Is the Golden Age of TV Over? 

I think the Game of Thrones ending plays a significant part as well. It really disappointed everyone and it was the Television phenomenon of the decade. It has left people in a state of reluctance towards investing their time and emotion into a multiple seasons long show, since the risk of it falling flat or failing miserably will always loom on the horizon.

Atlanta, Barry, Better Call Saul, Peaky Blinders & Succession all ending within a year of each other has hit me hard Gonna miss these amazing shows but hopefully we’ll be getting some more amazing shows soon

Got an alternative take on this. The term 'content' killed the creative world. As soon as art in TV, film and games (etc) got reduced to this very basic term people stopped caring because why would you? Content doesn't have a positive connotation it heavily implies that it's mindless dribble to consume and move onto the next one. It has given an easy out to companies to not strive for quality and instead just shovel 'content' towards the viewer.

I feel like the sense of burnout is real too. The sheer volume of shows being pumped and dumped on these services is unfathomable and frankly quite hard to keep up with. Excellent video and I look forward to more in the future!

I often see that people say Sopranos was the beginning of the recent "Golden Age", but I would argue that The X-Files actually started it, with each episode being like a mini-movie, with a movie like production.

Don't forget that HBO's OZ started all this. airing 2 years before Sopranos, it brought to the table amazing actors, a long form story instead of episodic/semi episodic format, and more sex and violence than we had ever seen on the small screen. The shows that directly followed it, all got a push because OZ tried something new and pulled it off. It may not be exactly a great show (it's quite dated and gets worse with each season), but it did get us to the golden age.

Almost every decade of television has been called a golden age. The 50s are considered a golden age because of live television. In many ways, the 60s was the true golden age because of the sure variety of programming, especially when it came to fantasy programming, which included Twilight Zone, Star Trek, The Addams Family, Dark Shadows, and Bewitched. The 70s were notable because of socially conscious shows like All in the Family. The 80s brought in a renaissance of cop shows like Magnum P.I, TJ Hooker, and Murder, She Wrote. The 90s brought new life into the sitcom with shows like Seinfeld. Dramas, particularly of the premium subscription variety, are what flourished in the 2000s and 2010s. In many ways, every decade has been a golden age, but not always for the same genre.

So why do some consider the Golden Age to have ended with Mad Men when GOT, Better Call Saul, and American Horror Story were still on while amazing shows like Succession, Barry and Atlanta hadn’t even started yet.

Good video! One thing I noticed about the current netflix model is the flip side of shows being cancelled after 1 season. where a show that is a smash hit gets stretched out to 6-7 seasons when it was really only supposed to have 3 or 4. It’s annoying to see a show with a great story and pace get dragged out and slown down to a crawl with side characters getting unnecessary subplots

See, I don't think the number of great shows has decreased. Rather, what's decreased are shows that our society has collectively AGREED are great. Not everyone enjoyed Mad Men or The Office or Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, but if you asked someone to name great TV shows from the 2000's/early 2010's, they're likely to mention those shows, because there's a cultural consensus that those programs were captial-"G" Great. But now, there are just SO MANY shows coming out all the time, it's much harder for any show to become a cultural juggernaut that everyone (even people who haven't seen it themselves) recognizes as Great Television. That doesn't mean there aren't still loads of great shows, but without any consensus on what the great ones are, FINDING those great shows becomes a matter of trawling through the available content, guided by personal recommendations and research, till you find one that clicks with you.

More bad shows does not mean less good shows, just less viewers which means less cultural impact

My golden age of TV included 24, prison break, breaking bad, x files, Las Vegas, csi, sopranos, the shield, dexter . Current day I'd say Atlanta, GOT, stranger things

Personally I think the golden age began in the 90s and it started with twin peaks. Probably one of the first auteur driven, serialized, high concept TV shows. Babylon 5 would be another perfect example. At this time you had high quality shows like that but you also had episode counts of 20+ unlike modern shows which seem to always have 10 or less per season now. If I had to pick an end point it would be after better call Saul ended. The last of the TV greats. Yeah the golden age was already over for most but bcs was so good it carried on the golden age as long as it was on air.

