Thoughts on...TV (Basic/Network vs Premium Channels)

This week on my Thought's on Series, I'm discussing something that's been hotly debated recently, the quality of television shows and if one type is better than the other. This question also comes up as people in my generation give up traditional cable for Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix and the handy HBOGo password from a close friend or family member.

Basic/Network Television Shows
Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Friends, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Law & Order (Series), Firefly, Seinfeld, House, Mad Men, The X-Files



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Basic cable has gone through many ups and downs over the years. Lately it has been that once there is a successful show, the networks try to make a spin-off or similar-type show popular and it doesn't normally work. For example, ABC has the dreaded 8:00pm Thursday "death slot" where shows got to die and they get terrible ratings and eventually get cancelled. In the years that have followed Lost, they have tried to find a similar show to gain a large audience. The first show that comes to mind is Flashforward, but there have been A Lot over the years. All of the failures/cancellations over the years (Pushing Daisies, TerraNova, Firefly, etc) have really left a sour taste in people's mouth that push them away from the "Big Five" networks- ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, The CW. There used to be a time when I would watch huge amounts of network television, but the quality for me has gone down, so I haven't been trending towards watching premium cable. I feel like one of the main causes of the decline would be due to reality television since they are easier to film/produce and bring back huge dividends. Networks like TLC, the History Channel, and MTV have become solely all about reality television, and that can get old

Despite these difficulties, channels like AMC have really taken popular culture by storm with shows like Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad. From the work place to social media the hype from these shows in recent years and months has been inescapable. These shows push the grain of what can be allowed on network tv and really shows that that kind of work can pay off. Also for all the duds and failures that the networks have, they have had some great shows recently like Once Upon a Time, The Blacklist, Scandal and Sleepy Hollow that give me hope not to give up on watching.

Premium Television Shows
The Wire, Sex & the City, The Sopranos, Dexter, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, True Detective, Oz, Six Feet Under.

 

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The shows listed above have become iconic towards the American identity or it is at least what people think of when they go to Baltimore, New York and New Jersey. These are shows that also brought the typical rules of television while also managing to get people hooked and invested (despite having to pay extra for the service). These shows success' demonstrate what a show can truly do and become without all of the restrictions that the FCC places on them. New to the game is Netflix, who has been proving themselves with shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black that have already been nominated for the Emmy's and Golden Globes (with a win for the fabulous Robin Wright). The quality of these shows has lead to the increase in viewers, which I believes helps with the creation of even more high-quality shows. They all seem to have interesting protagonists, a great plot and other positive attributes that I believe rubbed off on channels like AMC. Many of these shows have had killer finales that have blown everyone away (GOT Season 2, Dexter Season 4, etc). I think that premium is becoming the primary way to go (attention/interest-wise) but I hope that providers make it easier for people to watch like not needing a cable subscription for HBOGo. The head honchos say they are fine with people pirating cause that increases popularity, but I feel there are way more people that would watch (legally) but don't want to get tied down to an expensive and unnecessary cable packages.

No matter the medium, providers need to look at what viewers truly want (not just a passing fad) and make the television shows that will leave us discussing them for years down the road while also finding new viewership to add to the fandom.