On February 11th, at 6:30 P.M., the Super Bowl aired. 123.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the biggest sports event in America. After the victory of the Chiefs, many turned off their T.V.s to discuss the game, or simply packed their things and went to sleep after a day of parties and excitement. However, if you were me, you were too lazy to move off of the couch on which you had reached the perfect position and found yourself watching the series premiere of Tracker, CBS’s newest syndicated television show that was advertised throughout the Super Bowl and aired immediately after. This was the first “real” T.V. show I’d seen in a very long time. What I mean by “real” is simply, something not made for a streaming service, but something made specifically for a channel. Something that “airs” not “releases.” I didn’t finish the whole episode, but what I found from the 30 minutes I did watch was a show that was made on a low budget, had moderate to bad acting, and a soapy plot that was filled with just enough intrigue and absurdity to loop you into watching another episode.
Shows like this used to be what TV was. Cheaply made episodes that displayed a run-on story in which each episode served as a vehicle to keep you watching so that you would inadvertently consume ads and increase the ratings of respective channels. Essentially, T.V. used to be something that you would tune in to to take your mind off things. It was something entertaining, but just stupid enough that you didn’t have to use much of your brain. Each episode would generally be its own mini-movie, with a 3-act plot that would resolve nicely to the status quo so that the process could be repeated the next week.
In the early 2000s, however, television started to slowly move away from episodic television, and more into the current format: shows that are essentially long movies, with each episode serving as a “chapter” of that extended film. Overarching plots started to become more prevalent in each episode: shows like Lost (began 2004), Breaking Bad (began 2008) or The Walking Dead (began 2010). However, the first huge show to completely depart from the traditional television cliches of cheaply made, episodic shows was Game of Thrones (began 2011). Unlike many shows at the time, GOT was highly produced, shot like a feature film, and had a full plot that connected each episode. Other shows, mainly produced by HBO (who produced GOT), followed suit, including shows like True Detective and House of Cards. As the years moved on, and streaming services became more popular, more shows like Game of Thrones would be produced. Shows started getting more complex, and more expensive. They had bigger-name actors and cinematic visuals. This began on air, and then moved almost exclusively to the streaming service, taking essentially all of popular television with it. Think of the shows you’ve watched recently. With the exception of sitcoms and Suits, most of the things you’ve watched have probably been similar to what I’ve described above: streaming shows like Stranger Things, Squid Game, Wednesday and Outer Banks.
However, like all things, sometimes people get bored. Even if the quality of shows has technically increased tenfold, that doesn’t mean people necessarily always want that. This brings me to Suits. Suits isn’t “bad,” but compared to modern shows: it looks like it was filmed for T.V. and has a very episodic, almost repetitive structure. By all means, especially compared to what we have now, Suits shouldn’t work. But for some reason it does. It’s a show you don’t really have to care too deeply about, a show you can tune into rather than binge. Sitcoms showed a similar pattern, yet still maintain their structure to this day.
Maybe the title of the article is misleading then, because Syndicated T.V. is only partially dead. It’s buried by bigger streaming shows, sure, and probably will be forever. However, the old T.V. shows, the sitcoms, and the Suits, will always be there, even if there are fewer, because sometimes you don’t want to think, you just want to have fun.
