Almost surely, if you totaled up the number of hours of movie watching I’ve done and the hours of TV show watching I’ve done, TV dwarves movies. It’s not a conscious choice; just how it shook out for me.
Via the internet, I “know” a couple of people who are consciously movie-only.
Khoi Vinh does all these movie reviews and has more or less said he’s only got time for movies. Sean Fennessey, host of The Big Picture has said he only watches movies as well. Paraphrasing from what I remember, it’s that TV’s incentives are to make the most of it, not to make the best art possible, which is more aligned with movies. I’d think the budget and talent also favor movies (on average and per-minute).
So why the imbalance in the other direction for me, and maybe a lot of you?
Is it the shorter format? Is it designed to hook you in with more digestible structures and cliffhangers to keep us coming back? Is TV traditionally less expensive to have access to?
My defense of TV is that there is just more to sink your teeth into. I can feel more for a character I’ve seen for 20 hours than for one I’ve seen for two.
Not that I want to defend it. I kinda wish I were more of a movie guy, hours-wise. I love art, and movies are closer to a form of art. I’m going to at least try to be more conscious of my choices.
Two nights ago, I watched Tell No One, a French murder mystery thriller that turned out to be a real banger, and I was quite happy with my choice. Last night I watched The Outrun, with Saoirse Ronan as a recovering alcoholic on some Scottish isle. Very beautiful. The art was oozing out of it. But truth be told, I was so tired, I could tell my dumb brain wasn’t appreciating it fully. I probably should have just watched some shitty episode of Dutton Ranch and gone to bed.
Yes to Tell No One! One of my favs of that year (https://chadcomello.com/favorite-films-of-2006/).
I’m definitely a movies-first person. Their ability to tell a self-contained story in a limited time is unmatched. I’ve seen my share of TV of course, but nowadays appreciate the trend of mini/limited series, which strike a balance between the two. Also think a lot about what the Coen Brothers said about TV, about how so much of it has “a beginning, a middle, a middle, a middle, a middle, until the whole thing dies of exhaustion.” (https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2023/1/ps9xau4tw5qyhmqdoa45gb9q9lgtiv)
I’m the same way! I watch a fair amount of TV but nearly no movies (unless it’s a social thing).
And I have the same reasoning as you: I want to see a character be challenged and learn and grow over a long period of time, which is something only TV can do.
I like to feel attached the characters I’m following. A movie can do that, but IMO good TV does it better just because of sheer number of hours you spend immersed in its world.
And TV doesn’t have to be bad! So many shows these days are as well-written and well-produced as movies.
I’m the same way about reading. I prefer novel-length works over short fiction. I like to sink into a character’s psyche over 500 pages, rather than see a small slice of their life over 30ish pages.
I’ve tried to get myself to like shorter works, but my brain just doesn’t want to engage with them.
I’ll watch movies if I go to the theater for them, but when I’m at home I’m mostly watching tv shows. It’s sort of hyprocritical, but it is for the time investment. It’s easier for me to justify putting on a tv show when it’s 20 or 40 minutes an episode as opposed to an hour and a half (or more likely 2+ hours for modern movies)… And then binge watch several episodes in one sitting, making it take longer than if I’d chosen a movie.
But when I’m home, I also prefer playing games over watching things. It’s much easier to justify putting on an episode of tv to go with eating dinner, and if I get invested then I can choose to keep watching more, or I can leave it at the one episode and go back to playing games.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think how movies are presented isn’t as tight as tv shows, either. I know it’s not every movie, but there’s a majority nowadays where scenes seem to drag. After a movie that’s over 2 hours is over, I have some nagging thoughts that it could’ve been much shorter without losing any real substance. As I’m getting older, if I’m at risk of falling asleep watching something, it’s going to be from watching a movie.