is the golden era of TV over?

[wasted]

It all started with Sopranos and ended with Dexter and Breaking Bad with an honorable mention to Kenny Powers.

Do you think we'll look back and think those were the best shows?

[Broskirose]

Nah dude, it's still going strong. True Detective, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead (kidding!)

[wasted]

Nah dude, it's still going strong. True Detective, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead (kidding!)

True Detective might have been the end. The last episode of that show ruined television forever.

Edited September 12, 2014 by wasted

[Nulla Lex Ink.]

Breaking Bad and Eastbound & Down? Sure, I think we'll look back and consider them the best. Dexter will never be the best though, and it never would have been.

I don't think the "golden age" is over with though. A lot of shows are coming to an end around the same time, but that doesn't necessarily indicate the era is singing its swan song just yet. Something better or matching in quality will come along, for sure, and arguably some "golden era" shows are still going on and will be for the foreseeable future.

[Broskirose]

Yeah the ending was a bit off. I feel like it was almost intentionally horrible. Like they tried to make it bad to confuse the fuck out of everyone. The scene with Marty in the hospital bed with his family was just so fucking weird. The music, everything. And the villain is just some asshole who mows lawns?

And then the end where Rust becomes religious. Faaaaaaaaaaail.

The other 7 episodes were fucking solid though.

[Izzy_Stradlin_XX]

Nah, it ain't like music. People will always like the same tv shows because there's about three general genres that they go for when doing a show, and they always succeed in being cool and bring something fresh and new. I do have to say that it's been a long time since a really really good show has appeared. I think it's all been going downhill since Scrubs ended.

[Broskirose]

I think it's all been going downhill since Scrubs ended.

lol

[wasted]

Breaking Bad and Eastbound & Down? Sure, I think we'll look back and consider them the best. Dexter will never be the best though, and it never would have been.

I don't think the "golden age" is over with though. A lot of shows are coming to an end around the same time, but that doesn't necessarily indicate the era is singing its swan song just yet. Something better or matching in quality will come along, for sure, and arguably some "golden era" shows are still going on and will be for the foreseeable future.

They aren't my favorite shows. Well, Kenny is bigger than baseball. I liked Southland and The Killing. The Wire. But Sopranos is the best. It's the show that built HBO I guess. There will always be shows but maybe not ones considered as actually being good.

[estrangedtwat]

I think TV is better than movies now.

Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, True Detective, Breaking Bad, etc etc.

And comedy too, like Eastbound & Down, It's Always Sunny, Key & Peele, etc.

I don't think it's over...there's still lots of good stuff on. But it's awesome to enjoy this little renaissance. Shorter seasons are key. Less filler episodes means better overall series.

Check out "You're The Worst" on FXX....I thought it would suck, but I actually really like it....it's clever. It's improved with each episode.

Dexter was great for two seasons....then the Trinity killer. The rest of it sucked so much ass.

[wasted]

Yeah the ending was a bit off. I feel like it was almost intentionally horrible. Like they tried to make it bad to confuse the fuck out of everyone. The scene with Marty in the hospital bed with his family was just so fucking weird. The music, everything. And the villain is just some asshole who mows lawns?

And then the end where Rust becomes religious. Faaaaaaaaaaail.

The other 7 episodes were fucking solid though.

It had 5 endings. They could have stopped at any time before that last ep before they went cheesy horror sit com ending. Actually it had a Lethal Weapon ending. Riggs and that guy who was black before Samuel L Jackson always ended up in wheel chairs shooting the shit. They ruined television with episode!

[Bono]

I'll probably get crucified for this but I think the Golden era of tv ended the moment FRIENDS ended. Since then times have changed. People don't gather around the tv together the way they once did to watch weekly shows. They watch it on netflix and stuff like that, and with the advent of pvr people record tv shows so much more now than they ever did, and these days people wait for entire seasons to come out on blue ray or dvd. And also now with so many different channels and genre specific channels its changed. When you have so many options the common bond that people have through tv isn't the same anymore either. There's a lot of great shows still being made and in fact the tv shows are even better than movies these days in some cases and that's cool but in terms of the Golden Era of TV, it's over. It was fading out before FRIENDS ended but that was kind of the closure of that whole tv shows being real events not only as a series finales but as a weekly thing. I understand people still tune in in droves for certain shows but it's not the same.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Bono

[wasted]

I'm not sure when Friends ended, but I'd buy that, maybe Sopranos went on and ended a similar time? Then there was these HBO shows which have been great. The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones maybe but it's starting to not be as great. So the golden era is ending. Not saying TV will end, I watch Devious Maids with abandon. Now we into the Netflix Age. Which isn't as great as HBO was…their best stuff is an old show they stole off another company and revamped it. but I really think mygnr will probably end like Seinfleld. Everyone will be rounded up and there will be a court case and they say we are all pieces of shit and the worst of humanity. MyGNR - Seinfled to Kenny Powers. We watched a lot of shit on tv.

[Bono]

I'm not sure when Friends ended, but I'd buy that, maybe Sopranos went on and ended a similar time? Then there was these HBO shows which have been great. The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones maybe but it's starting to not be as great. So the golden era is ending. Not saying TV will end, I watch Devious Maids with abandon. Now we into the Netflix Age. Which isn't as great as HBO was…their best stuff is an old show they stole off another company and revamped it. but I really think mygnr will probably end like Seinfleld. Everyone will be rounded up and there will be a court case and they say we are all pieces of shit and the worst of humanity. MyGNR - Seinfled to Kenny Powers. We watched a lot of shit on tv.

