Personally, I find long form TV to be the best form of cinematic entertainment these days when it's done right. The Sopranos ignited the possibilities of the form, and Breaking Bad expanded on those possibilities. It's still in evolution. There are a lot of bad shows and many stick around too long, no doubt. There are a lot of good ones, though. And a few great ones. The batting averages, at least to me, seem to be higher these day than contemporary film. So do the ideas ... I mean, really, Hollywood's remaking West Side Story now?
Initially, a lot of these shows went for 13 episodes but the best ones now don't generally go over 10 in a season. I see more in the 5-7 range than ever, which seems to allow for more character and plot development without wearing out the tread of the story. More are running just one season unless demand cries out for a second (Big Little Lies comes to mind). I thought Dopesick was fabulous, for example, better than any movie I saw last year. It stuck to one season, although I've heard the Sackler story may continue as it has in the news. Some of it is just good TV for oldtime TV's sake, like Bosch, Goliath and the Fargo anthology.
Of course, Nordic noir produced at least two certifiable classics of long-form TV in Broen/Bron (The original Swedish/Danish version of The Bridge) and The Killing (which managed to achieve legendary status despite it being 20 one-hour episodes trying to solve one murder). Both of those shows, by the way can now be seen in full on Topic for a pittance. I've actually been rewatching The Bridge because the first season is brilliant, so well done. Line Of Duty produced in the UK has been terrific for six seasons. And then there is the original Wallander. Lots of ways to go. I still spend a lot of time on Criterion Channel and TCM watching movies, but they're usually from the previous century. I'll make an exception for q new Christian Petzold offering and a few other contemporary filmmakers but their ranks seem to be thinning.
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