TV changed a lot in the 2010s, and the decade’s best reflects that

Bingewatching, streaming services, aftershows, expanded universes, and more.

Read the whole story

 

[mvmiller12]

I personally like Disovery, but guys.... I guarantee that you have just opened a huge can of cooment section toxicity worms with that pick alone.

Also, no Ron Moore Battlestar Galactica? I miss my Man Soap Opera

 

[Tsur]

The one thing that didn't happen was a la carte channels. Instead, we got a whole shit load of exclusive content on a myriad of streaming services. I don't know if it's in response to the previous two, but TV piracy really took off in 10s

 

[captainbob23]

I personally like Disovery, but guys.... I guarantee that you have just opened a huge can of cooment section toxicity worms with that pick alone.

Also, no Ron Moore Battlestar Galactica? I miss my Man Soap Opera

Ron Moore Battlestar ended in 2009, so not in the 2010s decade.

 

[captainbob23]

The one thing that didn't happen was a la carte channels. Instead, we got a whole shit load of exclusive content on a myriad of streaming services. I don't know if it's in response to the previous two, but TV piracy really took off in 10s

I used to sail the high seas regularly, but the streaming services have pretty much stopped my need to do that. The nice thing about streaming is it's easy to rotate through services to watch what you want. For example, I'm waiting on the Manalorian to finish it's season before signing up for a month of Disney+. I will binge the show, cancel Disney+, then move on to say CBS All Access for a month for Star Trek Picard/Discovery.

 

[AreWeThereYeti]

The one thing that didn't happen was a la carte channels. Instead, we got a whole shit load of exclusive content on a myriad of streaming services. I don't know if it's in response to the previous two, but TV piracy really took off in 10s

I used to sail the high seas regularly, but the streaming services have pretty much stopped my need to do that. The nice thing about streaming is it's easy to rotate through services to watch what you want. For example, I'm waiting on the Manalorian to finish it's season before signing up for a month of Disney+. I will binge the show, cancel Disney+, then move on to say CBS All Access for a month for Star Trek Picard/Discovery.

But this system is not at equilibrium. You think the streaming services won't respond to that? I guarantee you the streaming services are going to either stop binge-watch programming and rotating through a partial selection of each show at any given time, or go like Amazon Prime and require longer subscription commitments (or cable-style "discounts" for time commitments) so that it becomes harder and harder to rotate through services month-to-month.

There are so many shows now where suddenly the new season moves somewhere else and you have to pay up again to continue watching, or wait a long time to join the party. I'll be sitting here in the dark for a few years, waiting for Season 4 of Rick and Morty to join the other seasons on Hulu (if it ever does).

 

[Tsur]

I used to sail the high seas regularly, but the streaming services have pretty much stopped my need to do that. The nice thing about streaming is it's easy to rotate through services to watch what you want.

I don't think it is easy. You need to keep an eye on your renewal dates, "Shit, I forgot to cancel HBO this month." Managing 2-5 streaming services is a PIA.

I would love some sort of cross content streaming service. Pay $25 a month and get unfettered access to a couple of the big streaming services at any one time. Something where watching GoT would switch you to HBO for week. Then watching Star Trek would switch you to CBS for a week. Anything to make managing services easier.

 

[BullBearMS]

I personally like Disovery, but guys.... I guarantee that you have just opened a huge can of cooment section toxicity worms with that pick alone.

Also, no Ron Moore Battlestar Galactica? I miss my Man Soap Opera

Give Ron Moore's For All Mankind a try.

I teared up during the final episode of the season.

It's got the same period realism we saw in Chernobyl applied to space flight, politics, and character drama.

 

[Thaisen]

I personally like Disovery, but guys.... I guarantee that you have just opened a huge can of cooment section toxicity worms with that pick alone.

Also, no Ron Moore Battlestar Galactica? I miss my Man Soap Opera

Give Ron Moore's For All Mankind a try.

