Page 1 of 1

Poll; Movies or TV Shows?

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:27 am
by Parakeet
I prefer movies... how about you?

Re: Poll; Movies or TV Shows?

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:54 pm
by GJ
I think it depends...I can't always choose movies over television since time is of the essence. Generally, people imagine movies are better because it seems it would take longer to create one, and that must mean it's better written. Although there exists programs like Sherlock(which tore my heart in two), or Call The Midwife :D , and those run longer than most television shows.
I really can't make a decision like this, because I've enjoyed seeing fantastic acting and heart warming scenes from television and movies. It sounds nice to take a day watching movies, except I find I love certain television programs just as much, if not more.

Re: Poll; Movies or TV Shows?

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 5:05 pm
by Catspaw
It depends! There is something nice about sitting down for two hours, watching a good movie, and then knowing that it's done, but there's also something nice about watching a great show for a decade. :D I have lots of favourite movies and favourite TV shows, and they both have advantages and disadvantages. I'm terrible at choosing just one favourite of anything in general, but apparently I also can't choose between genres. ;)

Re: Poll; Movies or TV Shows?

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:30 pm
by Woody
TV shows, hands down, for many reasons.

1. I rarely have time to sit down and watch a two-hour movie, but can easily make time for a 45-minute episode. And if I do have more time, I can binge-watch a couple of episodes.

2. TV shows have much more time to develop their characters and story arcs, as a full season is usually equivalent to several movies (and good shows have many seasons).

3. TV shows have much shorter gaps between seasons than any film series. You get more content in a shorter amount of time.

4. TV shows come back. Reality is, most movies don't get sequels, and if they do, they're usually highly inferior to the original. This is because most movies don't have sequels in the original plan. TV shows plan to have multiple seasons from the very beginning, and thus the quality is usually maintained.

There's a couple of my reasons for preferring TV shows. I could come up with more, but those are the main ones.

Re: Poll; Movies or TV Shows?

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:56 pm
by Catspaw
Woody's reason number 4 actually reminded me of something that TV shows sometimes do wrong as the result of knowing that they have lots of seasons. I've watched some shows where they keep escalating and escalating because the next season always has to be bigger and better than the last one, and there has to be the dramatic cliffhangers, sometimes not just at the end of a season, but when there's an break in the airing process (Christmas, or whenever the network decides to do so), and that can cause a drop in quality. Going too dramatic is often worse than maintaining the status quo.

That said, I do like that there's a lot of time to get to know the characters and have good story arcs, like Woody said.

Re: Poll; Movies or TV Shows?

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:02 pm
by GJ
Catspaw wrote:Woody's reason number 4 actually reminded me of something that TV shows sometimes do wrong as the result of knowing that they have lots of seasons. I've watched some shows where they keep escalating and escalating because the next season always has to be bigger and better than the last one, and there has to be the dramatic cliffhangers, sometimes not just at the end of a season, but when there's an break in the airing process (Christmas, or whenever the network decides to do so), and that can cause a drop in quality. Going too dramatic is often worse than maintaining the status quo.
Aye, this raises a very good point. :)
There are television shows that improve with age, though there are others that cannot last more than three seasons. The quality of the ideas I think is what is able to sustain. Programs like Doctor Who, in my lowly opinion, do well since they are able to think differently, as account of it being science fiction. The writers can draw in new characters with an explanation not even the characters understand. There are endless directions and possibilities, little niches in far off dimensions. It is all very entertaining, and there is no argument about it being realistic or logical.

I watched Once Upon A Time for quite a while, and though the first two episodes were fantastic, I was sorely disappointed as time went on. Characters were being pulled in from seemingly out of nowhere and placed in scenes we had already seen. I have to say it was repetitive, I could never tell a character's intentions, as they bounced from moral to immoral. It is as if the writers are trying to cram as much drama as possible into one episode. There is not much humour, or at least to be measured up to another fantasy program. This could be debated...I just think it serves as a good example.