TV vs Movies

[mitch_h]

This question wouldn’t be proposed 15 years but TV has experienced a renaissance of sorts in the last 10 years and it seems like every article I read decrees TV superior. Personally I would take my cable package over my local multiplex, and TV is better when it comes to comedy but I still prefer film. Obviously this is a bit of a case of “apples and oranges” and the biggest difference separating the two is that TV is a writer’s medium while movies belong to the director. I think this, along with the fact that cinema is more democratic allows for more impressionism or experimentation or whatever you want to call it. Film seems so diverse next to TV and you still really can’t find the television equivalents of Being John Malkovich, There Will Be Blood, Punch Drunk Love, Inception, Shame, The Wrestler, Tree of Life… etc etc.

Also, I’m talking purely in terms of fictional/narrative stuff.

[Kane Knight]

spambot?

[Lock Jaw]

I've been getting more and more into TV rather than movies. The episodic nature and the long term evolution of characters and plots speak to me.

Plus I'm always like "I can buy this DVD... and watch a movie for 2 hours... Or I can buy this TV set and watch more many more hours! More bang for my buck! Yeah!"

[MoFo]

Im the opposite to Lock Jaw, found it pretty impossible to invest so much time watching TV series anymore after Lost, Scrubs and Entourage ended.

[Kane Knight]

Yeah, after Lost, I'd lose all faith in TV too.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

I'm definitely more of a TV person. I can happily sit and watch hour upon hour of a TV series. I prefer the longer stories and character development over the one shorter, potentially more solid, main story.

I'm constantly looking for the next show I'm going to watch, and I'm finally catching up on all the great shows I haven't even got round to watching yet, whereas with most movies I don't bother with.

[Londoner]

I've been getting more and more into TV rather than movies. The episodic nature and the long term evolution of characters and plots speak to me.

Plus I'm always like "I can buy this DVD... and watch a movie for 2 hours... Or I can buy this TV set and watch more many more hours! More bang for my buck! Yeah!"

I'm like this aswell, never been a big movie fan.

[XCaliber]

These days I prefer movies there few programs I follow on TV and I don't want to get invested in many of the newer ones cuz they have to tendency to cancel them before giving them a real chance.

[Kane Knight]

I'm definitely more of a TV person. I can happily sit and watch hour upon hour of a TV series. I prefer the longer stories and character development over the one shorter, potentially more solid, main story.

I'm constantly looking for the next show I'm going to watch, and I'm finally catching up on all the great shows I haven't even got round to watching yet, whereas with most movies I don't bother with.

Most shows, however, still go by the "Status Quo Is God" approach, so you don't really get a lot of character development. I suppose it's good if you're being very specific, but movies are adopting a more adaptive model at the same time.

At that point, the only real difference is quantity.

I'd like to see the lines between the two blurred more.

[Buzzkill]

I think that a serial TV drama offers a much greater medium for storytelling than a 2 hour feature film. You can really dig deep within characters and explore a lot more territory.

I obviously love movies, but The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad etc all offer more depth than any feature film could (save for a few exceptions). Hard to say though.

[Zeeboe]

I'm a movie guy. Mainly because I prefer to create my own schedule. I've watched some shows before, but typically I just add them to my Netflix queue, and watch them as I please. I also watch some TV shows on YouTube.