Friends ended in 2004 I believe. The internet was still fairly new too so people actually had to watch the shows when they were on back then. they didn't get spoilers or online recaps or anything like that. It was just a different time. No facebook or twitter. Nobody live tweeted shows. Even cell phones were different so texting was all relatively new and people actually got together to watch shows. Also after Friends was done Thursday nights were no longer the Must See TV on NBC, by this time the TGIF run of family friendly shows was pretty much over, there was no longer the whole Saturday morning cartoons thing etc etc etc. Friends ending just seemed to signify the end of an era in TV for so many different reasons.

[AtariLegend]

Dexter wasn't part of some era of golden television. It was a show that ran too long and only a few good seasons. More than than half of it's seasons were garbage.

[estrangedtwat]

Friends ended in 2004 I believe. The internet was still fairly new too

Christ. Where do you live that the internet was new to you in 2004....fucking Zimbabwe?

[Bono]

Friends ended in 2004 I believe. The internet was still fairly new too

Christ. Where do you live that the internet was new to you in 2004....fucking Zimbabwe?

I didn't say it was new. I said it was still fairly new in the sense there was no facebook or twitter and there as no such thing as netflix. The internet then compared to now was still incredibly basic. I've been posting on this site since 2001 so I'm well aware the internet wasn't brand fucking new in 2004. Try to keep in in context of the entire post and not cheery pick one line and take it out of context.

[wasted]

I don't think I even watched Sopranos in order. It was always on TV so you pieced it together. I actually bought all Friends in a box set and watched them back to back. That was epic.

[Black Sabbath]

I made a similar thread sometime about about "Have all the timeless movies already been made?" I came to realize that that really wasn't the case. Time has to pass by for a movie to be looked at as "timeless". Though, I do believe there are a lot less of those nowadays that we'll look at 20 years from now and call a "classic".

As for TV, somewhat of the same thing. There are still great shows being made. It might have started with those shows you listed, but it definitely didn't end with them. Game of Thrones is one of the biggest runners to probably take the next "timeless/classic" show title after it's over, if that's the way you're looking at it, at least.

[CheapJon]

Absolutely not.

Dexter should never be mentioned as one of the greats though. Can't believe how shitty it got, really only had 2 great seasons out of 8.

Fargo and Gomorra are 2 excellent series that premiered this year. I'd mention True Detective in that group as well if not for the last episode. The Knick has a chance to get in that group.

Silicone Valley and Rick and Morty are the best comedy series since Eastbound & Down's first season. Workaholics is hilariious more often than not. South Park while in declining quality still produces some great episodes each season.

Then there's Mad Men ,Game of Thrones, Hell on Wheels, Homeland still going strong.

To a lesser degree Banshee, The Newsroom, Lilyhammer, Luther, Vikings, Orange is the new Black, Shameless, probably forgets a couple of shows and some that I haven't seen yet.

The golden era of TV (series) is here to stay.

Edited September 12, 2014 by CheapJon

[Lithium]

I remember people used to say the golden age was over when The Sopranos ended. Then, along came Breaking Bad. As people have already mentioned, Fargo and True Detective are both shows with a lot of potential.

[ThomasMeadow]

In the last decade I no bullshit have only watched Game of Thrones and The Office (only when Carell was on it.)

I honestly can't stand TV anymore. There are always too many fucking ads I lose attention.

I agree with Bono though about Friends. That does seem like the "last" family/sitcom. At least it was the last show I sat and watched with my family anyway. The "HBO" era was great too. However, lets be honest, THe sapranos was a great show, but there were a LOT of shit eps along with that show.

The 90s had a lot of great shows thats for sure.

[Rovim]

I don't think I even watched Sopranos in order. It was always on TV so you pieced it together. I actually bought all Friends in a box set and watched them back to back. That was epic.

You didn't like Deadwood? I thought it was brilliant. Watched The Sopranos like 10 times. It had it's flaws, but I didn't care. I like Mad Men, loved Fargo. Nah, still some cool stuff imo. Many good shows to get into. Even House Of Cards is a lot of fun.

[wasted]

I made a similar thread sometime about about "Have all the timeless movies already been made?" I came to realize that that really wasn't the case. Time has to pass by for a movie to be looked at as "timeless". Though, I do believe there are a lot less of those nowadays that we'll look at 20 years from now and call a "classic".

As for TV, somewhat of the same thing. There are still great shows being made. It might have started with those shows you listed, but it definitely didn't end with them. Game of Thrones is one of the biggest runners to probably take the next "timeless/classic" show title after it's over, if that's the way you're looking at it, at least.

GOT is a show from the Golden era say. Maybe True Detective was the new format. Then we will bundled out of car into a ditch. Budgets are dropping so lavish productions not happen. More shows are getting cancelled. I think this might be the start of the descent.

I don't think I even watched Sopranos in order. It was always on TV so you pieced it together. I actually bought all Friends in a box set and watched them back to back. That was epic.

You didn't like Deadwood? I thought it was brilliant. Watched The Sopranos like 10 times. It had it's flaws, but I didn't care. I like Mad Men, loved Fargo. Nah, still some cool stuff imo. Many good shows to get into. Even House Of Cards is a lot of fun.

There are still good ones but are they as good as Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Mad Men. I like Fargo and Cards but not sure these shows as big as Mad Men. Christians Hendricks made fat girls hot. This show has weight. Breaking Bad as like a following. TD might be the same and GOT. It feels like it will drop off that's all.

[DieselDaisy]

I am not even aware that there has been a, golden age. If I had to select an age it would be the 70s or the 80s.

[wasted]

Sopranos is often cited as the best tv show ever. Then a lot of shows have followed just as good, maybe better. There hasn't been an era with as many high calibre shows. In some cases they are better than what movies are coming out.