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Disappointed in the Quality of This Season’s ‘Game of Thrones’? Blame “On-Demand” Culture.
Are you not entertained?
I have a confession. I haven’t seen a single episode of Game of Thrones. I haven’t read the books. Aside from knowing the historical influence from one of the eight British civil wars, I’m like Jon Snow: I know nothing.
Why haven’t I seen the largest show on television? And why do I feel compelled to write about it, despite not knowing a damn thing about it? Well, one of the reasons I haven’t seen the show is that I’m spoiled by on-demand entertainment. As a busy person attempting to produce and create her own content, the idea of watching an entire season in one weekend is heaven on earth. I don’t feel pressured into scheduling my day around an hour block of my favorite show. But at the same time, the expectation of churning out high-quality content at a faster rate is a race to the bottom. It’s a lose-lose situation all around. Creators and crew members burn out, audiences get bored, and financiers look to cut corners by streamlining their crews and forcing them to work longer days. This is the new normal. Now, you can shoot an entire film in about a month or two. Or a little over a week if you are Tyler Perry.
Well-funded shows can just throw money at the problem, but only to a point. Throwing money…