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What died with GOT was a singular, high quality show dominating pop culture, but there’s been spectacular shows since. Better Call Saul, Mr Robot, Dark, Queen’s Gambit are all post S5 of Game of Thrones, and in terms of ongoing shows, there’s Arcane, which is an artistic masterpiece that has no right to be based on League of Legends, there’s also Severance, Andor, two new Star Trek shows that are actually respectful of the source material, The Last of Us, 1883…
I’d argue TV is only getting better (although maybe the recent writer’s strike will put a stop to it). But the point was that we peaked in the 20th century, so even GoT disproves the argument despite only being good until 2014.
That’s a matter of personal taste then. Baldur’s Gate 3 is an incredible work and calling it “niche” would make that word meaningless given that it was the #1 best selling game on Steam on launch and won numerous high profile awards.
Sounds like a “vibecession” of art rather than any real artistic decline. Maybe you’re also just suffering from nostalgia?
Or maybe one of the problems is the death of a mainstream media culture, which I agree had its last major hurrah with Game of Thrones. There’s no single “hot new show” anymore, there’s a ton of shows with a few incredible ones amidst a sea of trash, and you can’t rely on what’s #1 to tell you what’s good or bad.
O_o Honestly that statement seems indefensible to me, there is very little original material and so much of what we get pales in comparison to the source. You listed twelve shows, out of them a grand total of two were not based on pre-existing ip. And in my opinion, very few of them even understand the concept of respecting the source material, they are just varying levels of cargo culting what came before, because they are produced by creatively bankrupt corporations rlhfing every show into the same hr designed slop.
Edit: hyperbole toned down
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Dark was meh, and I'm having a hard time believing that the girl-power fake bio-flic was "spectacular". The other ones I admittedly didn't watch, but how many things do I have to try and say they aren't any good before I'm allowed to say they're not making good things anymore.
I think we had someone geeking out over Arcane over here, so I can grant that one, I heard Andor and some of the latest Treks were good, but this was after a series of disappointments, so I'm not sure how high the bar is. The rest I hardly heard anyone talk about at all
I agree it's not niche, but nothing I heard of it would classify it as incredible. It seems on par with all the other Forgotten Realms RPGs that came out over the last couple decades?
I don't know... The TV show was made in 2014, the books it's based on started in the 90's and themselves have been declining after the turn of the millennium, and it doesn't look like they will ever be finished.
Not really, I prefer the unfamiliar to the familiar, and the constant attempts to cash in on nostalgia is what turned me off from modern culture to begin with. Even when I watch old stuff, most of it is from before my time.
Maybe. I'm hardly one for longing to be part of the mainstream, but I do feel somewhat disturbed by the utter lack of excitement in normie culture. Can't help the feeling that it marks some form of cultural decline, even if there is good art still being produced.
Its much much better than anything else FR the last two decades at least. Its a great and expansive game with overall mediocre/serviceable Larian writing (but this time with a few stand out moments that actually are good).
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S'all opinions, but nearly all the new Trek stuff is awful to varying degrees. Strange New Worlds may the best of the bunch (not saying much) by virtue of not being a nihilistic, mean-spirited mess, but you get the impression the writers would rather be penning Buffy. I'm not dead set against a musical Trek episode, but when you have your Klingons mimicing KPop instead of Klingon Opera - without even the presence of Q to justify the absurdities - it's just a lollygag.
If you have any fondness for TNG, S3 of Picard is surprisingly decent, and probably the best sendoff for the cast under these current conditions. But even so, it feels more noteworthy as an impressive salvage operation given what came before. It's also bittersweet seeing the flame flickering on the candle again, knowing it's soon to be buried in turds as if to apologize for being decent for one single season.
Also, spoiler for the ending dilemma if you'd like a little thematic titillation: The youth of the Federation has been infiltrated and brainwashed by an alien enemy to destroy it from within. Space Boomers need to save the day.
Gotta say I found this pretty bold in today's age where media goes great lengths to kiss younger generations' asses, and I'm surprised I've barely even seen it discussed! There's no moment where the plucky young cadet winkingly upstages the Enterprise crew, thank fucking God.
What do you think about Lower decks?
I'll admit to not seeing it outside the occasional clip, so maybe you'd like to put an asterisk there! But it's not my cup of tea from the outset. I liked it at the time, but I'm over Rick & Morty zaniness and yelling and have been for a while. I've also become very picky about animation in general, and the 'popular default' look of the show kills my interest.
I think there was also a cartoon/live-action crossover with SNW? Ehh... It has this obsession with winking self-reference that undercuts the whole thing for me.
I think a lot of these attempts to course-correct after DIS and PIC are just doing the obvious "make it more positive and fun!" pivot, but still not understanding that the appeal is more than that? That's all well and good, but what I miss the most is the professionalism and maturity. This is one of my favorite scenes from TNG, because I think it encapsulates the thoughtfulness and quiet dignity that Trek embodies to me when at its best. Two fully grown adults have a legitimate disagreement, they talk through it diplomatically, when it's resolved you know they're both fully back on the same team, and it's over within 3 minutes instead of dragged out for the whole episode (or a season, god forbid). I try to think how a modern writer would play this out and all the excessive drama or sentimentality they'd load it with.
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In the case of Severance, that's legitimately a shame. It's really, really good. Arcane likewise was unbelievably fantastic.
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