Why is the TV landscape so boring?

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

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Well, i assumed we were speaking only about CN shows, since those were the ones you listed in your original post. I can't really say much about Nickelodeon or Disney Channel cartoons, since i didn't have those stations back in the day(barring Avatar, which was really good).
I stand corrected about early 00s CN, the station didn't completely went to shitter back then yet. The second half of that decade, though? Yeah, Ben10 was decent for what it was, though not entirely my cup of tea. But other shows? the concept of TDI was awful, i agree with your stance on Camp Lazlo, Chowder started interestingly but then devolved into "randum" mess and Flapjack was hit/miss kind of show. And the less is told about those live-action shows(on CARTOON Network) the better.
CN only have begun to reminisce it's glory days after people like JG Quintel or Pendleton Ward got their own shows.

I had fun with Total Drama for what it was, mostly because at least the charcaters were enjoyable and recognizble through intentional art design.

But Camp Lazlow, oh my goodness to me that show epitomizes the decline. When I first saw it I was unbelievably bored and unimpressed and to me it was the first sign of the decline.

 

[RaikuFA]

Nickalodeon: Catscratch (Like Money and Squirrle Boy increadibly boring and bland) El Tigre (Nickalodeon's answer to Mucha Lucha so it felt rather uninspired) Back at the Barnyards (Zzzzzzz)

Listen dude, I agree with you that the 2000s had some neat stuff. And I agree with you that most of the shows you have listed here aren't that great. But I will FIGHT YOU if you think El Tigre was bad. Strap on yer gloves and put up them dukes.

Also - how's SU pretentious?

The fanbase certainly makes it pretentious. I mean they went as far as threatening a deviantart artist for drawing a fat chacrater skinny and the artist contemplated suicide.

Not contemplated, attempted. They still harassed her after the attempt and tried to get the show away from the creators.

I haven't watched it since but I hope they do an episode where Steven gets harassed by the mayors son for not drawing things the way he wants them drawn.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Man TV is better than its ever been.THe last few years have seen. The Expanse, Dark Matter, Justified, everything on HBO from silicon valley to GoTs, Daredevil, Stranger things, House of Cards, Agents of Shield, Mr. Robot, Jessica Jones, all sorts of quality half hour comedies, animated stuff.

I dare say TV is better than movies right now.

Sci-Fi is probably the most lacking right now cause it requires a big budget but the expanse was great, Killjoys and dark matter are fun.

 

[WolfThomas]

What are you guys talking about?

TV is in its golden age, it's the best it's ever been. With all the great quality cable shows and streaming shows like Netflix's DareDevil, Jessica Jones, Stranger Things, etc. to Amazon's The Man in the High Castle there's so many good shows to watch. Now, network TV is pretty bad, there's very few network shows I watch. So much talent from writers to actors have moved to TV, there's not many movies I even feel are worth the time to watch anymore when I can watch at least 3 episodes of a great show with characters I'm already attached to vs a movie that'll probably only be OK. I can barely even name many TV shows from say before 2000 that were legitimately really good shows. And, now you can make a high quality niche show that can stay afloat because ratings aren't that important anymore; if Firefly came out now originally (on cable or streaming service), it wouldn't have gotten canceled.

And now off to watch last night's Mr. Robot...

Yeah this pretty much. Watching all these plus stuff like the Americans and iZombie. Looking out for the American Gods adaption.

Even some of the Network stuff is okay. The Flash and Supergirl are much better than Smallville ever was for my guilty-pleasure watching.

Man TV is better than its ever been.THe last few years have seen. The Expanse, Dark Matter, Justified, everything on HBO from silicon valley to GoTs, Daredevil, Stranger things, House of Cards, Agents of Shield, Mr. Robot, Jessica Jones, all sorts of quality half hour comedies, animated stuff.

I dare say TV is better than movies right now.

Sci-Fi is probably the most lacking right now cause it requires a big budget but the expanse was great, Killjoys and dark matter are fun.

Oh man Justified I forgot how much I loved watching that.

It so true. I mean back in the day you had...the Wire? And like that's it. And the Wire is great (like the greatest), but a man needs some variety.

 

[1981]

True, it's about money. But you don't need 10 000 orcs to make a good TV show. In Treatment is about people sitting in an office talking.

I happened to catch a few episodes of a documentary about haunted houses. Based on some googling, it was probably A Haunting. It was scarier than many horror movies. The low-budget dramatizations and good bad acting (meaning they felt like real people) gave it extra flare.

I'd like to see more of that.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Yeah this pretty much. Watching all these plus stuff like the Americans and iZombie. Looking out for the American Gods adaption.

Even some of the Network stuff is okay. The Flash and Supergirl are much better than Smallville ever was for my guilty-pleasure watching.

I think I'm all zombie-ed out but the Americans does look pretty good.

