I'm pretty critical of most programming, so when I can literally find something compelling or entertaining to watch every single day of the week regardless of the season, you KNOW television is in a serious sweetspot. I'm struggling to see how much better it could get. It's so good, I could frankly give a shit about movies. I'm so backlogged on my movie list that it's virtually impossible for me to catch. Hell, watched The Godfather for the first time the other day (sacriledge, I know). But hell, it was ten times better than any movie I've seen recently. In my book, that's sad.
Me too. Unfortunately, my wife seems tied to crappy sitcoms (thank god many of them got the axe this season), but there is lots of good original TV on FX and USA. Well, nothing quite like having high expectations, I guess! That was a spectacular movie. Any move 1/10th of The Godfather is probably a pretty decent movie. But I hear you on the movie queue. I've got a bunch on my TiVo that I just haven't gotten around to, despite them reportedly being great movies (Lost in Translation has been there for about a year, I think, unwatched...)
No but I'm sure they could bring back Masterbating Bear. I think Conan will have to change, but not too much, for the Tonight Show. Letterman had to make some changes to his act when he went to CBS in the '90s. As for the topic on hand, I have to agree that this is a golden age right now. There is so much creativity out there on the tube and I think that has a lot to do with so many channels fighting for audience out there. Sure, there will be morons who will want to watch Two and a Half Men and According to Jim (and always will be), but for more discerning tastes, there are so many good choices, from 24 and The Sopranos to Entourage and The Colbert Report. All in all, enjoy this while it lasts.
There was a study done a while back about how TV is actually smarter now. The point was that it had many interweaving plotlines and assume the viewer can keep them straight. This was a big jump over shows made 20 years ago where it was almost all focused on Plot A with Plot B in there to fill time. Now there are shows where there are Plots A through E with many of the lines extending over the course of a season. One other thing that is making this golden age possible is Tivo and othere DVRs. They allow you to have a life and still keep up with all your shows. They make it possible for you not to choose which show you will watch at a certain time because you can watch both of them.
Yes, cable has really improved things by bringing more competition and edge to programming. Alright, maybe I'm setting the standard a bit high. But a movie has to be pretty damn good to compete for my attention. There's just so many other things that grab my attention. I'm literally living in an ADD wetdream. I haven't seen that one, either. I gave up trying to keep track. I used to be the guy that saw everything, and then I started a family. Plus, my tastes have changed since my early 20's. I'm not willing to piss away two hours on rubbish unless it makes me laugh hard (hint: Jack Ass).
As far as stupid-ass sitcoms go, it's not horrible. Even the crappy six-camera sitcoms are better! Still, HBO, FX and DVR/DVDs have done wonders for television. Too bad Undeclared and ArrDev didn't survive.