I teared up during the final episode of the season.

It's got the same period realism we saw in Chernobyl applied to space flight, politics, and character drama.

I'd love to but it's on apple... Yay for the streaming wars.

 

[Thaisen]

This was a really interesting article. One that might be good is one about sleep hits that were really good but didn't get noticed as much.

 

[Richard_M]

I used to sail the high seas regularly, but the streaming services have pretty much stopped my need to do that. The nice thing about streaming is it's easy to rotate through services to watch what you want.

I don't think it is easy. You need to keep an eye on your renewal dates, "Shit, I forgot to cancel HBO this month." Managing 2-5 streaming services is a PIA.

I would love some sort of cross content streaming service. Pay $25 a month and get unfettered access to a couple of the big streaming services at any one time. Something where watching GoT would switch you to HBO for week. Then watching Star Trek would switch you to CBS for a week. Anything to make managing services easier.

Just add a reminder to whatever calendar you use, that is what I do. I usually keep "channels" for two months and then cancel and move to the next one.

Not really that hard at all.

 

[BullBearMS]

I used to sail the high seas regularly, but the streaming services have pretty much stopped my need to do that. The nice thing about streaming is it's easy to rotate through services to watch what you want.

I don't think it is easy. You need to keep an eye on your renewal dates, "Shit, I forgot to cancel HBO this month." Managing 2-5 streaming services is a PIA.

I would love some sort of cross content streaming service. Pay $25 a month and get unfettered access to a couple of the big streaming services at any one time. Something where watching GoT would switch you to HBO for week. Then watching Star Trek would switch you to CBS for a week. Anything to make managing services easier.

Just add a reminder to whatever calendar you use, that is what I do. I usually keep "channels" for two months and then cancel and move to the next one.

Not really that hard at all.

It shouldn't be something you have to remember to do at all.

At least in Apple's ecosystem, when you sign up for a month of a subscription service, the setting to automatically renew every month is a separate toggle switch.

 

[JustVisitingThisPlanet]

Shows that glorify gangstas/thugs like Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Animal Kingdom, etc. have not been a great influence on TV. I liked Peaky Blinders because it was more about a reaction to their corrupt environment but this season a major turnoff with wasting innocent people who get in their way. We're supposed to take interest in these kind of characters? Stopped watching.

/nonreligousmoralityhat

 

[JamesHulsmann]

I think the Start Trek/The Expanse part is kind of horrible. The perfect-human thing being cast aside was not started by ST's latest thing, it was first done in the early seasons of TNG back in the 80's. The new show has also done most nothing notable, other than simply using a name and setting, to achieve a spot on the list. There is zero proof it is doing well other than words from executives that sort of paint that picture, but also belied by other things they say.

That said, wrt The Expanse - I love it, but given the form of list this is, I don't know if it really should get a mention either. What I mean is, it is to be seen how it's impact (etc.) is on TV.

That said, the "saved by Amazon" part sure an interesting story.

/apparently-toxic

 

[gulthaw]

We sat whiteknuckled through season one's mid-season finale, endured endless Mirror Universe pondering to reach an equally action-packed and satisfied S1 finale, watched old favorites like Spock show up in the materials for S2, and then enjoyed the ride as all the tie-ins and throwbacks to old Trek slowly fizzled out in favor of new ideas and discoveries within the universe courtesy of the USS Discovery.

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

Personally I would very much like to erase my memories of that show and keep only the feeling that it was an awful, convoluted mess, and that's what I think of S1. S2 is even more horrible and nonsensical, but then again, this is also my opinion.

 

[Tsur]

Chernobyl is a perfect example of how whitewashing only seems to matter when the whitewashing is being done to people who aren't obviously white, which is utterly ridiculous.

There are plenty of Russian and Ukrainian actors and actresses they could have used to film that series, but instead, they did it with a bunch of British people who spoke in perfect British accents. Why is this acceptable?

