Like I said. Counterfactuals with learned preferences are hard. We're accustomed to extremely high production values in television, so we think "good" TV shows

Like I said. Counterfactuals with learned preferences are hard. We're accustomed to extremely high production values in television, so we think "good" TV shows are expensive. But there is no reason our definition of "good" needs to correlate to that level of production value. A different equilibrium would have just had lower production values as a norm and we'd likely would have been ok with it. For example, once upon a time it was fine to have people in all-black leotards walking around a stage production picking people up and carrying things around to simulate poltergeists. People were fine just ignoring them. Now people expect wirework in stage production to maintain the same level of suspension of disbelief. It's just about what you're used to.