The reason the 80’s is considered a golden age, as I heard it from a TV scholar Robert Thompson who I was an assistant for in college, the late 70’s and early 80’s not only produced higher quality visuals and storytelling than the previous decades, but TV was also becoming more willing to tackle real life topics and situations more directly. As he saw it, the two most influential shows not only of the second age but also the entire TV history were All in the Family and Hill Street Blues specifically because of how they pushed more relevant stories to the forefront. So yeah, I’d say the 80’s range was a second golden age.

Immediately liked and subscribed after seeing SpongeBob given its proper respect as the objective GOAT of TV shows

it’s hard to overstate how impact full 24 (playing out in real time) and Lost (a show wowing created on the fly with cliff hanger episode endings that changed the entire show) these 2 shows were. people complain about Lost because of the ending but the show was amazing at the time. without these 2, you wouldn’t have had things like Game of thrones and breaking bad

Last TV Golden age is 2000-2020. We are currently in an artistic dark age with almost everything: Film, Music, TV, etc. Most art today is recycled, low quality, and uninspired.. which is why so many people are returning to older music, movies, and TV lately. Right now, old music is outselling new music. I don't know if that has ever happened before in history.

I would like to add Curb your enthusiasm too on the list of Great TV shows. Even though streaming was booming during the 2020 and 2021, Larry stil released only 10 episodes per season and season 10 was arguably the best CYE season. The show is always quality more than quantity

Oh cool a new video from y’all! I have to say I always enjoy the videos you all make and I was excited to see a new one today. I’m really interested in film/tv, so your perspective is always welcome. Thanks! Editing to add: I am very curious about what kind of season we are about to have after this strike. I guess one thing I know is that we will be getting lots of the “trash” reality shit. The feeling is bleak. To anyone who reads this, take a look at how every industry of ours seems to be floundering. Nearly every single facet of our lives is being impacted by something. Nothing is working like it used to, could be Covid after effects have shown the flaws in our systems and it’s taking a while to catch back up, sure. But, it feels like something else entirely. I’m betting you feel it in the back of your mind, even if you don’t want to admit it. Something is happening, idk what, but it really feels like something is going on.

With Barry, Succession, Snowfall, and Top Boy all ended this year, it kinda feels that way. But there will be new shows to take their place hopefully. I know The Bear has received a lot of praise, so I'm definitely gonna check that out

I agree with you. Its the same in Animation. Im an illustrator myself in Singapore. One of my art mentor was the animator for 80-90s Amazing Spiderman and X-men. My mentor wasa Pinoy animator. In those days to animate spiderman to shot his web to swing from one building to another require 50-60 drawing and hours of clean up work. My mentor said.. animators and writer dont have enough time to generate quality artworks and scripts like in the 80-90s. Investors are too spolit by the speed of computers and now AI made things worse. Now Japan cant find an animator like Hayao Miyazaki. Japan anime nowadays have detailed background but flat illustrated character and lacks the fluidity like their predecussers like Hayao Miyazaki's. Hayao Miyazaki's animation so detailed to the exact the flow of the character's hair, movement of clothes fold and etc all animated AT ONCE while the character is speaking! He also said the spoilt on digital animation and AI kills the industry. Look at 40-60s looney tunes shorts by Chuck Jones that has the luxury of time to hand drawn paper by paper and those conveniently digitally animated ones thats of today. I agree with you.. as an scientific/ wildlife/ character artist myself. I always put traditional hand drawn style FIRST, digital as support. I never touch AI. Investors always hope to earn money fast just for one season of the series regardless its live action or animated. But the crude reality... Writers need time. Artists need time. Animators need time. Editors need time. Of course everything within a reasonable, understandable, do-able deadline. Its like you go to a high class restaurant and give a timer to the chef, expecting your meal to be out in GIVEN time. Then prepare to experience a SHITTY MEAL.

Seinfeld is a 90’s show. The greatest decade in my lifetime. Well, the 2000’s as well. God, I miss fun. 😢

Really hoping we get a great resurgence soon after the strikes come to an agreeement since we’ve been getting little gems here and there (The Bear, Barry, Atlanta, The Boys). Would love to see more passion projects rather than cash grabs. Another great video from you!

