Yeah, not a writing topic per se, but it does affect writers, and it’s been something I keep thinking about. I am not sure that streaming is viable as a business or capable of producing good, impactful shows.
I am a huge Columbo fan. Yeah, it has more than a bit of copaganda about it, but it also skewered the wealthy and powerful, had really good performances, inverted the usual mystery formula (we knew who did the murder; the fun was in seeing how Columbo caught them) and was generally a lot of fun. A few years ago, Peacock created a show, Poker Face, based on a similar “how catch ‘em” model. Starring Natasha Lyonne, it had the same energy even if the premise and setup was different. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I haven’t watched a single episode of the second season. I didn’t even know that there was a second season, since it has been more than two years since the last season. I stumbled across a review while reading about something else, or I would never have been aware of the second season’s existence.
Part of this is a lack of marketing, of course. It is hard to find people today to advertise to them. But a bigger part of it is that shows simply do not come out on a regular cadence anymore. I have no idea when the next season of anything is coming out. You would think in this kind of environment that pushing shows out on a regular cadence, to keep them fresh in people’s minds, would be one way to overcome the fractured media environment. Instead, shows are released, their “metrics” judged, then shooting for the next seasons starts. It seems an environment where it is impossible to create or maintain momentum for a show. Especially since the metrics tend to be focused on new viewers, not retention, and execs, I have read, are certain that a show stops brining in new viewers after three or four seasons and is therefore no longer useful.
Paramount just announced that their latest Start Trek, Star Trek Strange New Worlds, is going to be canceled after 4- and one-half seasons. I say one half, because they are only giving the last season six episodes, another hallmark of the streaming era. Shows are given no space to breath, to draw viewers in with calm moments, with time for the characters to breathe and let us know them. Everything has to be plot driven. People do not stay with shows for plot — they stay with them for characters and voice. I enjoy Star Trek Strange New Worlds, but it’s been so long since the last season that I have no idea what is happening in the plot — but I do know that seeing the characters in the trailer reminded me of how much fun I had watching them. That is a rare thing in today’s television.
I watch fewer shows, not, I think, because the quality has gone down but rather because they drift away, appearing only occasionally, like shooting stars. And if I don’t happen to be looking at the sky when they flash by, I miss their existence. Seems an odd way to run a business dependent upon viewer attention.
Weekly Word Count
Still zero. Been plotting new works and editing the script ahead of the table read. I really do not think this is terrible, but I have folks willing to read it, so I might as well get their input before making major changes. What’s a little humiliation among friends, right?
Have a great weekend, and if you celebrate Father’s Day, I hope it is a great one.
