What Makes You Love a TV Show?

I talk a lot about movies on this blog (there was a review this morning from one of several film-related series I run here), but I do genuinely like television.  I watch a lot of it, and have at any given time 14-16 fictional series that I'm watching that are currently on, which is easier to do than it used to be since so many shows take a long hiatus or air right in a row without an extended run over nine months like broadcast shows.  Recently I got into a show called The Other Two, and binged it all in one day, and I like it.  It has some great stuff to say about celebrity, and there are enough twists on this standard plot (the best being that the central celebrity, Chase Dreams, is genuinely a nice kid and not a spoiled teenager which would have made this just a Difficult People ripoff) to keep my attention, and I'll see it through at least to the end of the season.  But it also got me thinking-what does it take for me to genuinely love a television series?  And honestly-are there any shows airing on TV right now that I love?

I will say this-I can appreciate a film or TV show without falling in love but because of the finite aspects of a film & the fact that I just see more of them, I tend to love movies faster or more frequently than I would love a television series.  What I am looking for from a TV series is at least a few characters I want to root for, whose travails make me cry and who will sustain me over a few years.  I tend to favor dramas, but not always, and I tend to favors ensembles, almost always.  I need there to be an end to the series-staying past your prime will eventually make me downgrade the show from love to just "I've seen every episode" and I generally favor (for live-action, at least), shows with a continuous story, rather than a series of standalone episodes.  High concept is a plus.  As you might guess, despite us apparently being in "Peak TV," there are almost no shows on TV right now that are genuinely compelling and fit those descriptions.

This wasn't always the case.  Looking at my Top 25 favorite TV series of all-time (an article I'll do eventually), I see 2009-10 was probably the best time for me with television (it was not coincidentally a time in my life I'd rather forget, so perhaps escapism was an appropriate outlet).  Shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, Community, The Office, and Mad Men aired at the time, all shows I genuinely would use the L-word to describe and whose characters I still think about and invest in when I watch the shows, not just letting them scamper in the background.  I want to make sure I clarify that that's what I'm referring toward here-it's not just "OMG-I love that show" or "I'm so into that"-it's the sort of love where five years after it's on, you still think about it, you still have to watch it from start to finish and genuinely care about what's going on onscreen even though you know what's going to happen, the same way you would when rewatching a movie or rereading a book.  

For me, there are probably 18-20 shows ever that I have felt that way about, and only a couple are on television right now, almost all of them animated.  South Park, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers are all shows I'll love forever-all three I've seen EVERY episode (yes, even The Simpsons) and they feel like warm bread cooking in the oven when I'm watching them.  South Park and The Simpsons haven't been in their prime for a number of years now, but they feel like going home at this point, and I rewatch a classic episode with total care.  But if you venture into non-animated, there's really only one show that I can claim a genuine obsession with that will last longer than a first-run viewing: Game of Thrones.  That show, with its epic scope and at least a few characters whose fates I'm dying to know (Sansa, Jon, Cersei, Arya), and will always care about how large & vast the tale was, forgiving its imperfections.

But that's really it.  Modern Family is on my Top 25, but the last few seasons have been a chore, dragging down its once fresh storytelling with constant retreads, to the point where I cling to my favorites like Jay because the other characters have become cartoons they're so ridiculous.  The Good Place could be something I'd love, but it feels like it only embraces depth with select characters (specifically Eleanor & Janet), while keeping others in the shallow end, holding the show back; plus, the series is so dependent on how it ends that it's hard to invest emotionally when you don't yet have confidence they're taking you to a very specific spot (Season 3 stole my confidence by repeating plot-points to stretch the series even if there were some great moments like "Janet(s)," always a bad sign).  Crazy Ex-Girlfriend does the same thing, as does Westworld (which I was totally ready to love after the first season, but the second season took some detours that make me question whether the end will be too convoluted).  Bodyguard is too cold, Veep is too mean, & Big Little Lies too new.  The only show that comes close to Game of Thrones is Jane the Virgin, which I have a feeling I'm going to falter on because the ending will feel cheap & unearned considering the late Season 4 twist, though the fact that it's ending right when it's supposed to is a good sign.

This is all a way for me to wonder-is, like music, television something you become less likely to love as you get older?  I don't generally have this problem with music, though it's less abundant in what I adore in recent years, and I certainly don't have this problem with movies (recent films like Call Me By Your Name and Cold War certainly are in the "love" column), but I think it's weird that once Game of Thrones goes off the air later this year, I will have no non-animated show that I love, despite watching a lot of series.  I asked my brother this same question, and he said he's in a similar boat.  I'm curious for you, then-what show do I need to be watching if you love one, or are you like me lost in a cavalcade of "Peak TV" wondering why you aren't seeing more peaks?  Please share in the comments-I'd love suggestions as this is a problem I want corrected.