The era of "Prestige TV" ended with the Sunday airing of both series finales for "Succession" and "Barry". R.I.P. Logan Roy

Twin Peaks was definitely a huge one. If you didn’t live through it, you can’t really understand, but everybody was watching it. Everybody was talking about it the next day. Even now if you watch documentaries on the history of television, they always talk about Twin Peaks.

If you haven’t, I encourage all of you to watch the sopranos. Never thought with hour long episodes and basically 8 full seasons, I would ever have the commitment, but by God i had to see it all. It’s a great show and will leave you speechless at times. It wasn’t what it was without reason, but unfortunately my age group (I watched it freshman year, 2020) seems not to have picked it up like we have breaking bad.

Tv, film, and music are all suffering these days. I watched a video yesterday on how pop music is dying and no music superstars are being signed, and now I’m seeing videos about how the film and tv industries are stagnant as well.

The problem with TV these days is that's it's NOT TV, it's content and it's disposable. Most of Disney+ is regurgitated leftovers that have no substance so people tune out. The fact is there is just too much of this content out there and its drowning whatever good shows are left.

Not negating all your points, but the majority of shows have always been cancelled DURING the first (at least the second) season, and we just didn’t remember them, or you just never even heard of them. That’s where we get and why we have “mid-season replacements. The NYT did a recent story reminding you of this. Singed, GenX

The last golden age ended in the 2000's. The 90's - 00's was the best TV. For example, Star Trek the Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Warehouse 13, Fringe, Tin Man, Firefly, Babylon 5, Buffy, Eureka, Farscape, Legend of the Seeker, The West Wing, Battlestar Galactica, Sanctuary are all great shows I’ve watched many times. Very little of what's been made since is even tolerable.

I think there is a lot more competition with so many streaming services that it is hard to have a mega hit TV show that everyone is talking about. For example, I can't can't talk about the latest episode of Foundation with my family because none of them have Apple TV. This leads to a lot of shows that are formulaic to minimize the risk and get predictable results, just like the music industry. However, also just like the music industry, there is still some good stuff out there but you have to dig through a lot of trash to find it.

I agree that change will be slow, but the pessimistic take is not what I have in mind. The biggest reason shows were being pulled from streaming services was their closely coveted and secretive streaming data that determines whether a show remains on the platform, or gets canned. That data set wasn't being shared with anyone inside the writers room, and now thanks to their signed contract with the AMPTP, they now have a right to review that data for themselves, as it directly impacts their increased residuals, both domestic and internationally. It'll be harder to claim that a mini series wasn't popular or that a major project was more successful over independent projects when their metrics and ranking systems are being provided to the folks who are creating the content for them. If they keep shows and films that have a niche audience on the streaming sites for longer, it'll prevent more people from turning to piracy in order to keep these arthouse and indie projects alive. Sometimes it's on these illegal sites and torrents that these programs see a renewed interest and life, preserving them for a new audience long after the original host streaming service has scrapped it.

Great video, kept me watching the whole way through even with my short attention span 😅

We’ve also had Chernobyl, House of the Dragon, Andor and better call Saul as solid standouts lately

There are always going to be shows and movies written by human beings with an artfulness that could never be replicated by technology. But for 90% of the crap that's churned out, if the studios were using AI to write it, could an audience even tell the difference?

Seeing GoT in the thumbnail just makes me sad. I don’t think I’ll ever get over just how bad the ending of that show was. It went from being arguably the best tv show of all time, to a lesson in how NOT to do it

Spot on about the hesitancy to invest time in a show that you are pretty sure will be cancelled by the end of the first season. From a business model perspective it was never sustainable once you eliminated the long term contracts and let people drop in and out fairly easily. It appears we are headed towards a consolidation phase (HBOmax + discoveryplus, etc...) which may allow them to spread the costs for critically acclaimed but maybe not very profitable shows across more streaming viewers. It'll probably take a few years to shake it all out, but i've got a sneaky suspicion that the old model (cable channel packages) may become the new model (Freevee, Pluto, etc...) with ads back in the picture.

