Why is everyone into series more than movies these days?

If you're looking for comedy, just stick to British series.

Zachary Nguyen2 said:If you're looking for comedy, just stick to British series.

It really just depends on your taste.

Modern stuff like The IT Crowd, Plebs, or Bad Education is top tier.

A lot of the older ones don't really land, especially with younger crowds.

Black Hole is pretty much the only one I'm sure everyone would vibe with, whereas a lot of them were total garbage to me.

Honestly, I'll even admit this—even The Mućak doesn't hold up for me like it used to. Time has definitely worn it down, unlike Seinfeld, which is still solid.

Bradley Wood43 said:If we’re following that logic, we might as well lump shows like CSI, Law & Order, and everything else into the soap opera category... you miss ten episodes and nothing significant changes regarding the main cast...
By that same reasoning, we could just label Breaking Bad a glorified soap opera too...
Don't get me wrong, I love the show, but let's be real... we have five seasons where Walter White just becomes an increasingly more despicable person, his wife remains as irritating as she was on day one 😁, Hank and his wife are just as bad 😁, and Jesse Pinkman is essentially a lost cause...
Sure, characters (well, some of them) evolve and grow, but all of that could have been packed into four seasons—maybe even three. They didn't need five.

But that's exactly what they are.
Back when soap operas first took off, the target audience was housewives from the upper class. They had the TV, they had the help, they had the time, and they had the money.
Nowadays, we have the unemployed (who aren't even looking for work), apprentices, students, retirees... massive groups of people who have a TV, have the time... and in the media-heavy parts of the world—they have the money, too. It's a much larger market. So, most series tend to drift toward becoming soaps the moment the plot starts repeating itself and stretching out just to squeeze out another dollar... it's a cash cow.

Exactly... the only reason you can't label shows like CSI or NCIS—or anything else in that crime procedural vein—as soap operas is because they’re usually dealing with closed cases. You know, they hunt down the villain, they catch them, and that's that. Case closed.
And the fact that you can just step away and come back whenever you want isn't "soapy" either—because at the end of the day, it's just "their job," standard investigative work. They aren't going to suddenly quit their precinct to become full-time used car salesmen.
A true soap opera relies on endless, drawn-out drama. It’s designed so that just when she discovers he’s actually her long-lost brother and your TV goes black, you wait a month, turn it back on, and suddenly—in the next episode—Constance finally uncovers the massive secret about Pablo.
Some shows that aren't even "trashy" have a brilliant premiere and a killer season finale... but everything in between is just filler, basically saying, "Well, we still haven't figured out who Pablo really is." That usually happens when a show gets huge ratings and they've completely run out of actual ideas.

Richard Wilson4 said:It really just depends on your taste.

Modern stuff like The IT Crowd, Plebs, or Bad Education is top tier.

A lot of the older ones don't really land, especially with younger crowds.

Black Hole is pretty much the only one I'm sure everyone would vibe with, whereas a lot of them were total garbage to me.

Honestly, I'll even admit this—even The Mućak doesn't hold up for me like it used to. Time has definitely worn it down, unlike Seinfeld, which is still solid.

I actually started watching Spaced the other day, and it's excellent.
How exactly has The Mućak aged poorly?
Especially now with everything going on in America, you can really relate to that show.

Zachary Nguyen2 said:I actually started watching Spaced the other day, and it's excellent.
How exactly has The Mućak aged poorly?
Especially now with everything going on in America, you can really relate to that show.

That's just how it feels to me.

But honestly, The Mućak is still better in my book. Most of those British series never really clicked for me.

The dated vibe always bugged me—if a show is from the 90s, it feels like the 80s, and if it's from the 80s, it feels like the 70s, and not in a cool way. Plus, they're usually set in the middle of nowhere with zero pop culture or tech. And let's be real, there are hardly any hot women; most of the female leads are just old ladies.

PS
Just my opinion again. If there wasn't a war going on, I'd gladly take on a thousand angry British show fans by myself.🤣

It’s all subjective. Honestly, nothing annoys me more than reading people claim British humor is genius while American comedy is trash. That's just wrong. Both sides have produced absolute gems. Personally, I lean toward British wit, but that doesn't mean I think everything coming out of the States is garbage, even if modern US comedies aren't hitting the mark for me lately.

But look, MASH, Cheers, and Seinfeld are masterpieces—way better than anything being made today. And Arrested Development, obviously.😁

Then you've got The Mućak, The Hole, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers🤣 and Spaced.

bluenomad2 said:It’s all subjective. Honestly, nothing annoys me more than reading people claim British humor is genius while American comedy is trash. That's just wrong. Both sides have produced absolute gems. Personally, I lean toward British wit, but that doesn't mean I think everything coming out of the States is garbage, even if modern US comedies aren't hitting the mark for me lately.

