It's painfully unfunny.

Fantasy authors are the Z-list of the writing world.

>Sci-Fi has largely escaped this trap. Why, I don’t entirely know. Probably because there’s still a sensed future realism (like, “we could be heading towards a Bladerunner reality”). Fantasy is fantasy.

Science fiction has often been an exercise in imagining the future to comment on the present (or on the general human condition). It is therefore more likely to connect with the average person, as an interesting thought exercise.

Fantasy has a lot less of that. It tends to be more worldbuilding for its own sake.

Almost all film and television fantasy ever made, stretching back decades, is poor. There's nothing new about this.

I would love a prestige version of Law & Order that was more gritty like the original seasons, and tried to bring back the 'realism' (it was never realistic, but y'know what I mean).

It's a common linguistic structure.

In the case of these shows, there seems to be an element of irony or dramatic tension to it. They're either not about "good" people (good wife, good cop) or about a type that isn't typically good (good witch).

Mad Men is the opposite of gritty and really has nothing to do with these other shows.

I'm not a big fan of the extensive hiatus mode.

For me the issue is not with the breaks themselves. The issue is that for a while, in television, serious or intelligent has become synonymous with self-referential and dense and serialized. But too little attention is paid to the basic craft of conveying information. We end up with shows that seem to assume you have as much knowledge as the writers as to what's happening at any given moment, no matter how long the show's been off the air.

I don't think the issue is that it takes time to make shows. The issue is how the shows are written. Simply put, the people writing seem to care less and less about the audience experience.

It's not very different than when GoT/HoD get in trouble for releasing a very dark episode.

I don't know that binge watching really helps, though. If anything you're less likely to remember specific details if you watch the entire show in one or two sittings.

Good God, that is a terrible plot.

Peaky Blinders, though they have a good excuse.

> It's one of the incredibly rare recent examples where gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation has absolutely zero importance to the story.

I only skimmed this show but,

> Civil rights attorney Howard Elias is representing a black man who is accusing LAPD of police brutality, but Elias is murdered. Elias had a history of representing citizens who sue the LAPD, and the case produces racial strife in LA and elevated tension between the LAPD and citizens.

Absolutely zero importance to the show?