Hell no we have so many masterpieces still airing / in production: Invincible, Severance, Cobra Kai, House of the Dragon, Last of Us, Andor, The Boys, What We Do in the Shadows, Attack on Titan, Arcane, Always Sunny, Vinland Saga, Primal and I know I'm forgetting some

“Nostalgia hits hard when I think about the golden age of TV. Streaming platforms have changed the game, but the cultural phenomenon and residual impact of traditional cable TV are unmatched. Opting for cable was like diving into the heart of American culture. Who else found themselves captivated by the charm of cable TV back then?”

There's a plenty of amazing shows that just ended their run that either started in or started from influence of the same decade for the Golden age such as Better Call Saul and Barry. I think if the Golden age is truly over then it would be essentially now, the early 2020s, but I think it's too early to say. Disney+ is certainly muddying the waters with their series getting more and more mediocre.

OZ and The Shield are two from a little while back were great. Boardwalk Empire, Rescue Me, Six Feet Under, and The Wire were other favorites from a few years ago too

House of the dragon was the only recent show that actually made me excited for the next episode. I think it may be one of the best right now

"Trailer park boys" now that's some real show you have to watch

This is the second video I saw today on this topic. However, the previous video briefly mentioned this while focusing more on a different subject.

I'd say we're in the golden age of retro TV. A time where people are rewatching their favorite shows and sharing with their kids and discovering new ones from the past few decades that eluded them. For me there are so many shows that I'm now finally getting around to watching. I was preoccupied watching Nickelodeon and the Disney channel. I missed out on watching along with the viewers shows like Malcolm in the middle, breaking bad, how I met your mother, the office, ugly Betty, psych, and Chuck.

What I feel is missing in TV is something more experimental. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places, but does such a thing as an "arthouse" tv series exist - other than Twin Peaks?

Simple answer: YES. Despite the rare few gems we've received in this current age, the best years are long gone.

Mindhunter being cancelled will never not be a tragedy of netflix

Been for long, killed by netflix originals

House of the Dragon and The Last Of Us would like a word

The answer is yes, since the previous five golden ages of television are now officially over, we are about to enter the next golden age of television, since apparently almost every age of television is a golden one, e.g., the 50s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, etc.

Nobody ever mentions the TV series prison break that was a groundbreaking show 📽️

Ray Donovan was really good Westworld was a brilliant show that was just cancelled even though all the sets had all been built and some of the people involved were still paid for doing something no one's ever going to see

If you can mention Kevin Spacey, you can sure as hell mention The Cosby Show, which singlehandedly vaulted NBC to the #1 broadcast network. And, probably along with the Emmy-winning Cheers, reinvigorated the TV sitcom in the 1980's.

Quality of the writing has plummeted this is for sure, especially in the syfy and fantasy genres. Also PC and activism all too often reigns supreme. As for 1899, I really liked it but.. I think it was a good thing it ended after a single season, I fear a 2nd season would I guess ruin it for lack of a better term. Much like how I felt about Westworld and also Altered Carbon, AMAZING first seasons, but the 'sequels' spoiled the whole story, at least that's my opinion.

I’m noticing a trend with British TV where it’ll essentially be a mini-series with a mystery at its core, the and then the resolution is always lacklustre and underwhelming. Makes me not want to bother watching the latest thing from the BBC no matter how good it looks. Woman in the wall is a recent example. It’s like a trend in movies too where the emphasis is on the directing, music, editing and production part, but the actual plot itself is underdeveloped. So movies and tv shows tend to look good rather than actually be good, now.

If found myself watching tv more often in the past months because I literally spend ages looking for something to watch on a streaming service, then you have the problem of not giving shows a chance because you can change it to anything you literally want. With the tv channels, it’s different, it’s like this show is on now do you want to watch it or not, not later now…..

Great insights! The future of TV looks bleak. But there could be surprises. External circumstances can affect a TV show's reception and success or failure. During COVID shows like The Queen's Gambit and Squid Game did much better than anyone expected. With the entry of AI into the industry the risks are there but also possibly hitherto unknown rewards.

i think the problem with tv right now is that this streaming/digital experiment (that started the moment. It was possible to torrent the TV show in a reasonable amount of time) has left us with the system that doesn’t have many answers on how to distribute high quality content and pay people fairly. this is why people are returning to the US cable model with a fee and adverts. And I think you’re right, we’re in for several years of cheap boring TV that can be broken up into lots of different bits so plenty of adverts can be packed around it; cheap trash basically

