#tv shows

[elektroskopik]

Also, following a media that has so many fucking easter eggs that no new viewers can easily access the series without missing half of the references is exhausting. People should be able to just 'jump' into a new show or series and enjoy it without feeling like they've missed out on key plot points that require them to watch entire prequel series or movies, but I digress.

I say this as a Star wars fan. The Star Wars universe is as infantile and self-masturbatory as the Marvel universe.

Where Star Wars went wrong

Quoting Jason Pargin, who articulates it better than I could:

"In any kind of a sane world, The Mandalorian should have run for 150 episodes at least. They had a formula here that could have worked forever.

"It's a formula that has always worked: a heroic stranger wanders into a strange new land and meets a bunch of colorful characters, usually under the thumb of a powerful threat. The threat is usually in the form of a villain who's played by a famous actor just chewing the scenery. He uses hits wits and his courage to get out of it and then he moves on.

"Have Gun, Will Travel" ran for 225 episodes from 1957-1963. It's where Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek fame got his start.

"The sci-fi space adventures we had years and years ago used to run forever. Star Trek TNG had about 180 episodes, Deep Space 9 had about the same number, even Voyager -- the show that we think of as being a "lesser series" -- had 172 episodes. And here's the thing: most of those episodes were really good!

"But because of the way the business works now, and because of 'corporate synergy,' by season 2 of the Mandalorian, they were brainstorming "how do we get this back to Luke Skywalker and the Death Star?"

"By season 3, fans were lost, because some huge plot events had occurred in a completely different series, because they needed it to connect to their Boba Fett show. And now, the Mandalorian is dead. They're gonna wrap up the story in a movie, and that's it.

And the crazy part is, this was always the perfect format for Star Wars: it always should have been a short form serial! That's what George Lucas was ripping off when he made the film back in 1977: serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

These were little 12-minute long episodes that played as one continuing story, but each one was its own little lighthearted adventure that usually ended on some kind of a cliffhanger.

"This is why so many of the most hardcore Star Wars fans who are old like me only like two of the movies, because by the third film they were already just repeating beats: they were attacking yet another Death Star.

They ran out of ideas so fast, because this is not the ideal format for this universe. The Mando and Baby Yoda Show is the ideal format! This should have run for the next 20 years! They even set it up so that the star wouldn't even need to be on set for most of it, because he wears a helmet!

"I think some fans object to this, because they think of it as making Star Wars smaller, that you're reducing it to 'just a TV show.' But it's the exact opposite: it lets you expand the universe, because you're forced to to keep coming up with new places for him to go, and new people for him to meet, new villains for him to face -- you're not forced to just keep coming back to the Death Star again and again, and the Sith, and the Jedi.

In Episode VII: The Force Awakens, the Starkiller Base destroys five planets. That's mathematically five times more tragic than the destruction of Alderaan.

"And if you want evidence, just look at Star Trek! It's the show that expanded the universe. The Star Trek films were just action movies that are very forgettable. But I guess the world has changed, because they don't even do Star Trek that way anymore.

Picard ended its run after 30 episodes. Discovery concluded after 65. Hopefully, Strange New Worlds marks a return to form for the franchise.

"I don't get it, because it seems like a version of this show that runs until the year 2040 would have just printed money. The merchandise sales alone would have covered the production costs. Instead, it's 24 episodes and a movie that I think everyone has already stopped caring about."

[usernelly]

Endless Buck: (55/?) » “White Hoodie - S08E11” 

[castledevil]

Daredevil: Born Again (2025) 01x06 "Excessive Force"

[aloneinthedark-eagle]

🎉 super show 🥳

[dimondexe]

Like a tunnel that you follow

To a tunnel of it's own

Down a hollow to a cavern

Where the sun has never shone

[halflingjakab]

[gabibunni]

Kids show on blast

Have you guys seen the new backyardigans!?? I’ve been wheezing ever since I saw the reboot. Inspired by an interaction u had with my sister’s husband and child. Also a friend of mine in class.

You and Jason just came back from visiting a family member's house. They had a young child who was practically glued to their tv.

Jason couldn’t understand how a show with little animals going on crazy adventures… in their backyard, could teach a kid anything. He never had something like this growing up, with bright colours and catchy tunes. Not that he remembered.

“What was the one with the pink body? Looked like a bug almost.” Jason voiced from behind. You didn’t even realize he got that close.

