this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2026
618 points (99.4% liked)

Television

3591 readers
1 users here now

Welcome to Television

This community is for discussion of anything related to television or streaming.

Other Communities

Television Communities

A community for discussion of anything related to Television via broadcast or streaming.

Rules:

  1. Be respectful and courteous to all members.
  2. Avoid offensive or discriminatory remarks.
  3. Avoid spamming or promoting unrelated products/services.
  4. Avoid personal attacks or engaging in heated arguments.
  5. Do not engage in any form of illegal activity or promote illegal content.
  6. Please mask any and all spoilers with spoiler tags.

Matrix Link

List of Best Rated TV Series as voted by the Fediverse

founded 10 months ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 206 points 2 months ago (19 children)

Make movies that are engaging enough to keep people from checking their feeds while they wait for something to happen.

[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 75 points 2 months ago

That doesn't sound very streamlined or profitable to me.

[–] lobut@lemmy.ca 63 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I dunno man, I can't get my friends to watch some stellar movies because their attention span has been shot over time.

Believe it or not, they'll watch crappier movies because they don't need to pay attention.

[–] muffedtrims@lemmy.world 47 points 2 months ago

Can't right now, ow my balls is on.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 40 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Part of it is the movie, but a large part is that short form video trains your brain to need frequent dopamine fixes. A 5 second video does that, while a 90 minute movie might not give it until the climax.

It's not much different than a smoker taking a break during a movie.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 41 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If someone starts a movie and immediately pulls their phone out or starts cleaning, that’s on them.

And movies absolutely should not be made to cater to addiction. Nothing should, except for something explicitly designed to help people recover from addiction.

When movies have a good idea and are given the proper attention to make them well, regular people won’t be checking the time or reading blogs when they become bored. The problem is that studios say that, good idea or not, proper attention to the craft or not, we’re making this many movies this year. We’re lucky if a few of those movies are something future generations would consider good.

Matt Damon is suggesting that movies be made even worse than they already are.

[–] BremboTheFourth@piefed.ca 32 points 2 months ago

Matt Damon is suggesting

It definitely reads more as "Netflix execs suggest and Matt Damon complains about"

[–] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I can't stand short videos. I won't even watch videos that aren't an hour or longer myself. I don't get these shorts, it's so unsatisfying.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 months ago

My wife said that the Wire was hard to follow and boring, but she also checked her phone every 5 minutes and was carrying on a conversation there with her friends. She also impulsively pulled out facebook and scrolled a bit. I pointed all this out but Its still the shows fault somehow.

load more comments (15 replies)
[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 127 points 2 months ago (8 children)

I find shows and movies that show something happen clearly and then restate it in the dialogue immediately quite annoying. Very common in anime.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 80 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Wait, you're telling me that restating dialog makes you annoyed, especially because it happens so frequently in anime?

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 37 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In anime, you should expect repetitive exposition. Can it be that Netflix has gained this power, too?

[–] Hexarei@beehaw.org 9 points 2 months ago

Netflix has gained the power of repetitive exposition? Such a feat has only been attained by anime before! One should expect it there, but now it's really bothering OP!

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] Switorik@lemmy.zip 69 points 2 months ago (2 children)

This is what kills any articles on the web. The first three paragraphs repeat the question you're looking to get answered and the last paragraph vaguely answers it.

I feel like an old person now but I've started watching movies from the 90s/2000s and I can't believe how much worse movies have become over the years.

[–] criss_cross@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] rhombus@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago

Also the more repetition the more room on the page for ad spots. Same reason so many Youtubers restate the same shit almost verbatim over and over and over; it pads the video so Youtube can cram in more ad spots.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 68 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Make content that makes people put their phones down.

[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

This is part of the genius of kpop demon hunters. It moves fast, sometimes frenetically.

[–] BaraCoded@literature.cafe 59 points 2 months ago

Writer insight : if people start pulling their phone when they should be watching your movie, it means your movie is shit, not that it should be made even sloppier. Watered down shit is still a shit cocktail.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 52 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Is that why the last season of Stranger Things spent half the season rehashing how all the characters had felt about anything ever throughout the previous four seasons?

[–] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I think re-explaining things that happened in previous seasons is a different issue. They're worried that you don't remember what happened because it has been so long.