Streaming has ruined TV. Watching Lost an episode a week and everyone talkimh about it at work was the best thing about my jpb at the time. Now everyone watches media at a different pace and that kills the interactions you have with real people about your favorite shows

Yup, streaming studios have shifted priorities from making good art, taking the time to produce quality to rushing out content. People slam the writers for the drastic drop in quality but it’s not their fault. They don’t have time to write good quality material, or even us crew time to make it. It’s become all about quick turnaround of deliverables. How fast can we pump out the next thing? Remember when there were YEARS between seasons of GOT? They took their time? I’ve worked on Netflix shows that shot 3 seasons all within one year and released one year apart. It was an insane schedule and does not produce a quality show.

I’d say the future of TV shows highly depends on when and if the streaming bubble will burst. That will unavoidably have a devastating impact on budgets. But, from a creative point of view there is no reason to be afraid jet. Just look what came up the last 3-4 years: Mandalorian, Severence, House of Dragon, Loki, One Peace, The boys (and it’s offshoot Gen V), Mythic Quest… and don’t forget that many shows like the office, community, parks and rec or even Dexter to an extend, found a large audience many years after it’s release, so who knows what we are missing right now.

Costs need to be more streamlined and executives need to stop thinking solely short-term with their decisions. It’s completely reasonable that a business wants to make a money, but that should be by making a quality product or offering a quality service, not TRASH TV and cancelling shows that the platform themselves didn’t market well. I doubt the executives will do this self-analysis and we’ll go further into the abyss of modern TV and streaming.

Your take on this topic and most of the other topics youve touched on is very interesting. I like your content so much as it itches the film buff part of my brain. I dont think tvs golden age has passed, actually we probably havent gotten there yet.

You are right, there was not a hard end date, it fizzled out, somewhere between 2010 and 2015 I would say. I would say movies went bad somewhere between 2005 and 2007. It was then that I switched my movie obsession to TV series.

Wild how those three on the thumbnail are on my top 10.

The golden age of everything is over.

My Top 5 TV shows of ALL TIME: (No particular order) 24 Breaking Bad Squid Game The Munsters (far before my time) Hotel Del Luna Honerable Mention: The Sopranos (have seen the majority but not all) The only good shows nowadays are foreign TV shows. So to answer your question. Yes. The Golden Age is gone.

The 90’s were definitely another golden age of television that wasn’t mentioned here, at least for the comedy genre. That decade brought us the Simpsons, Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, King of the Hill, South Park and Family Guy just to name a few. Shows that would reshape the industry and are still widely watched today.

It ended. It's not the golden age anymore if every shows that I enjoyed keep getting cancelled just as I finished watching. This is like right before the video game crash, you got every studios pumping out low quality contents to fill their libraries

Also doesn’t help that with reduced episode counts and smaller writer’s rooms, newer writers don’t have the opportunity to pick up necessary showrunning skills-whether by spending down time on set or by shadowing experienced showrunners

Excellent commentary. I would say that we are in the Iron Age of Television. I know that's now the official designation, but I would say the early day of tv are the golden age, the late sixties to 1980 is the silver age, 1980's to 99' is the bronze. And we are in the waning moments of the Iron age, just like in civilization, they say we are still in the Iron age after the start of the industrial era. Technology brought on this in television as it did in the greater civilization.

With X-Files, E.R. and Twin Peaks under its belt, it is the 90s that started this wave. As someone who witness it first had, it was for the first time, you can catch something on TV and not being sure if it is a movie. The is no single show from previous decades that gives you that, no matter how good it might be.

Now we have "content" where content takes up space in streaming services and your time.

Fortunately, even if we stopped making content right now. There are so many great tv shows and films in the vault that we just haven't seen yet.

There's still plenty of great content out there. One thing I noticed is you really didn't look at things like International titles and anime. Shows I find good, that I didn't see you mention include: Only Murders in the Building, Ted Lasso, Squid Game, The Dragon Prince, Castlevania, Lupin, Enola Holmes, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Bridgerton, Wednesday, Miseducation, and live-action One Piece, to name a few. The biggest thing is there is a lot more variety than there every was and while that is oversaturating the market, it is allowing people who may not have had as much niche program as before to find some content they like, even if it's only for a season. My guess is, after another shakeout, we'll enter another golden age.

