Banana Scoop

5. Time Allows Adjustment

A movie goes through tons of production value, filming, and monetary investment before being screened to an actual audience.  Before then, all the producer had to go on was the idea of a crazy director and an equally crazy writer.  By the time the movie is screened, it might be too late to make any major changes to the movie.  Television however, has plenty of time to adjust.  Run a relatively inexpensive 4 episodes and obtain a general reaction.  If there’s enough momentum, as seasons run, writers have time to adjust for what the audience loves best.  I heard in an interview that most television characters start out as generic stereotypes and are later developed into human beings to make them relatable.  Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is character development and interesting story lines. This actually makes sense.  Ron Swanson wasn’t the man he is now compared to the very first episode and its interesting to see how that’s happened.

4. Attachment to Characters/Development

In movies, we get to learn about a character for 2 hours and then we’re done with them forever.  In television, we’re able to have a connection with the same character for usually more than 1 season.  Yeah, this might get old at times, but like I said above, writers are able to adjust their characters to make them even more likable.  I love rooting for Raylan Givens, Sterling Archer, and Leslie Knope on a daily basis.  I would love to root for Jake Sully, Neo, or Forrest Gump on a weekly basis, but besides sequels and disturbing fan fiction, I simply don’t get that chance.

3. The spine chilling moments and the thrills of cliff hangers

Television is really good at packing all the exciting stuff in the last 5-10 minutes of their show.  The first 2/3 is all build up for the payload at the end that makes us want to tune in next week to see the conclusion.  Obviously shows like sitcoms and generic crime shows have unlinear story lines, but even those have their own climaxes that are fun or compelling to watch.

2. Stories Fleshed Out Into 10+ episodes compared to 2 hours

There’s skill in Hollywood writers who are able to create a compelling story in less then 2 hours.  And not all of them succeed at it.  But when it comes to television, it is slightly easier to flesh out a story you plan on telling on a scale of 10 episodes for one hour shows and 20 episodes for 30 minute shows.  Both come out to be about 10 hours, which gives you a lot of room to adjust, test humor, and optimize, as stated earlier.  We get more development for characters we’ve seen season after season compared to characters who are forced to develop in a manner of 2 hours.  The supporting players on tv shows are far more exposed than supporting characters in movies, and not all movies are great at developing their less than important characters which can leave for uninteresting plots or even plot holes.

1. A Reason to Look Forward to Every Day of the Week

I go to a very difficult school.  I’d imagine it’s relatable to a very job that it quite loathesome to go to.  I wake up, shower up, and spend hours on end doing something I wouldn’t want to be doing.  Whether it’s applying calculus to engineering problems, filling out spread sheets, or even acting on a set as an extra or a big movie star.  There are simply some days that are just too loathesome to even be worth waking up for.  But wait…tonight is Thursday.  That means one thing: Archer, Parks and Recreation, and Community.  Holy hell, if I can just get through the day, I can sit down with a nice dinner, or a beer in hand and escape from my shitty life, even if it is for 30 minutes.

Having something worthwhile on most days of the week, Sunday – Saturday, makes life worth living.  I don’t want to say it’s on par to taking Celexa or any other antidepressant, but if going through 8 hours of hell means to finally finding out what will happen on Fringe, Justified, Alcatraz, what have you, I’d say it’s worth taking another look at.  And combining all the elements from above, it makes it easy to find a television show you love to just be happy.

What other reasons do you guys watch TV?

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