Bonus: and that likely explains why older shows tend to have self-contained episodes while newer shows tend to be serial.

  • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    21 hours ago

    Also, thanks to the practice of broadcast syndication, new series were often given at last 3-4 seasons to run even if the ratings weren’t great at first since it was more profitable to get the series to around 80 to 100 episodes then to cancel it early.

  • DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    2 days ago

    On the flip side they’ll not get to experience knowing that the channel you were watching was the exact same for everyone. It feels really strange and isolating to me to know that what’s on my TV right now is streaming just to me.

    I know it’s silly; we were still watching TV alone, but there was something about knowing that other people were watching the same thing at the same time that made it better.

    • JackFrostNCola@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      12 hours ago

      There was a time where the next day at school/work after a big episode of a popular tv show was on and it was the talk of the day. Now theres much more shows to watch that whatever the network chooses to play, and its great getting reccomendations from friends & coworkers, but it also does suck a bit when im super excited about this show i have been watching and i want to talk about it, but the person im talking to hasnt heard of it/watched it yet, or they arent up to the same episode as you.

      • DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        11 hours ago

        Oh man that’s the worst…trying not to spoil something for other people. I’ve accidentally spoiled shows that came out years ago. What’s the statute of limitations on spoilers?

    • FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 days ago

      Now, even when I watch cable, I’m not sure very many people are watching at the same time because a lot of people are DVRing it

  • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    2 days ago

    They also don’t have the experience of only seeing half the episode because you were channel surfing, and not getting to see the rest of it until you catch another rerun two years later.

    • FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 day ago

      I remember my sister and I watching the movie A Little Princess on tv multiple times but always missing the beginning. We didn’t know the name of the movie until we came across the book.

  • slazer2au@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    you say that but Jellyfin has a random button so you can get random episodes from anything in your media library.

    • DagwoodIII@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      First, most people aren’t going to do that. Second, there’s a difference between opting for randomness and having it forced on you.

      Now about the idea of the older shows having more self contained episodes; OP is correct. It was the rise of night time soap opera like ‘Dallas’ and miniseries like “Roots” and ‘Sho-Gun’ that made networks/producers see that people wanted extended stories.

  • faythofdragons@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 day ago

    I dunno. I find that enough movies and tv shows get chopped up into shorts and served to my fyp that it’s very similar to channel surfing sometimes. I feel like I’ve seen most of a few different movies served to me in random order with no context.

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    2 days ago

    I never would have expected to, but I miss channel surfing.

    Now I get analysis paralysis flipping through a million thumbnails on various streaming services and I don’t see anything I want to commit to, but if I was channel surfing, 20 seconds of a nature documentary might be all it takes for me to settle in and learn more about horseshoe crabs.

  • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    Yeah but the older generations probably never even thought of watching a series in reverse order. You start with the last episode spoilers, but you don’t know why any of that is important.

  • blueamigafan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 days ago

    There was a charm to it, I discovered lots of programs from the randomness, one of which is my all time favourite doctor who (it caught me off guard as I saw what I now know was the third doctor Jon Pertwee being beaten up by Morris dancers). It’s the one thing I wish was integrated into streaming services. Just a ramdomiser button and it plays whatever.

  • SolidShake@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 day ago

    I always said Netflix should add a favorite shows category that you could play on shuffle (like Pandora radio)

  • LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    2 days ago

    It is really weird to be able to have all my shows in order. Shows like south park doesn’t matter as much since most of the episodes aren’t multipart, but the cartoon wars and episodes 200 and 201 were pretty awesome to watch back to back weeks live.

  • Moonbunny@piefed.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    What I don’t miss are channels that put on Episode-marathons showing back-to-back episodes of a series. The multi-part episodes either air in the wrong sequence, or they don’t play those part-episodes at all.

    Gotta love seeing a 3-part episodes with episode 3/3 to start, 1/3 comes next and 2/3 couldn’t make the cut in a 2+hr episode marithon.

  • floo@retrolemmy.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    2 days ago

    On my Plex server, I have several live streaming channels themed differently with an assortment of similar TV shows mixed together.

    Even then, I’m not such a monster as to have them out of order!