The Downfall of Television and Entertainment

The Neflixication of it all

I think we have all noticed that in recent years TV shows, movies, and other media are just not the same as before. There are very noticeable differences of course, like the average season now being 8 episodes when in the past they had 20 at a minimum. There is also the fact that these 8 episodes take years in production.

Look at shows like Wednesday, season 1 came out November of 2022, the second season August of 2025. That is 3 YEARS in between seasons. Add to that the new trend of releasing half seasons and spacing them over a month.

This problem is specially true for Netflix. Bridgerton as been doing most of the above since it’s conception. The production aspect of the shows is also something that has been on a steady decline.

The coloring of movies and shows has gotten so boring and monotone, that you could switch between a historical drama set in the 1800s and a futuristic since fiction comedy and the color palette and lighting would stay consistent. People on TikTok call it the “Netflix lighting” or something like that. The problem is not exclusive to Netflix though.

I also find that the costume department has taken a big hit. In older films you can see the effort and labor that was put into creating every minute detail. The stories were original not only in their concept, but in the way it was presented. I think in part this shift in the clothing department is the fault of the critics, specifically the ones that always look for perfect historic accuracy in fictional stories.

This change has made many visual media plain boring. The same can be said about reboots, sequels, prequels, and spinoffs. When the stories and characterizations are forced to keep to the source material so closely, it doesn’t allow for the cool visuals that were present in the late 90s and 2000s.

No-Novelas

While Novelas are very distinct from American TV shows or series, they are having the same problem. One of, if not my favorite novela is the 2003 Passion de Gavilanes, which is a remake of Las Aguas Mansas (1994) (There is also a 2014 adaptation called Tierra de Reyes, which I of course also watched). If you look at the story, the execution, the costumes and the music used you can see that while the quality was not of a high budget production, it gave life to a world that you can immerse yourself in.

Being one of multiple remakes from the same source also allows for comparison, and while I didn’t watch the original, I did watch the two remakes. The settings are the biggest changes, but the essence of the story is the same. Three brothers seek vengeance for the death of their younger sister by making three sisters fall in love with them to then break their heart, however they develop real feelings for them.

It is irrefutable that the best of these is of course Pasion de Gavilanes, and I don’t think it’s the yellow tint that makes it superior. There is something almost historical or classical in the way the story is presented compared to the more modern version. The way wealth is represented and how that wealth affects the perspective of the characters is more believable in the older, yet more fantastical setting. And I think that this is one of the biggest changes.

Nothing is allowed to have a little bit of magic. Novelas use to have a touch of the mystical, be it premonitions from a character, or someone reading the palm of the protagonist, maybe it was the villain having survived under unbelievable circumstances, but every single novela had something almost magical to it. While it might have made the world less realistic, it made it more immersive.

The Sweet Escape

Television has always been about escaping the monotony of everyday life and entering a world that seems parallel to ours. Today that idea seems almost lost. Shows like Grey’s Anatomy are on a decline, and while The Pitt is one of my current favorites, it doesn’t satisfy the same itch that those older dramas did.

Where are the 160 episode novelas that take you a year to watch? What about the 40 episode series? No wonder a lot of people have picked up reading (me included), with nothing new to consume on the silver screen, what choice does one truly have? There is more to rant about at a latter time, like:

How streaming services have lost their purpose and have instead done a full circle back to cable, or even worst.
The normalization of plastic surgery and cosmetic intervention in actors of all ages. The lack of ownership of media through the “renting” method.
The erasure of digital media due to the above. Lack of complex themes due to media literacy being on the floor right now.

PS: This is lowkey kinda therapeutic, so I might keep doing it lol. Also, if you see spelling mistakes or punctuation errors, don't mind them, I will not fix it XD.

Published by MeryLaLoka

The Downfall of Television and Entertainment

Comments