Ugh. Because they're actors? More importantly, they're bankable actors.

Jared Harris is fucking amazing. You put him in any role with white(ish) skin and he's gonna do a hell of a job. But it would be offensive to cast him as Nelson Mandela or Cesar Chavez. This isn't difficult.

 

[jazzylarry]

I used to sail the high seas regularly, but the streaming services have pretty much stopped my need to do that. The nice thing about streaming is it's easy to rotate through services to watch what you want.

I don't think it is easy. You need to keep an eye on your renewal dates, "Shit, I forgot to cancel HBO this month." Managing 2-5 streaming services is a PIA.

I would love some sort of cross content streaming service. Pay $25 a month and get unfettered access to a couple of the big streaming services at any one time. Something where watching GoT would switch you to HBO for week. Then watching Star Trek would switch you to CBS for a week. Anything to make managing services easier.

Just add a reminder to whatever calendar you use, that is what I do. I usually keep "channels" for two months and then cancel and move to the next one.

Not really that hard at all.

Or, use a virtual CC with a limited time period/$ amount. It'll get denied, and your service won't be able to renew. Problem solved as you'll get a reminder to update payment, and can officially cancel at that point. It's self-managing that way and protects you in case the payment info DBs get hacked.

 

[jep123]

Many undeniably great things [...] do not fall within our narrow wheelhouse of science, technology, and genre fare.

*looks suspiciously at Drunk History*

I feel like the "genre" thing is stretched a bit, here. If you try hard enough, almost everything is a "genre". The Walking Dead or The Expanse seem a lot more obvious than House of Cards, Orange is the New Black or Drunk History. Using wikipedia as a guideline, they list the major genres as crime (including detective), fantasy, romance, scifi, western, inspirational, historical and horror.

Of course, what really makes something "genre fiction" is more about playing to conventions of what books/films in that genre are usually like. A show like The Walking Dead didn't really do that most of the time, which is what I feel made it such a mass market show. A similar thing could be said about Drunk History. Yeah, it's history, but it's not made in anywhere near the same way you'd make a historical genre show.

None of this is to say the article isn't a good one. It just made me think of how we see "genre" today. I feel like they used to be more niche - "genre" was a thing that set it apart from "mainstream" - but now they are the mainstream.

 

[obarthelemy]

Chernobyl is a perfect example of how whitewashing only seems to matter when the whitewashing is being done to people who aren't obviously white, which is utterly ridiculous.

There are plenty of Russian and Ukrainian actors and actresses they could have used to film that series, but instead, they did it with a bunch of British people who spoke in perfect British accents. Why is this acceptable?

If this were a TV series about the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, the casting of British actors would have caused an uproar, and there'd be so much discussion about how there are plenty of Japanese actors and actresses.

But because these are just Russians and Ukrainians we're talking about? Who cares!

Are you seriously not grokking the difference between ethnicity and nationality ?

 

[mikesmith]

You blew it, ars. Two words: Bojack Horseman.

 

[Tsur]

Just add a reminder to whatever calendar you use

At least in Apple's ecosystem…

Or, use a virtual CC with a limited time period/$ amount.

So, set up calendar reminders for every service, use Apple's ecosystem and/or use virtual credit cards. Managing multiple streaming services is easy peasy.

It's not like I'm saying this is the most difficult thing in first world life. It's just annoying. Managing several recurrent charges is a hassle. I'm not saying one big cable bill that never ended was great. But multiple streaming services aren't the holy grail of ease for TV watching.

 

[Tsur]

I'd love to but it's on apple... Yay for the streaming wars.

Did I mention that piracy really took off in the 10s?
; )

 

[Justin Credible]

With all the shows on all those streaming services, there should be only 2 genres: binge-worthy and cringe-worthy!

 

[NinjaNerd56]

Big Bang Theory didnt get a mention for making nerds interesting people? Really?