I would love it if there is more focus on animated, non-comedic cartoons in the mainstream consciousness. Arcane and Invincible are great examples of this, and I feel that shows like those deserve more time in the spotlight.

The Golden Age of Television is long over, but every once in a while we see glimpses of the era’s highs. Succession, Atlanta, The Leftovers, BoJack Horseman, Reservation Dogs, and Better Call Saul are modern classics that rival some of the all-time greats.

Blaming streaming for churning out content seems a bit disingenuous since that’s exactly how network tv operates. Literally have pilot season and whatever sticks with focus groups etc gets picked up and run with. Also writers ‘having less time to write’ and having pressure to produce when now most shows are 10ish episodes and previously were 20+ per season doesn’t seem to track

It hurts my soul that you never mentioned The Shield once in your vid. More people need to watch it.

Your points are great counters to Patrick H Willem's "Who Killed Cinema?" video. The reason films like Rain Man or Kramer versus Kramer are not dominating the box office is that TV has become those films. If Forest Gump, City of Angels, or Scarface were made nowadays, they would be TV.

I don't think "TV shows are dead" or anything like that. There are still *plenty* of great shows that have come out in the last few years. Just to name a few: Severance, The Last of Us, Invincible, The Queen's Gambit, Ted Lasso, One Piece (the live action one), Arcane, The White Lotus, Hacks, Loki, The Bear, Warrior, Andor, BEEF, Only Murders in the Building, etc.

Thank you for mentioning the get down

I can’t keep up with. So just disconnected . I will still watch major ones from time to time

@filmstack: anymore thoughts on the future of tv/series? I feel like not only tv series are getting worse but also cinema with either mega budget Marvel movies or low budget A24 films being churned out but no mid budget movies (e.g, Good will hunting, Fight club and so on). Will people stop caring about tv and cinema all together and just watch RU-vid or do you see new things coming that might change it for the better?

1. The Sopranos. 2. Mad Men. 3. Breaking Bad

Weren't people talking about how the golden age was the 50's for TV... then the 60's.. then the 70's... then the 80's... then the 90's... then the 00's.... ?

According to TV, the most critically acclaimed shows did come out during this so-called golden age as mentioned. Sopranos to Succession is a good barometer as both are in the Top 50 shows all time.

I would have to call it a "dark age of mass media" overall. there are some good things on, but ultimately, the market for high-budget entertainment is completely disrupted by social media content and the like. the change from quality to quantity has a hidden benefit - with such a high volume of personal youtube content, there is a greater likelihood of you being able to find a freelance creator who can make something that is really interesting

If you're looking for something relatively recent and refreshing, I highly recommend the Australian dark comedy crime drama, Mr. Inbetween. You won't be disappointed.

I was pissed when Netflix canceled Archive 81. Also pissed when HBO didn’t renew “Lovecraft country.” Neither got a second season…this is getting out of hand.

How bro could bring up D&D and not completely slander them is astounding.

1:57 who are they ? are they two comedian with show on comedy central kyle and peeled something like that ?

As someone born in 2001: the gold age of TV was the 1950’s to the 1980’s

Hell where at rock bottom right now tbh for every one good show we get 10 bad shows but I think that due to how bad we are doing it can only get better from here and in the next ten years maybe we’ll start getting quality tv back on the screens

If we could somehow shift to a society that looks at not just direct profit, but also social and environmental impact I think that would be the ticket. Even then people may still disagree about what is a good social or environmental impact, of course

TV basically is about watching content on a screen that may be a TV/computer sceen, a tablet screen, a smartphone screen etc.. So what is TV and what is content has changes over the years. TV in the broad sence has always been and will always be golden.

The boys and it’s spin off Gen V firmly belong in the golden age of TV, incredible writing, great acting and a level of graphic scenes which sometimes make GOT look tame 🤯

I still think as of now we are living in the golden age of television, but as big titles wrap up and as expansive television gets, I think its time is almost up. It's wrapping up to something different.

The golden age is over, the future may be an opportunity for more import films and shows. Squid game and even the One Piece live action got people talking maybe it’s the East’s time to shine ✨