Tag: television

The lost experience of shared TV

On May 21st 2026, CBS aired the last episode of their historical late-night talk show, The Late Show. First hosted by David Letterman from 1993 until 2015, the show was taken over by Stephen Colbert from then until, well, last Thursday.

I didn’t watch this historical moment when it aired. I watched it on YouTube earlier today, because I generally stream TV shows the next day instead of watching them when they’re aired. I have work in the morning, after all. Most of us have work in the morning. About the only thing I watch live anymore is sporting events, because it’s impossible to avoid spoilers for something like that, and watching a game isn’t fun if you know who’s going to win.

(Congratulations, by the way, to the PWHL Victoire on winning their first Walter Cup.)

I know that I’m not alone in this. Most people my age and younger don’t watch anything live. And if you are younger than me, born after the time when live TV was the only option and cable was for rich people, that might be hard to comprehend. To watch anything, you had to be at home in front of your TV at a certain time. If you had to go to the bathroom or grab a snack, you had to do it during the commercial break. There was no rewinding or pausing. If you missed something, you missed it until that episode was rerun or you bought it on VHS or DVD. If someone else in the house wanted to watch a different program on a different channel at the same time, you had to either have two TVs or have a fight.

This change in how people watch television is one excuse CBS gave for cancelling The Late Show. It’s not financially viable anymore, they claim. As though somehow they make less money on streaming ad revenu as on cable ad revenue. Come on with that, CBS, who do you think you’re fooling? We all know why you did this, you wretched cowards.

That being said, streaming television is a different experience from watching programs live. As writers, we owe it to ourselves to understand the shifting mediums in which people consume content and stories. First, let’s look at what we’re losing as live TV watching goes by the wayside.

Watching live TV requires us to be present. Not trying to do two things at once. Not scrolling social media. We had to be there when it was on.

There are issues with that, I know. And we’ll get to those in a moment. But it’s hard not to think back nostalgically about a time when, if we wanted to see our favorite show, we had to stop whatever else we were doing.

We had to stop.

Live TV events brought people together in a way that’s hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it. Yes, I remember where I was on September 11th. I remember where I was when I found out Trump was elected. But I also remember good things!

I remember watching the last episode of Friends with my mom, and 52.5 million other people. I remember watching the first Who Shot MR. Burns episode in May of 1995, and having to wait until September to find out. (Yes, I was watching The Simpsons at age nine. Weren’t you?)

This isn’t unique. Actually, the Friends finale audience is laughably small when compared to the number of people who watched the last episode of M.A.S.H in February of 1983. 121.6 million people tuned in for that. I bet if you ask someone who was around during that time, they’ll tell you about watching it.

These touchstone moments are significant. These are moments when massive amounts of people cared so much about a story, about a fictional world full of fictional characters that people poured their creativity and passion into creating, that they all had to see how it ended.

Imagine writing something that was that significant to that many people. And for those of you who hadn’t experienced this, imagine the significance of experiencing a story that so many other people are experiencing at the same time.

All that being said, I don’t want to be the old woman yelling at clouds here. I am more than aware that streaming content is the default now for a reason. As exciting as it is to experience television as a group, it’s far more accessible for far more people. Life is not so busy that we can’t take an hour to enjoy a good story. But that hour we can take is going to be a different hour for all of us. I can’t stay up until 11:00 to watch American Horror Story on a work night. I can’t plan dinner and chores around TV watching. And, if I might put my feminist hat on for a moment, there’s about half the population that doesn’t have the ability to just stop cooking, taking care of babies, and running a household to watch TV when it’s airing.

Life happens. People get sick, have to work late, get busy, get invited on dates, and go on vacations. Life doesn’t just stop, and in fairness, it shouldn’t. Personally, this is one reason why I consider books to be the superior way to consume stories. I might always have time to sit down and watch a show. But I can usually sneak in some reading time or listen to an audiobook.

Speaking of books, I actually love how advanced storytelling has become on television. I’ve always felt that people who look down on television as a storytelling medium are missing the point. Stories are stories. But, television shows that adhere to traditional airing time constraints run into problems. Stories had to fit neatly into twenty-two or forty-five minutes, give time for commercial breaks, and fit into specific season lengths. Shows had to add filler episodes, bottle episodes, and even clip shows. A great example of this is X-Files. You had ‘moster of the week’ episodes, and storyline episodes. And God help you if you missed a storyline episode. You’d better hope they re-run it, or that a friend was good at remembering details.

But with those constraints taken away, storytelling can fit into the size and space it needs. Consider shows like The Boys or Stranger Things. These shows were designed for streaming platforms. The episode lengths vary based on storytelling needs and not advertisers’ schedules. They also do away with filler episodes. Every episode is essential to the plot. And they can do that because it’s almost impossible to miss an episode.

So what’s the takeaway here? Are we losing more than we’re giving up? Well, as nostalgic as I am, I don’t know that we’re losing more than we’re gaining. I think the more ways we can share stories, the better. And while my nostalgic little Millennial heart might pine for a big TV show experience, I think the ability to fit stories into the little peaceful moments we have through our days is incredibly beneficial. Assuming that everyone can watch TV at the same time is assuming that we all have the same sorts of days. And that’s not true now, nor has it ever been. Streaming content evens out the game. Just because we can’t all play at the same time doesn’t mean we shouldn’t all get a chance to play.

But this is all just my opinion. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Is there a big TV moment you remember? Let us know in the comments.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. You can support us by liking this post, sharing it and commenting. You can also support us on Ko-fi.