Well, they played ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock’ too many times, got pissed, smoked some dirt weed, and left BBT out.

ALSO, the first season of Fargo was the best of the 3. I mean 2&3 were great, but S1’s elevator scene is still one of the best on TV.

 

[Justin Credible]

I'd love to but it's on apple... Yay for the streaming wars.

Did I mention that piracy really took off in the 10s?
; )

Still use it to this day for all my TV viewing, not that i watch that much anyway. (props to eztv!)

 

[BullBearMS]

Just add a reminder to whatever calendar you use

At least in Apple's ecosystem…

Or, use a virtual CC with a limited time period/$ amount.

So, set up calendar reminders for every service, use Apple's ecosystem and/or use virtual credit cards. Managing multiple streaming services is easy peasy.

It's not like I'm saying this is the most difficult thing in first world life. It's just annoying. Managing several recurrent charges is a hassle. I'm not saying one big cable bill that never ended was great. But multiple streaming services aren't the holy grail of ease for TV watching.

Well, yes.

Subscribing for a month of a service without turning on automatic monthly renewal is pretty damn easy.

Most of these services are way cheaper than a single movie ticket as well.

 

[NeoPlasma]

I think the Start Trek/The Expanse part is kind of horrible. The perfect-human thing being cast aside was not started by ST's latest thing, it was first done in the early seasons of TNG back in the 80's. The new show has also done most nothing notable, other than simply using a name and setting, to achieve a spot on the list. There is zero proof it is doing well other than words from executives that sort of paint that picture, but also belied by other things they say.

That said, wrt The Expanse - I love it, but given the form of list this is, I don't know if it really should get a mention either. What I mean is, it is to be seen how it's impact (etc.) is on TV.

That said, the "saved by Amazon" part sure an interesting story.

/apparently-toxic

Agreed here. I could only stomach the first 3 or 4 episodes of Discovery before writing it off entirely. Obviously I can't fairly judge the series as a whole since it "could" have improved, but I'm not wasting time hoping it did when other shows are available that are great from the start.

As for The Expanse, I'm not sure how influential it is. Did it encourage others to put the investment into high production values and great writing, or is it just a sign of a general trend to that? I'm certainly a big fan of the show, but it wouldn't be here for seasons 4 and 5 if Jeff Bezos wasn't a fan also with deep pockets. I don't know that the overall fan base is big enough otherwise to have supported this show financially on its own merits.... SyFy apparently couldn't justify the numbers.

 

[kessdawg]

The one thing that didn't happen was a la carte channels. Instead, we got a whole shit load of exclusive content on a myriad of streaming services. I don't know if it's in response to the previous two, but TV piracy really took off in 10s

But we DID get a la carte channels, you mention them in your next sentence. As someone who's been begging for a la carte for a decade, the new streaming model is a dream.

 

[Andrew Norton]

Oh boy, I'm left wondering what to do.

Flog you for praising the Anti-Trek, Discovery, or nod pleasingly for picking two shows filmed 15 minutes from my front door (walking dead and stranger things)

Maybe both at the same time, and thus look like a GoT badguy

 

[BullBearMS]

Holy crap, I just finished up The Morning Show and it was some really powerful stuff.

I've only binged through it and For All Mankind, but they are really sticking out for the inclusion of female characters in leading roles whose importance to the story is on par with the men.

 

[Tsur]

Subscribing for a month of a service without turning on automatic monthly renewal is pretty damn easy.

Okay, first of all I think it's disingenuous to pretend that all streaming don't auto renew. For instance, unless I'm just completing missing it, HBO Now and CBS auto renew until you cancel. Secondly, even if you were correct, managing renewals is only slightly less of a hassle than managing cancelling. Lastly, this leads to scheduling your TV watching - something you shouldn't need to do, "Oh damn, my HBO subscription ends tomorrow, guess I'm watching all of GoT tonight."

