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Production companies can't produce content that quickly. Back in the day we had weekly sitcoms, and it took about a week to produce each episode. But for the
by jedberg 3y ago
Production companies can't produce content that quickly. Back in the day we had weekly sitcoms, and it took about a week to produce each episode. But for the most part they all took place in one or just a few locations, and usually those were sets on a sound stage. So all they had to do was churn out a script a week (which is no easy task) using the same characters and same actors. The writers usually had a "show bible" that has elaborate backstories for every character that they could draw from, as well as knowing the actor playing the character and sometimes even getting input from them.
There is a reason people would complain that "every week is the same story!". That's because the constraints of the medium meant that you had to keep deviations to a minimum.
Black Mirror is akin to making a movie for every episode. Every episode has different actors, which means they need to be cast. They have different locations, which means they need to be scouted or built. They have different characters which means a lot more work for writing because every character needs a backstory. Basically they have to start fresh for every episode.
Something like Stranger Things is sort of 1/2 way between -- they have their characters and actors, but they have a lot of locations, and the story varies wildly from episode to episode. Each season is like making a really long movie.
And that's just the production side of it.
From the business side it doesn't make a lot of sense either. The whole point is to provide fresh content for users. If you can provide a new show every month, that's a lot more compelling than a new episode of the same show.
- kelseyfrog 3y agoDifferent cast, different set, and different characters all seem to make it easier to horizontally scale production. Other than the financing side of things, why couldn't independent production companies simply make different episodes? Perhaps there are not enough production companies that have that ability?
- w0de0 3y agoThe financing side of things is not trivial. The margins on production value are slim for all but the biggest blockbusters.
- jedberg 3y agoBecause if you want consistency between episodes, you need a core staff that overlaps (usually the writers and producers). Otherwise you're basically just making a bunch of separate movies.
- solardev 3y agoThere are series like that (Love Death Robots) and I wish they made more
- mfer 3y ago> There is a reason people would complain that "every week is the same story!". There are many people who like series that are similar each week. Look at the popularity of shows like Friends or The Office. Maybe a question is, why doesn’t Netflix produce those series that have many episodes but little change each episode?
- voussoir 3y agoI just recently re-read David Foster Wallace's E Unibus Pluram (1993), so this is fresh on my mind: > Audience gets trained to respond to and then like and then expect trite, hackneyed, numbing television shows, and to expect them to such an extent that when networks do occasionally abandon time-tested formulas we usually punish them for it by not watching novel forms in sufficient numbers to let them get off the ground. Hence the networks' bland response to its critics that in the majority of cases – and until the rise of hip metatelevision you could count the exceptions on one hand – "different" or "high-concept" programming simply didn't get ratings. > But it's still not fair to blame television's shortage of originality on any lack of creativity among network talent. The truth is that we seldom get a chance to know whether anybody behind any TV show is creative, or more accurately that they seldom get a chance to show us. Despite the unquestioned assumption on the part of pop-culture critics that television's poor Audience, deep down, craves novelty, all available evidence suggests rather that the Audience really craves sameness but thinks, deep down, that it ought to crave novelty.
- mfer 3y agoI’m reminded that people like habits. They like comfort food. Always trying to be creative and different can be mentally taxing on viewers. Sometimes people just want comfort shows. With the usual.