Movies Vs TV Shows

Up until the recently-concluded Breaking Bad, I had always considered movies to be the most enjoyable and overall greater form of visual medium. The higher budgets, finer acting and stellar cinematography from films such as The Dark Knight or Fight Club have always been favoured personally over the episodic content provided by a television programme. But then Breaking Bad completely changed my outlook on things, and made me question whether a cinema release truly is better than a smaller-screen series. 

Let me start by saying I have seen far more movies than I have TV shows. I am yet to watch constantly-praised shows like The Sopranos, or even the more recent Game of Thrones, but I have however seen enough to base an opinion on. Personal favourites of mine from the television-world include: Sherlock, The Walking Dead, The IT Crowd, Doctor Who, Only Fools & Horses, Suits and of course, Breaking Bad. The thing about these programmes however, is that in reality they would be nowhere near as good as they are if they were initially placed onto the big-screen. And why is this? Because of character development. 

Sherlock (BBC)

Yes, it is possible to have solid character development in a movie, especially one made by a well-renowned director such as Christopher Nolan or David Fincher. But does it stand up to that found in a lengthy television series spanning across multiple seasons? In my opinion, no. Imagine if something like Doctor Who was instead a movie. The only possible way to fit all of the required story in to a 2 hour production would be to have several sequels, all released years apart. There is no way that such a release would possibly amass the popularity the programme currently has, showing just how powerful television has become as a way of telling detailed and unique stories.

This does not however mean that all television shows need to be laid out in a weekly, episodic manner. The recently released House of Cards on Netflix starring Kevin Spacey had all of it's episodes released at once, allowing the viewers to choose when and how they watched them. This is a unique example of how flexible television can be, something which simply would not work for films. 

I suppose the real point of this post is simply to illustrate how important Television has become as an entertainment medium. Yes, movies are still being released in increasing quality and to a much larger audience every year, but it is important not to dismiss programmes on TV because of their smaller audience or lower budgets, as occasionally there are rare shows which surpass even the best of the big-screen releases.

Oh, also, watch Breaking Bad.