The New TV ⇥ lrb.co.uk

James Meek, London Review of Books:

The​ arcs of the New Hollywood and the new TV are alike. The early optimism of Easy Riders fades when it turns out that American auteurs inspired by the French New Wave aren’t the future of popular big-screen entertainment: instead it’s the merch-rich, tech-heavy, super-franchisable kidult melodramas of the Star Wars series, with their exuberant faux-alien decors, portentous dialogue and reliable income stream. Some of the same processes are happening in TV.

And, now, in streaming services which, as Meek writes, are content to drown users in expensive shows that often fail to fulfill their potential. I particularly liked the part of this essay about the era of prestige television shows defined by anti-heroes.