And that's fair. I know I watched Season 2 (and it definitely had my full attention, because I'm incapable of doing two things at once), but the only thing I can actually remember about it is the episode where El went to Chicago and met some shadowrunners. And something about tunnels. Everything else is a blur.

[–] DeliciousDoorknob@piefed.social 18 points 2 months ago (11 children)

The last season being a big mess aside, it was 100% guilty of re-explaining the plot, not just the recaps. Together with those unnecessary "LET ME EXPLAIN" scenes, like Robin using vinyls to explain a very basic concept. They really treated us like idiots. 

load more comments (11 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Ilandar@lemmy.today 11 points 2 months ago

That was definitely part of it, but I think they also wrote themselves into a corner in previous seasons by not properly laying the groundwork for any of the supernatural stuff. In Season 5, they had to constantly infodump the viewers in those "plan" scenes to keep up.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 9 points 2 months ago

What, do you expect the audience to pay attention and infer how characters are feeling based on things like subtle body cues? What like acting?

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] ambientdread@lemmy.world 35 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Or we are on our phones because the movies repeat their themes over and over and over again

[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

i dunno, most people i see watch netflix seem to use it as just another mode of stimulus because they need to always be completely inundated with flashing screens at all times to feel calm

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] FreddiesLantern@leminal.space 34 points 2 months ago (15 children)

It’s the big tech social media disease.

Everyone, frigging everyone who steps away from fb/insta/twittler/yt/tiktok/… says the same “holy shit my mind is so peaceful all of a sudden.” And somehow it’s not substantially part of the daily discourse. Somehow between that and EVERYTHING else these mfrs are responsible for (protecting pedos, encouraging insurrections, …) just flies.

It’s a disease, an addiction, a plague and we gotta start naming it as such. Talk to your loved ones and carefully try to get them off that shit.

load more comments (15 replies)
[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 33 points 2 months ago (8 children)

Why? What the fuck do they care as long as people watch it?

Make good stuff, and people will come.

[–] FishFace@piefed.social 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

People will leave if they don't like what they see. People won't like what they don't understand. People won't understand what isn't either simple or redundantly written because they don't pay attention.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 32 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I wouldn't have my phone out to begin with Netflix if you didn't start adding ads.

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

🏴‍☠️

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 30 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

It's not just me, right? Modern movies and shows have less things happen in same duration of time.

[–] TheOriginalGregToo@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago (7 children)

I would actually argue the opposite. Modern movie plots are an ADD fever dream. There are so many things going on that keeping track is an absolute chore.

[–] portifornia@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think you're both right, somehow.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] fort_burp@feddit.nl 27 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Can't believe how prescient this movie was. We're on our way!

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] TheFonz@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think Netflix manufactured this problem first. Originally they were going for volume so they added a lot of padding to their og shows. To the point I stopped watching (torrenting) any Netflix originals. So people got in the habit of doing other stuff while waiting for the plot to start moving again. Now they claim that their shows are meant for second screens. Motherfucker: we are in the golden age of TV, so there's plenty of engaging content being produced. Marvelous Mrs. Maisle is so fast paced and brilliant I never felt the need to pick up my phone.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 months ago

Bad movies need to do this. You know, the average movie Netflix signs off on.

[–] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

You could absolutely do it in a funny way like Kronk (Emperors New Groove) or Luis (Ant-Man).

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

That stupid and reminds not to watch Netflix movies or shows.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

Now I'm curious, am I checking my phone after they've repeated the same thing 3 or 4 times and now I'm bored / annoyed?

[–] calliope@retrolemmy.com 9 points 2 months ago

I think I read a different article about this months ago!

For some reason I’m kind of surprised to hear about it again because not a lot of people seem to talk about it.

[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 9 points 2 months ago

Good thing we canceled our Netflix subscription last year when Trump threatened to invade our country the first time.

Even greater that now that he is threatening to do it again, and seemingly is more serious about it, we are one year into being back on physical media and we fucking love it. Dvds and blurays are so much better than shitflix.

[–] yogurt@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

The amount of reciprocal effort art is socially allowed to demand from the audience changes. The art form gets refined and people respect that and are willing to invest more attention, then at some point it's opera and nobody goes because it requires too much attention and respect. Netflix might suck but on the other hand Christopher Nolan is making movies with inaudible dialogue and Game of Thrones has invisible fight scenes because they got out of hand with it and think they can demand you only watch their thing alone in a soundproof HDR screening room.

load more comments
view more: next ›