The age of streaming has heralded what seems to be serialized television’s heyday. Viewers are more often turning to the web to seek out the next binge-able content to view in their own time. Some would argue that television allows writers more creative control of the material and the longer run time permits broadened creativity.
Visits to the movie theatre have long been on a steady decline around the world, with people preferring to stay home and watch the small screen instead. Series allow viewers to get to know characters better, as well as explore more settings and exciting situations. But serialized content also has a number of other benefits.
More Character Growth
With longer runtime comes longer time spent with individual characters. They face more struggles and obstacles than they would in a movie, meaning they have more room to grow.
Long-running shows are particularly known for how much their main characters grow. A movie simply doesn’t have enough time to put characters through as many ordeals as a series would. Though a talented filmmaker will be able to incite significant change in a film, it likely wouldn’t match up to what a character experiences in a TV show.
Not Restricted To One Theme
Movies typically have a single thematic focus. The character’s journey begins with a call to adventure, and they face various obstacles until they achieve their goal and learn a lesson. The film typically also focuses on one character or one group of characters, whereas a series can expand to include more characters, and thus, more lessons and goals.
Though shows often start with a single core theme, new seasons often herald new topics to cover. For instance, Anne With An E begins with the story of an orphan trying to fit in, but expands to explore the struggles of other marginalized groups. These struggles are not included in the books upon which the series is based, and neither do they come up in the film adaptations.
New Characters
One of the most appealing things about television is that viewers can become attached to the core cast of characters. However, things might get a little stagnant after a while. Series often introduce new side characters that usually serve to teach the main characters some sort of lesson.
It becomes more interesting when a series introduces a new main character to the mix, which could completely derail things or throw the main characters into the deep end. A single movie usually can’t pull this off, restricted as it is by the runtime.
Bite-Sized Snippets
Television has become an on-demand form of media, which is convenient for today’s culture of instant gratification. Viewers like to choose when they’re going to watch something, and how much of it they’d like to watch.
Binge culture has become ubiquitous in recent years, and it wouldn’t be the same if TV episodes were as long as movies. The knowledge that something is short makes viewers feel more comfortable about committing to watching something. They can pull out at any time, and digest the story in smaller tidbits.
Unpredictability
TV has more room for twists and turns. Long-running shows end in a way that viewers could never anticipate when they begin the show. Often, each episode has a new storyline and each season introduces a completely new struggle for the protagonist.
The unpredictability makes television more exciting for viewers to watch. Films can be unpredictable, too, but not in such a way that introduces new twists and turns at such regular intervals, and on so many occasions.
Longer Runtime
This one may seem obvious, but it’s this biggest difference between films and series that make series the more superior. The average movie runtime has increased over the years for one simple reason: people want more.
TV shows can devote more time to the story than any movie. Series can continue a plot at a more realistic pace, permit more character growth, and create a comfortable sense of familiarity for the audience. Being able to binge-watch hours of a show, or just watching an episode here and there become easy options, when sometimes a movie can feel either a bit long and sluggish or like a rushed tease.
Room To Adapt And Change
With so much more running time, shows truly have room to breathe, grow, and try new things on a whole other level than movies. Being able to adapt and change like this over the course of a long-running piece can allow for a much more multi-dimensional show, and far more interesting and diverse pacing, characters, and plots.
Sometimes things may go wrong, an actor could quit the show, or the themes feel stale, but the show can save itself and create something even more refreshing. Forced change can often work in a show’s favor, giving it a whole different kind of life.
Infinite Possibilities
When it comes to storytelling, it often feels like every idea has already been expended. However, television has repeatedly proven this theory wrong. Even if the idea isn’t totally original, a show can put a new spin on something familiar - and this is where TV is more successful than film, given the many opportunities a show has to revive itself.
While TV may seem to slow down at times, or even reach its pinnacle, series have only shown room for more creativity and experimentation as the years have progressed. New shows like Barry and Big Mouth prove that the envelope is still being pushed.
Less Rating Restrictions
Writing and creating convincing and believable content with dark, sexual, or gritty subject matter is a challenge on its own, and the last thing creators want is to be stifled by what they can and can’t show. Movies may aim to be explicit, but unlike television, finding a mainstream audience to please, or even getting the movie to theaters, can be a bigger challenge.
Dramas like Game Of Thrones,Breaking Bad, and many more have shown perfect use of a more restricted rating put to good use, and there are plenty of late-night entries from Adult Swim that have pushed the envelope.
For A Specific Audience
With so many channels, networks, and platforms for shows to air, comes seemingly neverending space for shows to find their niche audiences. At times, viewers may feel overwhelmed just trying to keep up, but the variety is definitely a benefit for the world’s rapidly growing diverse population.
With so much content out on so many different mediums, the variety is unmatched, and consumers can always find something that they can connect with. With TV expanding its borders, the medium has seen nearly every genre taken to new limits, making fans of any kind, from horror to historical fiction, more than satisfied.
More Time to Digest
Movies can be easy to forget if they aren’t remarkable, but the thing about primetime television is that it’s a continuing story that allows viewers breathing room between episodes. Fans can sit with an episode for a whole week, processing new shocking reveals or unpredictable twists.
With the age of streaming also comes the opportunity to rewatch shows as one pleases. Bingeing can also cement a story into the viewer’s mind in a way that a movie can’t.
Room For More Complex Stories
When a show has the ability to go on for say, five seasons, the story has more room to tell a far greater story than even the longest movies. Major characters can evolve gradually, or even killed off to pave a whole new plot. Long periods of time can pass without feeling like a time skip.
The overall atmosphere of the production can be given room to breathe, grow on the audience, and feel like a more detailed and lived-in setting. All of this leads to more meaningful connections and deeper stories for audiences.
An Addictive Hobby or Pastime
Going to the cinemas or renting a movie will always be fun experiences to cherish, but not always the most convenient or accessible. What TV shows can accomplish is that same cozy feeling with a far more addictive nature. They also offer a more reliable and frequent source of entertainment.
Watching a show give people something enjoyable to do every week rather than once in a blue moon. Watching from home means watching at one’s own pace. Streaming has made shows easier to keep up with. This also means that watching a series the whole way through becomes less daunting.
We’re Still In the Golden Age
When major shows started raising the bar in the early 2000s, the decade was deemed the new golden age of television, and the high-quality shows just kept on coming. It seems this era won’t be coming to an end anytime soon, as high-tier but accessible shows like Stranger Things become more and more commonplace.
Stranger Things is just one broadly appealing show that has been well-received by critics and audiences alike. With creativity at an all-time high, and general TV audiences growing, it would appear that shows are on an unstoppable path to usurp film.
More Control From Creators
Many people have agreed that a major fault with big movies has always been general control and direction. Giving a franchise to a new director has lead to more than a few debates, and when a company buys out an idea, the direction they take it in can often come in conflict with original creators and fans.
While not always true, shows are usually treated a little differently, with creators and directors collaborating more closely. This leads to more authentic stories told in the way they were initially envisioned.
