them now and they don't know what their doing.

 

[nerd4hire]

I'm so onboard with that point. Television is in a transition period due to new technologies - copying, DVDs, the internet etc.

As usual though, the industry types that govern how the media is presented are decades behind, using a 1960s mindset to manage a 21st century phenomena.

And it's only just beginning. TV shows are downloaded from the internet. The direct to DVD thing could create a situation where the networks have to solicit the artist for shows already in production rather than having veto powers on what is or isn't produced. There is a technology right now, waiting in the wings where people can click for advertisement-free copies of anything on TV, the radio, or the internet, then instaneously share those copies through a world wide network.

 

[Amber Benson]

I'm with Faldor on this one too 🙂

I think the big problem with T.V. shows these days is the storylines. Buffy and even Angel had some really amazing lines, and what worked best was their constant flow of characters... In and out of both series'.

I don't watch many T.V. shows anymore, just the OC, but the biggest problem with that show is the lack of storyline. They cycle through the same storyline, just as fast as they cycle through their re-occuring characters. It's all about ratings anymore, and honestly, I don't see how some of these shows get the ratings they do. Sure, ratings are good and all, but throwing a "lesbian" storyline into the mix just for ratings, and once you get those ratings totally removing that storyline... Gah it's annoying! What are the writers thinking? "Okay, that's done. Next plot!"

(Sorry, that's my OC rant... It's not an all bad show, just some of the storylines are getting quite old... again...)

 

[Faith]

You're right, many of the best written television shows have been cancelled in the past few years, and the television shows that actually show promise are quickly going down the drain (Smallville, The OC). The only shows that I can really think of being well written and staying true to their mission without doing certain things for ratings are Gilmore Girls, Everwood, and maybe a few others.

Whats wrong with Smallville, i'd take that over Gilmore Girls any day but thats just my opinion.

On the point Faldor made about legal downloading, I was reading an article while at work about the internet and the future of tv. I managed to hunt down two of the articles on BBC news:

Article One
Article Two

 

[Faldor]

*puts on nostradarmus hat*

with all the new technology from t'internet to that sky box Ruport Murdoch wants everyone to own...

by 2020 if not 2015 TV schedules will be history. your just get a weeks worth of programmes you can download and just watch it.

i used to laugh when people said "oh your computer and your telly are going to merge" but now theres a big wire going into my telly and my computer has a DVD player !

PROPHIT FALDOR HAS SPOKEN

 

[nerd4hire]

It will have some fascinating and inevitable results.

The present network model of producing and transmitting television will become obsolete. A person will be able to do a search on any program worldwide, then click and watch it.

Neilsen ratings will also be obsolete as viewings of a program will be recorded by clicks.

 

[SlayerThe]

Whats wrong with Smallville, i'd take that over Gilmore Girls any day but thats just my opinion.

Now I love Smallville as much as the next guy, but when comparing this season to earlier seaons, it doesn't seem as good. Too many filler episodes, and new cast members getting attention when old cast members have hardly any screen time. Look at what they did to Chloe, she is a far more interesting character than Lois or Jason, but yet they get more airtime then she does. And I really cannot buy that whole Countess Isabella Margret Thoreau crap anymore. Now the whole stone thing intrigues me; as for the rest, too many continuity errors to name.

The OC finally seems to be getting back on track, and I think the lesbian plot line was just a way to show that Marissa really did try to do anything and everything to hurt Julie. Plus Alex was great while she lasted, but she was slowly starting to annoy me like Lindsay did as well.

As for Gilmore Girls, they've actually managed to create some really good episodes this year considering it's the fifth season. So many shows get stale, have floppin' storylines, or just get off track with continuity, but not this show. You can see that they've been building story lines since last season and especially in the beginning of this season (i.e. the whole class issue) and such.

 

[nerd4hire]

How about this then... Create your own television channel.

Announcing a new platform for internet television and video. Anyone can broadcast full-screen video to thousands of people at virtually no cost, using BitTorrent technology. Viewers get intuitive, elegant software to subscribe to channels, watch video, and organize their video library. The project is non-profit, open source, and built on open standards. Today we're announcing the project and releasing our current sourcecode. The software is launching in June.

http://www.participatoryculture.org/

 

[The Arcane]

I think there is definately a future for television, it just won't be the same as what we have been used to all these years. The networks may or may not begin to diversify again (the success of Lost and rise in ratings for Alias this year would seem to suggect at least ABC is going to be more open to genre programming again) but the real changes will come via the cable channels, in my opinion.

Coming from the UK i'm very used to the terresterial channels (our equivalent of the networks) being empty of anything remotely considered to be quality television. We have five main channels here (BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Five) all of which have gradually reduced their genre programming to nearly zero. The BBC has pretty much stopped showing anything that is imported from the US, i believe that they are showing Farscape on BBC 3 at the moment but that is it. The awful Doctor Who (and i do mean AWFUL, it's like watching Childrens BBC on a Saturday evening!!!) is by no means worthy of replacing shows like Buffy and the X Files which used to have pride of place on their schedules.

ITV has been that way for as long as i can remember, to the point that i don't even need to use the third button on my television remote control anymore. There is absolutely nothing worth watching on ITV, literally!

Channel 4 and Five do actually show a decent amount of US shows, the likes of Buffy, Stargate and Alias, and other less impressive series like Charmed and The O.C., so they at least get merit points for that.

However in the UK, if you want serious genre programming then you need to pay for the right these days. All the best, most up to date series are only available on satellite or cable subscription channels like Sky One, E4 and Bravo. This has been getting more and more true ever year for the past five or six years as the terresterial channels showed less and less concern for the minority viewers such as genre fans, in favour of mass produced reality shows and soaps like Coronation Street for the sixty years plus audience.

This will be the way things now go in the States, if they haven't already. More people will start subscribing to cable channels because they are not satisfied with what the networks offer. The cable channels will start getting higher viewing figures and therefore start making more money through advertising. This will lead to the like of HBO, Sci Fi and channels like that being able to develop more and more quality programmes which will, in turn, prompt more people to want to spend the money to subscribe.

The networks will realise sooner or later that diversity in their schedules is essential if they want to remain relevant. They will also realise that giving a series enough time to develop a fanbase instead of cancelling it ten minutes after the first episode airs is the only way to guarantee long term faith from your viewers. Whether they realise this before they have lost all their audience is pretty much up to them.