0

Adding new characters so people don’t hate them

If you’re writing a series, you’re going to find that your cast changes over time. This makes sense and is realistic in real life. If your MC is learning, growing, and changing then people are going to leave and come to their lives. They might move, go to school, change jobs, or get a new neighbor. Maybe a family member needs to come stay with them for some unexplained reason.

Sometimes this is great. Some fantastic characters have been added later in a series. Using some TV examples because they’re the best known, here are some later added characters I loved.

Patrick from Schitt’s Creek.

Kimmi from Rugrats.

Ben and Chris from Parks and Rec.

Alex from Chuck.

Natalie from Monk.

Chris from 30 Rock

Jessie from Burn Notice.

All of these characters were great additions to their respective shows.

But not all characters added later in a series are great. Some are Godawful. And the examples of that are downright cringy. Think of Dill from Rugrats, Suzie from Space Cases, Scrappy Doo, and the much despised Bobby from Brady Bunch. This horrible addition trend is so well understood, that it was mocked by the Simpsons in their eighth season.

So how do we do it right? How do we add to our cast without creating a Poochie? Well to me, this involves a series of do’s and don’ts.

Do add something to the story that was missing

Most of the characters in my ‘good’ list fall under this rule. Patrick added a straight man (comedic straight) to a pretty zany cast. Kimmi gave Chucky someone who admired him in Rugrats. Alex gave Casey a softer side that he needed in Chuck.

Do you have a character that is a little too silly? Too responsible? Too damn irritating? Give them a character that has the opposite qualities to balance them out. If your story is just a little too dark, add a character that can give levity.

Do give them a believable and sensible reason to be there.

How did this new character join your cast? Did they move? Okay, why did they move?

Kimmi’s a good example of this. She and her mom joined the cast after the Rugrats went to Paris. Her mom was working for the antagonist, fell in love with Chaz, and moved back to the States with him. That makes sense. Well, not in the real world. But in the lovely fictional world in which a school teacher can afford to keep her family in a house in the suburbs.

As a bad example, we can look at Scrappy Doo. Why is he hanging out with his uncle? Why did we never meet his parents? Why doesn’t he ever go home?

It needs to

Do make sure they fit the style and overall theme of the show

We all know that fiction content tends to have a certain vibe. Some shows are warm and cozy, some are more dark. For this example, let’s consider The Good Place with The Boys. In The Good Place, everyone seems to be a little messed up, but essentially decent people.

Compare that to The Boys, where no one seems like an essentially decent person except the two main characters, Hughie and Annie. And even they, if they were plopped into The Good Place, would seem far too dark and messed up to belong there.

So, as much as you’re trying to bring something new and different to your universe, you don’t want them to be so different as to feel like they don’t fit into the world you’ve already created.

Don’t force this character to take up too much space

Now, we’ve reached the don’ts. And this first one is a doozy.

If you’re adding a new character, you don’t want them to necessarily take over as the main character. So they shouldn’t be treated as such. Yes, they should have some storylines. Yes, they should take up space in the world. Yes, they should be important to the plot. But they shouldn’t be the new focus, to the detriment of other characters.

A great example of this done wrong was Rugrats. Dill took over too many of the storylines. Now that there was a baby who needed looked after and cared for by the rest of the cast, every story had to be about him in some way. Before, each episode told a story of one baby, or the assembled cast facing a problem. Now all the problems were about dealing with Dill. Or they were exacerbated by his presence.

Honestly, did Stu and Didi never actually watch their kids?

Don’t take the place of existing characters

This one is a personal issue with me. And it started young. I’m likely dating myself here, but when I was a kid I loved the show Space Cases. It was kind of like Voyager, but with a younger crew. A ship was lost in way outer space, carrying two adults and a group of teens. Scifi hilarity ensued.

My favorite character was Catalina. At the end of season two, she was replaced by her best friend Suzee, who until this moment most of us thought was an imaginary friend.

And I never got over that.

Of course, if you’re writing anything that requires actors, you’re sometimes going to have to replace people. I had a few actors leave my podcast between seasons one and two.

Some of the characters I recast. Some I simply wrote out and didn’t replace. But if you’re writing for TV, you can’t always just replace an actor.

(Yes, sometimes it can be pulled off.)

Then there are examples like Space Cases, or Charmed, where an actor leaves and their position is simply taken over by a new character. And that’s a jarring situation.

If you’re writing a book series, you don’t have to worry about actors leaving. So you do not ever need to shoehorn a new character in to take the place of somebody else. So, you know, don’t do it.

Don’t add a character just because they’re cute

Alright, you all knew this was coming. That’s why I saved it for last. I have some words of revulsion for the Scrappy Doo, Dill Pickles, and Cousin Oliver sort.

We do not need a character added just for the sake of being cute young and new. We don’t need it. If you find yourself writing a new baby, a new puppy, or a new adorable pet sidekick to keep things interesting and fresh, stop right there. Your story doesn’t need it, and it won’t be the saving grace you think it would be. That stunt has worked once and only once, and that was on Sailor Moon.

I hope this post has helped you. And I hope I didn’t trash-talk a character you loved. If I did, please let me know in the comments. And if there’s a later addition character I didn’t reference that you think deserves some love, please let me know about them too.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you love what we do here, please consider supporting the site on Ko-fi.

And don’t forget that Nova, book five of Station 86 starts on Monday! And yes it does have one later series addition, a survivor from Station Central. See you then.

0

A WordPress.com Website.

Up ↑