I need to catch up with Flash, I've only seen the first season. After the 3rd (or 4th) season of Arrow (the one that aired with the 1st season of Flash), I just gave up, the plot and characters were just too all over the place to where I was mainly watching it for how bad it was. I enjoyed Supergirl until the season finale, which I though was horrible.

 

[WolfThomas]

I think I'm all zombie-ed out but the Americans does look pretty good.

I need to catch up with Flash, I've only seen the first season. After the 3rd (or 4th) season of Arrow (the one that aired with the 1st season of Flash), I just gave up, the plot and characters were just too all over the place to where I was mainly watching it for how bad it was. I enjoyed Supergirl until the season finale, which I though was horrible.

I know the feels about the zombie genre but iZombie is really different. It's more of a character drama/police procedural. My wife was adamant she was going to hate it and was hooked after one episode.

Yeah arrow hasn't been great. The flash is the better of the two. The supergirl season finale was lacklustre indeed.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I think I'm all zombie-ed out but the Americans does look pretty good.

I know the feels about the zombie genre but iZombie is really different. It's more of a character drama/police procedural. My wife was adamant she was going to hate it and was hooked after one episode.

I've think I've seen enough police procedurals to last a lifetime as well. But this basically shows how great TV is as you can really pick and choose what to watch based on subject matter alone considering how many great shows there are now. Before (and not that long ago at all), you sorta had to watch the few good shows even if you weren't into them as there wasn't much good quality content out there. There's so many shows on now that I would've of totally been all over like 10 years ago but that I pass on now just because there isn't enough time to watch everything. I've been recommended so many shows from friends that I haven't checked out yet just due to "my" shows consuming so much time.

 

[WolfThomas]

I've think I've seen enough police procedurals to last a lifetime as well. But this basically shows how great TV is as you can really pick and choose what to watch based on subject matter alone considering how many great shows there are now. Before (and not that long ago at all), you sorta had to watch the few good shows even if you weren't into them as there wasn't much good quality content out there. There's so many shows on now that I would've of totally been all over like 10 years ago but that I pass on now just because there isn't enough time to watch everything. I've been recommended so many shows from friends that I haven't checked out yet just due to "my" shows consuming so much time.

True. My friend was trying to get me to watch Banshee. And I was like, this looks good, not great. I'm sure I might have watched it 5-10years ago but right now I have Justified and other stuff to catch up on.

I mean my god, I can't believe I watched LOST for so long.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

In fairness to the OP, every other TV show is always going to pale in comparison to Babylon 5. It will probably be so until the year 2258.

 

[Skruff]

If you're legitimately looking for good shows to watch across any TV-adaptable genre, you'd have to try pretty hard NOT to find something outstanding to watch right now. Yes, budgets, profits, and bottom lines limit the size and scope of every show, even the animated ones, because that's just reality... but the variety and creativity we're seeing on TV right now is really fantastic! My "to watch" queues have never been so full!

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I mean my god, I can't believe I watched LOST for so long.

Haha. I watch 4 seasons of Lost because I swore they said season 4 was going to be the final season (or I heard that somewhere) and it totally wasn't the last season or I would've stopped at season 3. Season 1 of Lost was so good though and the show really should've just been one season IMO.

 

[WolfThomas]

Haha. I watch 4 seasons of Lost because I swore they said season 4 was going to be the final season (or I heard that somewhere) and it totally wasn't the last season or I would've stopped at season 3. Season 1 of Lost was so good though and the show really should've just been one season IMO.

You were smart. I left at Season 5. Just threw in the towel and refused to watch it.

Another show like that is Dexter. I liked the first season but each season following I found meh. The 4th did capture some of the excitement and I stuck around for Season 5. Now I wish I could have saved that time up to watch the things I want now.

 

[maninahat]

The dominant shows on American TV are sitcoms, reality shows, and cop shows. Compare that to a novel that has space battles, daring military actions, parachute jumps through a planet?s atmosphere, and high-stakes politics. Why can't TV be that exciting? Do TV shows do not get the budget of CGI heavy adventure movies? Is there something in American life that zaps people of their creativity and imagination?

What are you shitting me? These have probably been the most exciting last few years I've seen for television. In terms of creative output and trailblazing, it way outstrips the movie industry at the moment (which currently spends a fortune on nothing but more superhero movies). In the last month I've watched shows about superheroes, but I have also watched shows about mind bending preachers, 80s kids fighting Stephen King monsters, Jewish skanks sleeping their way around New York, angry pirates, angry gangsters, angry vikings, kung-fu magicians, real life police conspiracies, a cartoon pervert scientist and his terrified grandson, a dozen different Korean rom-coms about millionaire boyfriends, and a hip-hop King Lear.

There is certainly still a subset of boring rom-coms and boilerplate police procedural, but they are only the lingering remains of the early 2000s and 90s, which was a time were you pretty much got nothing but those shows (outside the occasional BBC drama) all the time.