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    Jameela Jamil explains how TV shows are intentionally created and dumbed down so you can watch them in the background.
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    Jameela Jamil explains how TV shows are intentionally created and dumbed down so you can watch them in the background.


    Jameela Jamil explains how TV shows are intentionally created and dumbed down so you can watch them in the background.



    Posted by FlyGloomy1

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    24 Comments

    1. Lokaji on

      I have heard that this is a major directive from Netflix.

      My favorite shows from this past year are shows that you have to pay attention to. (Andor and Task.) There is definitely a place for mindless tv you don’t have to pay attention to, like reality tv, but I do not think everything needs to be explicitly explained.

    2. Impressive_Sun_8428 on

      TV is getting stupider?! šŸ˜±

      Hallmark Channel called, they’d like a word.

    3. iamHBY on

      It was definitely depressing seeing the phenomenon of second screen movies on streaming services being broken awhile back, in terms of making movies for people that only really have a movie on in the background while they’re on their phone.

    4. YunJingyi on

      Well, I guess that explains how ABC’s “High Potential” is a “great show” when is just trivia with a plot.

    5. arbadak on

      I’m not saying this isn’t happening but it’s hard to judge this claim without examples, because I don’t feel like I’m seeing movies or shows like this, personally.

    6. PrSquid on

      Ive noticed this a lot. 80s and 90s movies are a lot harder to follow if you’re on your phone. One show I really liked recently was Primal. Its almost impossible to watch while on your phone because there’s no dialogue

    7. Inpleinsite on

      This makes so much sense. I watched a silent horror film from the early 1900s, and I struggled getting through it. The internet has killed our attention span for quick dopamine hits.

    8. Holiday-Hustle on

      100%, itā€™s wild. I donā€™t watch much network TV but my mom came over to help with my kids and when I came downstairs after putting them to bed, she was watching Ghosts.

      Like every fourth line, they would narrate back what just happened. Something like, ā€œWow! So and so did this and now they need to do this!ā€ And I was likeā€¦ yeah, we just watched that happen. It happened multiple times and I was like I gotta turn this off. Itā€™s clearly meant for people who are on their phone with the tv on.

    9. texasjkids on

      I love movie theater and then coming home to talk about the movie I just watched with people online. I’ve noticed over the years that every time god awful discourse starts about a movie it’s because the movie just got added to streaming. People watch these movies while scrolling on their phones at home, not giving the movie the attention it deserves so they miss key points, and then go online to complain about how they didn’t like it.

    12. Cube_ on

      I think this might also be why Severance got so popular because it’s the polar opposite of second screen viewing so maybe it was refreshing to the audience that you had to pay close attention and that the plot was complex and mysterious.

    17. Prince_Jellyfish on

      I’m a tv writer, who has spent most of my career working on big shows for US broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox).

      My experience is limited to just me and my friends.

      In my current job, I frequently get notes directly from a big studio and also from the network itself.

      For what it’s worth, here’s my experience:

      * Nobody has ever told me to simplify a story or dumb it down.
      * Executives DO often say things like “we’re worried this element is confusing — can we make it clearer?” or “I think we need to state this out loud.” Sometimes what they think is “confusing” is, to me, not that confusing. I can usually decide to take or ignore their notes at my prerogative (within reason)
      * I DON’T think this is new or has gotten significantly worse in the last few years. Early in my career I used to get the same notes, and the execs would say (paraphrasing) “let’s state this more clearly for the people folding laundry”
      * In general, I like to say that Movies are Silent Movies with Sound, TV is Radio With Pictures. In TV, we cary story in dialogue a lot more than they do in features/movies and that’s ok.

      Overall I bet that SOME writers have heard this from SOME executives. (For whatever biased reason, this seems like the kind of note a Netflix executive might give–they’re notoriously data obsessed and frequently annoying.) But it’s not something I really experience frequently.

      **TL;DR** there’s a bit of truth to this, but in my opinion it’s definitely gone through a Jameela Jamil filter and cranked up to 11.

    18. PrudentBell5751 on

      This is why I loved succession so fucking much, just scratches your brain in a way these other shows dont šŸ˜©

    20. bishamonten10 on

      I’m not sure how widespread this is but it’s definitely been something that’s talked about with Netflix shows.

      Arcane S1 was absolutely top tier but S2 spent a good amount of time on songs with lyrics that were very on the nose. It felt like filler and very pointless at some points.

    22. CharlesArlington on

      I dont think this means society is lazy or distracted, it just means people want to relax when the watch TV. I watch TV when iā€™ve been working all day and want to take some time to relax.

    23. Reasonable-Affect139 on

      tbf, this is how I’ve always felt about the US basic cable channel TV shows, or made-for-tv movies.

      they are *very* simple and *very* spelled out and predictable

      and to be extra fair, a majority of people are overworked, so in their limited downtime, they need to multi task with shopping, emails, paying bills, etc, all online.

      but it is gross that writers are forced to pander to this, especially when studios barely take on any unique or new story ideas, as is

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