As much as I love movies, it would be a lie to say that there are a lot of good ones are currently being made. That is not to say that there are no good films coming out. Drive came out not too long ago, and was fantastic. Last year we had movies like True Grit and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, among other things. High quality movies still exist. Unfortunately, they are the exception, not the rule. Most movies that come out these days are underwhelming to god awful. Even movies I enjoyed and would recommend to people generally come with caveats. Thor was entertaining, but pretty stupid. 30 Minutes or Less was funny, but was unmemorable. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark was creepy and atmospheric, but cliched.

Unfortunately, that is the time we live in. Movie studios are more interested in getting people to buy tickets than they are in creating quality work. That would be why 9 out of every 10 movies these days are remakes; they already have a fan base to exploit. With the advent of 3d and the continuing improvement of CGI, the thing I find myself saying most often about movies is “it looks really cool, but…” Budgets are being spent making the film look good instead of being spent insuring the film is good.

Proof.

Luckily, not everyone in the media world is following this trend. While we may be suffering through a less-than-stellar stage in movie history, our television has never been better. Cable networks like Showtime, HBO, and AMC keep trying to one-up each other in making the best one hour drama. Comedies like Bored to Death, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Modern Family are proving that focusing on writing and characters is better than focusing on catch-phrases and “zany” situations. Even children’s programming is picking up its game. I can barely walk through campus without running into some reference to Adventure Time.

Honestly, it’s getting hard to keep up with all the amazing television out there. I still haven’t seen the most recent seasons of Dexter or Weeds, I’m only halfway through season 2 of Breaking Bad, and I’ve only seen the first few episodes of Boardwalk Empire. I have seen far too little of both Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock. I am, however, completely up to date with The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, Community, and Wilfred (Though I still want to watch the Australian series.)

I just listed 14 TV shows. All completely different, all with great writing, great acting, and great production values. The sheer volume of high quality programming out there is impressive and extremely daunting. There are still plenty of shows I am not listing, and I’m sure there are plenty of shows I’ve never heard about that you lovely readers could recommend to me and I would love.

What is it about these shows that makes them so good? The writing has a lot to do with it. Game of Thrones is being written by a team of writers including the author of the book series it is based on, as was The Walking Dead for the first season. The acting helps. All of a sudden it is ok for “film” actors to work in TV. Elijah Wood stars with a man in a dog suit in Wilfred, Steve Buscemi has one of the meatiest roles he’s ever had in Boardwalk Empire, Zach Galifinakis and Jason Schwartzman both star in Bored to Death. Bryan Cranston is proving he is one of the greatest working actors out there thanks to Breaking Bad. The budgets allow a lot more. The pilot episode of Dexter cost a staggering $10 million, and amounts like that are becoming more and more common.

While this would be exciting if it were only one show or one network, the fact that it is so widespread is phenomenal. It means that in order for a show to exist on the airwaves these days, it has to live up to everything else out there. Which means it too needs to focus on writing, characters, and overall quality versus just focusing on profit. Good television is everywhere, and it does not look like it is about to stop anytime soon*.

Also, these shows are bringing back epic opening credits. For many years we had boring or nonexistent openers, but that is changing too. Just about every show I have talked about has a really interesting opener, particularly Game of Thrones and Dexter. However, the show that has what I consider the best opening credits is one that I am not even that crazy about. That show is True Blood. The song, the imagery, the filter they use, everything sets the show up perfectly. I would embed it, but it is kind of NSFW, so I will just give you the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSXwwrHFaega

So even though we may not be living in a golden era of cinema, we may be going through another golden age of television. (The first golden age was in the ’50s, then some media scholars argue we went through a second golden age in the ’80s.) If you don’t want to spend $10 at a theater watching a movie that will probably leave you feeling empty inside, don’t. Go online. Start a series on Netflix or Hulu for free, and it will probably be better than anything you’re going to see in a movie theater in the near future.

By: Will Bray

*Obviously, there are exceptions. New Girl could not be considered good by anybody, Once Upon a Time continues to make critic’s lives miserable, and, of course, there’s the whole trashy-reality TV trend. I like to ignore these shows, you should too.

 

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