“Uh- oh! You mean Uniqua?” Her name clicked into your head while you were stirring the pot on the stove. He made a sound of agreement before making his way towards the couch and turning on the tv.

“What channel is that show on?” Jason muttered out. He was just pressing buttons at this point and hoping he found what he wanted to watch.

“It’s station 1560, it’s probably on around now- you know, since kids are back home from school.” You mentioned more like a joke, moving towards the cupboards and pulling two bowls out for dinner. You wanted to get that out of your way because Jason was taking you out for a late night ride.

You could hear the faint voice of Austin and Tasha talking. You turned to face Jason's direction, just for a few seconds but you were mesmerized by how focused he was. Both elbows were on his knees, mouth tightly closed and humming along to the song.

You figured that Jason never got the chance to watch anything aimed for kids given his rough childhood, but what confused you was how entertained he was with the program right after bashing it earlier that day.

You tore your eyes away from the scene and grabbed the two bowls and brought them over to Jason. He straightened his position and held his hand out for the stew.

“Sorry, I didn't think a pirate treasure hunt would be so entertaining.” He chuckled but he wasn’t facing you.

“The songs are catchy and help kids grow their imagination.” You hummed and grabbed a spoonful to eat. You enjoyed seeing Jason finding a gem you had in your childhood.

If anyone has any ideas, feel free to share them with me! I think weekend posting works better for me lol.

[i--see--everything]

i think it should depend on the type of story you want to tell. Monster of the week shows, sitcoms, and many cartoons need 24-26 episodes. Highly serialized character dramas are fine with 8-10.

I think a lot of complaints about the lengths of TV show seasons are getting it backwards. Talky character-driven episodes where nothing happens aren't a benefit of longer seasons: they're the reason the 26-episode season was ever viable in the first place.

Episodes where everything happens on the same three previously constructed sets, all of the actors with major speaking roles are series regulars (except for the token alien of the week, who's played by the same recurring bit performer who's played five other roles this season in five different rubber noses), and there's no on-location shooting, choreographed fight scenes, or lengthy special effects sequences are very budget friendly, so you can have rather a lot of them.

Basically, you can have an eight-episode season where every single episode is a big hairy spectacle, or you can have a twenty-six episode-season where the premier, the finale, and a random two-parter somewhere in the middle are the only times a bunch of stuff blows up, and the rest of the time it's a sedate investigative-procedural-slash-office-comedy that happens to be set in space. You've gotta pick one!

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I will say, after seeing how a lot of people reacted to DDBA episode 5, unless the show is a comedy, I’m now fully convinced TV shows can never return to the format of having 20+ episodes with some episodes being standalone.

It’s not even that DDBA episode 5 was bad, a lot of people actually liked it. But I’ve seen so many comments about how it’s useless filler, doesn’t belong in the show, it’s a mistake, they should’ve either cut it out or added it to episode 6, and so on. I’ve also seen backhanded praise from people who said that while they enjoyed episode 5, it was smart of Marvel to release both 5 and 6 since if this week only had episode 5, the show would’ve gotten backlash.

If a great deal of today’s audience can’t even handle one standalone episode that wasn’t even that bad, what makes you think today’s audience can handle a show with 20+ episodes in which several episodes are standalone/don’t progress the main storyline? It makes me a little sad since it makes shows like Buffy, Lost, 24, or even Agents of SHIELD feel like products of their time.

(EDIT: Just to add on to this, here’s an example of what I mean. The Dos Cavazos react channel straight up skipped episode 5 after watching all the episodes that came before. If they did record a reaction, they definitely chose not to upload it to their YouTube channel since their episode 6 reaction is available)

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

insane facecard.

[lgbtpopcult]

Translation:

P’Ling: A mosquito bit my lipppppp~

N’Orm (repeating): A mosquito bit my lipppppp~

P’Ling: It kissed me without permission!

N’Orm: No consent!

😭🤣🤣🤣🤣👏🤣

[eddiesvixen]

“im robby” fuck yeah you are.

“You’re not nothing. You’re something. You’re somebody.”

[holyblanchett]

Maya Mason the woman that you're!! Kathryn ate this role up she's so funny and chaotic.

[thewebspinner]

Ben Mendelsohn as Director Orson Krennic Andor Season 2 (2025)

[why-and-or-bother]

Reblog for sample