 

[bonesdad]

"Yes, yes, this decade of TV can't be discussed without a mention of Game of Thrones. Its early seasons felt revolutionary for how they subverted audience expectations, it propelled much of the show's female-centric cast to stardom, and its VFX may very well be the best we've ever witnessed on TV. And yet… those later seasons, right? After George RR Martin's books ended, the show's mojo seemed to follow. It may have still constituted event TV, but in retrospect that was based on the strength of the fan community and massive marketing more than the material itself. We'll remember GoT for its immense cultural capital, not as a show with something immense to say about culture."

Sounds a lot like one or two certain cinema space operas of late.

 

[Ken_g6]

I personally like Disovery, but guys.... I guarantee that you have just opened a huge can of cooment section toxicity worms with that pick alone.

Just so we're clear, Discovery is not only available on CBS All Access. It's also available on DVD and Blu-Ray. I should even be able to get it from my library! (I just put it on hold.)

Hopefully streaming sites that don't have a great deal of original content will keep putting out physical releases of shows. But I suspect at some point they may stop - or some of the newer sites may never start.

 

[BullBearMS]

Subscribing for a month of a service without turning on automatic monthly renewal is pretty damn easy.

Okay, first of all I think it's disingenuous to pretend that all streaming don't auto renew. For instance, unless I'm just completing missing it, HBO Now and CBS auto renew until you cancel. Secondly, even if you were correct, managing renewals is only slightly less of a hassle than managing cancelling. Lastly, this leads to scheduling your TV watching - something you shouldn't need to do, "Oh damn, my HBO subscription ends in tomorrow, guess I'm watching all of GoT tonight."

Sorry, but adding a subscription that doesn't auto renew isn't some arduous task, at least in Apple's ecosystem.

If you're too cheap to pay for your entertainment, then just own it.

There's no need to make up a bunch of bullshit about it just being super hard to just rotate through one of the available streaming services each month.

 

[Tsur]

Sorry, but adding a subscription that doesn't auto renew isn't some arduous task, at least in Apple's ecosystem.

If you're too cheap to pay for your entertainment, then just own it.

There's no need to make up a bunch of bullshit about it just being super hard to just rotate through one of the available streaming services each month.

There you go. Just attack me instead of addressing any of the points I made. You're definitely in the right.

 

[IntergalacticWalrus]

This is a pretty weak dismissal of Mr Robot, which is easily superior to most of those picks (especially fucking Discovery, of all things).

This Vice article got it right:
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/y3mz ... -the-2010s

 

[BullBearMS]

Sorry, but adding a subscription that doesn't auto renew isn't some arduous task, at least in Apple's ecosystem.

If you're too cheap to pay for your entertainment, then just own it.

There's no need to make up a bunch of bullshit about it just being super hard to just rotate through one of the available streaming services each month.

There you go. Just attack me instead of addressing any of the points I made. You're definitely in the right.

Your point seems to be that tapping a couple of extra buttons when you sign up for a service is hard.

It really isn't.

Now if I had to remember to manually cancel the service on the last day of the billing period, you would have a point.

But I don't.

 

[Tsur]

Your point seems to be that tapping a couple of extra buttons when you sign up for a service is hard.

It really isn't.

Now if I had to remember to manually cancel the service on the last day of the billing period, you would have a point.

Read my comment again and you'll see my point was multifaceted. You're just ignoring it to be belligerent. I'll try again. First, not all of us use the Apple ecosystem. These services do auto renew. Secondly, you never addressed that, even if they didn't, you now have to remember to renew your subscription - which is only slightly less annoying. Or, like I already mentioned, you have to binge your TV before your billing period ends. Multiply this by a few services and it is really annoying. Lastly, I already conceded that this isn't the end all and be all of problems.

It's not like I'm saying this is the most difficult thing in first world life. It's just annoying..

Feel free to address any of my points. Or, you can again accuse me of being cheap and spreading bullshit. Your choice.