ashleybrooke

Oh, I need to rematch Lost sometime soon! The Constant was really always my favorite episode–just perfectly structured, romantic, wonderful sci-fi that was really the heart of Lost in its later seasons.

Television has never been about the individual, though. I’m not sure what you’re imagining, but television has petty much always been about ratings and mass viewership. The internet and the increase in channels and well-made content is fracturing the audience, dividing the savvy, internet-using audience and the traditional, CBS-leaning audience on the other hand. Buzz does not automatically generate success; Community just got canned, all kinds of garbage sitcoms nobody talks about online live on.

I would also disagree with your premise that Dawson’s Creek and Six Feet Under were subtle; rather, they were episodic. They were slow on character development not because they were invested in honesty, but because they aired during a time when it was still important for episodes of a television series to maintain viewers who might watch sporadically rather than weekly. Dawson’s Creek thrived on melodrama that went nowhere and meant nothing to fill episodes; the melodramatic elements of, say, Breaking Bad, always further the central narrative. Episodic series aren’t automatically bad, but I wouldn’t say they are more subtle or character-driven than serial shows.

It might have been interesting to hear a bit about pride; the characters of Mad Men have quite the surplus of it, and it causes all kind of conflict in the series.

It seems you missed an important element of Jane’s death. Walt doesn’t just happen to be there when Jane starts choking. He knocks her onto her back when he ties to wake Jesse, and this is what causes her to start choking. Indeed, Walt is directly responsible for Jane’s death. Does this change your thesis at all?