Damn those fish flying over the transom on their own..... -- Ed
How many TV shows started out really good and by the fourth season are trash? How many movie sequels, threequels, fourpeats, penta-hopes, hexa-Hail Marys, and hepta-reallys are as good as the original?
There are some. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit were all solid for what they set out to do.
And that’s the last series I’m mentioning by name so this whole guest Ticker doesn’t get derailed into “but I loved that movie!” style objections. Everyone has their own tastes and criteria for what makes good entertainment. Besides, you don’t come here for entertainment reviews.
But we’re all familiar with the fourth season nosedive. The first few episodes of any new series are uneven. The actors and writers need time to get into the groove of their characters. They learn what works and what doesn’t. What the audience wants, which actors have genuine chemistry with each other on screen, and which ones should never be alone together again. The first season is typically a bunch of “safe” plots, the second season hits its stride, and the third season is amazing. Now these season numbers can vary, but the pattern holds.
Then the fourth season happens. Despite all the good writing, the set ups, and the potential of the first three seasons, it sucks. Either the characters behave contrary to established patterns, or the plot takes a bafflingly stupid turn.
The same thing applies to movies. Only rarely is the third in a series as good as the first. I’m not talking about the threequel released directly to streaming services. (Originally I had written “direct to TV,” but I don’t know if they do those anymore; it all goes to Netflix or Hulu.) I’ll revisit streaming in a bit. I’m talking about the general distinct decline in quality as movie series progress.
Some problems don't make a show terrible. Not every TV episode or plot arc will be amazing. When actors or writers leave, it can wreak tornado level havoc for a few episodes until things settle down, but they do and it’s still fun to watch. Sloppy world building is a wrecking ball for the plot and character, but skilled writers and actors can salvage this and keep doing their jobs, which is entertaining the audience. The show might be bad, but it’s still fun to watch.
Neither of the previous two examples necessarily ruin shows, because they do not make them BAD. With capital letters. BAD is something so awful you need a shower after watching it. You just feel dirty. Maybe you can’t put your finger on exactly why, but something is seriously off.
Which brings us to streaming services. Any streaming show that is BAD is deliberately so. There are zero excuses for it.
There are no episode time constraints. There are limited advertisement requirements. Sexy Female Lead drinking a Coke or getting into her new Kia while dumping exposition is easy enough and doesn’t disrupt flow. There should be no outside political constraints. If one service doesn’t like the content, another will broadcast it.
What makes a BAD show? Wokeness. As a rule, once they go woke, they’re broke. Woke corrupts storytelling. Woke adds nothing and only subtracts from world building, plot, and character. Woke is a magnet. Once one precept arrives others aren’t far behind. Over time it becomes an unwatchable mess. Here are a few examples:
A masculine character who overshadows the GRRRRRLLLLLL POWA gets neutered in the most insulting way possible.
The 80 lb girl bests 200 lb trained men in hand to hand combat with no magical abilities or other explanation.
When “gay” is someone’s sole character trait and they are never wrong nor face consequences.
The Magic Black Man explains things to whitey.
Men are always wrong and women are always right, no matter how much the plot suffers.
All couples are mixed race or gay. Or both.
The white Christian man always did it.
The more inappropriate any relationship is, the more it is celebrated.
Remember, all of these are deliberate choices. Woke and good can’t coexist. The two clash and woke always wins.
Ok, why woke? After all, most people don’t want the bullet points above, they want fun escapism. There is no way anyone involved with entertainment production doesn’t know this. As Tickerguy has pointed out numerous times, talent is hired for what they know and how well they do their job. If they don’t entertain people, they should be fired.
But we live in clown world, so we get never ending BAD.
Woke is a deliberate choice, why is it made? How do these hacks have jobs?
God gave Satan the world. I will not ponder why He did so, it’s above my paygrade. Satan recruits humans and some of them are in the entertainment industry: actors, writers, directors, camera operators, producers. It’s a losing proposition for the human who is always treated like used toilet paper.
If they stay in Satan’s influence, over time they become more corrupt: they slip farther and farther away from whatever gifts God gave them.
God holds the power of creation. He created the universe and everything in it. He’s pretty bad ass and not Someone you want to******off.
God granted every living creature on this planet a touch of creation. Humans and every other animal reproduces. Insects, fish, plants, and even bacteria can. This was part of God’s gift to us all. He also blessed humans with creativity.
Viruses can’t reproduce without a host cell. They invade and trick the cell into making copies of itself. They’re not really alive and have no touch of creation.
Satan and other demons can’t create, only copy and destroy by corruption.
People who throw in with Satan are lower than bacteria. Over time these evil adjacent people become like viruses: helpless without a host to infect and hijack. Eventually, they can’t create.
They can only copy or corrupt shows with woke, eventually destroying them.
That explains the endless reboots and BAD coming out of Hollyweird.
