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Note: Regarding World Television Day (November 21), proclaimed by the UN General Assembly since 1996.
Hollywood (CNN) - The New York Times noted this week that with every generation Hollywood has always had a great shake. That on average every three decades, there are changes that transform the entertainment industry. Today we witness a new one.
In the 20s of the last century, the public was fascinated with the transition from silent movies to spoken movies. In the 50s, open or traditional television had its great flowering thanks to the big chains. In the 80s, the newspaper said, it was the turn of cable television. And today, closing the second decade of this new century, we are living streaming, a phenomenon that has drastically changed the experience of audiovisual entertainment.
While nostalgia drives us to return to the customs of before, such as to keep that immovable appointment that the public had one or several nights a week with their favorite shows, the current conditions make that return to the past less and less attractive.
For a long time, the NBC network used the slogan of “Must See TV” (“Television to be seen”) to sell us the idea that its programming offer was vital, necessary and unmissable. In fact, many of these programs have wanted to be on screen again after years and years of having left the air. The formal return of "Will & Grace" took just over a decade and is already in its eleventh season. "Friends" is not far behind; This year, when we celebrate its 25 years of being released, the public continues to consume its 10 seasons, either on cable television or on the Netflix platform. A recent report by the Hollywood Reporter indicated that the six protagonists and the original creative team of this series were cooking something for their return. And just this week, the romantic comedy "Mad About You" awakens from a 20-year nap with new chapters.
Despite the demand that may exist for these “yesteryear” programs, new generations may be more attracted to the menu of streaming services, whose prices range from $ 5.00 (for the newly created Apple TV +) to $ 14.99 (from HBO Now). The free nature of open-signal television or the various options offered by the basic cable system are no longer a good bait.
The reasons that explain it: nobody seems willing to wait until the following week to see the continuation of a series, nor to consume it in a different way to the so-called 'binge-watching' - or television marathon - for which one is able to cancel any commitment with friends and spend an entire weekend to see, for example, the new ten chapters of the third season of the series "The Crown" that Netflix has just launched.
In summary, the rules and schedules of the viewing we put ourselves and not only the programming directors, who are not always in harmony with what the public really wants to see and at what time.
Other aspects that have contributed to the growth of these platforms are diversity and, what I call "freedom." Diversity of voices and contents. A series like "Stranger Things" captivated the most adult audience for their eighties nostalgia, but the millennial viewer gave current idols. In the case of the public who admires epic and fantastic themes, "Game of Thrones" became an event that surpassed any television experience. And when the United States barely resolved the issue of equal marriage, members of the LGBTQ community who had no greater voice in traditional television could finally be reflected beyond the stereotype in series like “Transparent,” from Amazon, “Pose,” from FX, and more recently in "Euphoria" by HBO.
With regard to the theme of "freedom", I mean the one that content creators have today, who have found outside of traditional television, the spaces to tell stories more in keeping with reality. A reality that can be very crude, graphic and brutal, but that for young audiences are the true mirror of life out there.
An example of how a product with a “natural look” in streaming connects more with the audience than one very much made up in traditional television, could be that of Julia Louis-Dreyfus. For almost a decade, this actress played the temperamental Elaine in "Seinfeld." For that work he won an Emmy and then another for his character in the less popular comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Years later, Louis-Dreyfus would reach his true potential in the cable television comedy "Veep." Because this last medium allowed him to show a character with all kinds of defects and a very “colorful” vocabulary, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was declared for six consecutive years the best American TV comedy actress.
Today digital platforms have inherited that creative freedom of cable, and therefore, do not doubt a second in dealing with all candid and natural issues that open television barely touches and in a politically correct way.
The good thing is that of all this revolution we are living, the viewer is one of the most benefited. However, there are those who may also be going through a state of anguish in the absence of time to watch everything in streaming. Even so, the platforms (Netflix in the lead) continue to take money out of their pockets to stock up on content. And before that, there is nothing left to keep asking friends: which series do you recommend now?
