memes

It’s not inherently bad. Episodic television is a series of self-contained narratives, and those narratives have value in themselves, even if they don’t alter the core premise of the show. Sometimes the show goes on too long and the writers run out of ideas or the original creatives move on, but that doesn’t invalidate the creative work up to that point. There are plenty of episodic TV shows that are amazing and wouldn’t benefit from fundamental changes to the premise.

Frankly, I think shows have gone too far in the other direction. Every streaming series is now a very long movie, and the medium isn’t better for it. Individual episodes often lack standalone value or punch, with plot and character development flowing too freely between them. Some creators are good at making use of the series format, using different visual or storytelling techniques to create episodes that feel distinct, but a lot of it just feels like they’re shooting an eight-hour film and then having an editor cut it into appropriately-sized pieces.

I guess what I’m saying is that, although it’s fine to not like TV as a medium, the idea of having a central, irresolvable conflict and exploring within the boundaries of that conflict doesn’t necessarily make for bad art. It’s a creative limitation, and limitations often lead to good art. There’s plenty of bad TV (like The West Wing) but there’s also plenty of great TV (unless you just dislike TV altogether, which, again, is fine).