But look, MASH, Cheers, and Seinfeld are masterpieces—way better than anything being made today. And Arrested Development, obviously.😁

Then you've got The Mućak, The Hole, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers🤣 and Spaced.

I totally agree. It really doesn't make sense to generalize; both Americans and the British have top-tier comedy series, it’s just a matter of what fits your vibe better.

If I had to list my all-time favorites, most would probably be British, but that definitely doesn't mean Americans are bad at it.
Along with the ones you mentioned, I'd definitely add Curb Your Enthusiasm to the list. I get the feeling it's pretty underrated (at least around here), but for me, it's right at the top of the pile.

Richard Wilson4 said:That's just how it feels to me.

But honestly, The Mućak is still better in my book. Most of those British series never really clicked for me.

The dated vibe always bugged me—if a show is from the 90s, it feels like the 80s, and if it's from the 80s, it feels like the 70s, and not in a cool way. Plus, they're usually set in the middle of nowhere with zero pop culture or tech. And let's be real, there are hardly any hot women; most of the female leads are just old ladies.

PS
Just my opinion again. If there wasn't a war going on, I'd gladly take on a thousand angry British show fans by myself.🤣

Ala ala, and Red Dwarf? 🙂

Red Dwarf is absolutely brilliant during those first two seasons, but honestly, the quality just starts to slide after that. By the time you hit season 6 or 7, the whole thing pretty much turns to garbage. Sure, things pick up a bit in the third season once Kryten is introduced, but even then, the overall vibe leaves a lot to be desired...

Jessica Morris6 said:Red Dwarf is absolutely brilliant during those first two seasons, but honestly, the quality just starts to slide after that. By the time you hit season 6 or 7, the whole thing pretty much turns to garbage. Sure, things pick up a bit in the third season once Kryten is introduced, but even then, the overall vibe leaves a lot to be desired...

I find it quite good, even if it does lose some steam later on, true.

I suppose people prefer series because their longer runtimes allow for more nuanced character development and better writing. Personally, whenever I finally wrap up a long-running show, I’m left with this strange sense of emptiness. It’s as if something is missing, and I'm just left wandering aimlessly. My entire existence felt complete once I finished 🤣
.
.. at least until I stumble upon 😁
.

Rachel Richardson said:Ala ala, and Red Dwarf? 🙂

Look, Red Dwarf is great, but honestly? I feel like Ala Ala is just your run-of-the-mill American show, like the kind of stuff you'd see airing on RTL 2 late at night.

Richard Wilson4 said:But honestly, people just straight-up love sci-fi.

Look, it’s pretty simple. People who actually dig sci-fi aren't looking for some soap opera or a heavy drama—they want real sci-fi. And the folks who live for those soap operas? They aren't going to touch sci-fi either. It just doesn't work that way.

Battlestar Galactica was actually pretty solid, but man, Caprica? Not even close. 🤦

Well, speaking as someone who genuinely appreciates the SF genre, 😁 I have to point out that it unfortunately suffers from being constantly underrated.
Sure, there is trash, garbage, and pure nonsense in SF—of course there is. But let me ask you: what genre is exempt from that? It exists in SF in no greater quantity than any other genre. However, truth be told, you really have to be a true fan to appreciate the good stuff (meaning you’ve actually read more than three pieces of SF literature), and that’s precisely why BSG resonated with me so much. 😁 It’s purebred SF infused with elements of drama; the characters are well-developed and feel real. It isn't a "no brainer" (okay, it’s not exactly Shakespeare 😬), but it's dark, occasionally brutal, and its target audience definitely isn't teenagers...

Yet, we find ourselves in this situation where SF fans actually *expect* something shallow, superficial, and childish—total mindless filler that you can enjoy while simultaneously scrolling on your phone, surfing the web, chatting with your aunt, and "following" some "SF series" on the side. 😵 To view the entire genre this way and expect nothing more than what I just described is absolute stupidity; it shows a fundamental lack of understanding of SF, primarily in its written 😬 form, and subsequently in all other media...

BTW... I never even watched Caprica because I did my homework beforehand. 😁

Richard Wilson4 said:Look, Red Dwarf is great, but honestly? I feel like Ala Ala is just your run-of-the-mill American show, like the kind of stuff you'd see airing on RTL 2 late at night.

Look, everyone has their own taste.
To me, The Big Bang Theory (at least the earlier seasons) is on par with unknown, not the other way around. 🙂
Star Trek is 🙂