Named four reasons that make us watch TV shows, even low ones

I eat sweets. And, as you might guess, I watch series. So I have reason not to respect myself very much. And I try not to admit these weaknesses to some of my acquaintances. However, we will not discuss food addictions today. Let’s think better: what makes us watch TV shows that sometimes discredit a person even in their own eyes? I’ll try to list the reasons.

The first reason is habit. It would seem that serial addiction is a new thing. A commonplace was the assertion that the Soviet people saw the first TV series in their life, Slave Izaura, in late 1988 – early 1989. In a sense, this is certainly true. Perestroika gave us many fresh impressions, including a meeting with the so-called soap opera.

However, one should not forget that the genre of a multi-part television film was perfectly familiar to the Soviet person. For example, in my childhood life, the British 26-episode Forsyte Saga played an important role. It was shown on TV in 1971, and I, as a six-year-old, hated this TV show because the adult members of the family stuck to the screen every night, spellbound, instead of playing with me and reading me fairy tales. Is it any wonder that a persistent dislike of the Forsyte Saga persisted in me for many years and extended to Galsworthy’s novel, which I could never bring myself to read.

And just two years later, it was my turn to run headlong to the TV so as not to be late for the beginning of the series – we watched Seventeen Moments of Spring all over the country. As a sophomore, I didn’t really understand what was happening on the screen, but I will never forget how my hands and feet went cold from fear for the radio operator Kat, who was hiding with two babies on the stairs of the sewer hatch.

Then there was a mini-series (that is, for the time being, of course, just a four-episode film) “For the rest of my life”, the song from which – in today’s terms, the soundtrack – sounded relentlessly in my head and made both me, a ten-year-old, and my grandmother secretly sob already celebrating its 65th anniversary.

In high school, I watched five episodes of the truly brilliant film The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed, and eleven of the equally brilliant The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and seven of the more modest but touching Long Road in the Dunes. And when, if not the whole country, then certainly a significant part of the women, with tears in their eyes, followed the fate of the Latvian beauty Marta, we had to wait a little more than five years for the adventures of the Brazilian beauty Izaura.

So we certainly had a habit of serials, despite their modest number and thanks to their excellent quality.

The second reason is immersion. It is this circumstance that explains, as it seems to me, the “Santa Barbara effect”, when the viewer, knowing full well the price of a low-grade series, continues to watch it. It’s just that after a certain number of series (and the number can go into hundreds!) Even the most stupid plot moves cease to irritate, because you get used to the characters as if they were family. It seems that what is happening on the screen is sheer absurdity, but how not to look at least with one eye into a world where everyone has long been their own! Moreover, this paradoxical attachment gives another interesting effect – a feeling of unity with everyone who is “in the know”, who remembers the names of numerous wives and (perfect aerobatics!) Children of the protagonist and rejoices with you when one of the “good” , who fell into a coma 30 episodes ago, finally comes out of it.

The third reason is the slow pace. It would seem that this should turn away. Indeed, in general, modern reality is characterized by just high speeds. We move quickly in space, communicate quickly by phone or e-mail, quickly find any kind of information on the Internet. We have little opportunity to slow down. And every evening watching a multi-part film is our invaluable chance.

And comprehensibility is closely related to slowness. Not all series are simple in content. Among them are quite intricate science fiction with some intricate time travel, and ingenious detective stories, and family sagas with a huge number of complexly interacting characters. But in all these cases, the seriality allows even the viewer who is not the fastest of mind to gradually understand what is happening. To delve into something that he definitely would not have been able to overcome in one and a half to two hours of an ordinary film.

In general, the series, especially not of the highest quality, is able to deliver a specific pleasure to the audience: it can be scolded for a long time and with taste, it is so easy to laugh at it! Note: with the release of each subsequent serial film on a historical theme, the inhabitants of social networks indulge in a malicious discussion of the mistakes made by the screenwriter, costume designer and props. Moreover, these mistakes are actually guaranteed to us, because the series, in which events develop slowly, is removed just quickly. The money spent must be repaid – there is no time for a meticulous check of every detail. So we are provided with the opportunity to feel smart and educated against the backdrop of the series – like a local beauty next to an unattractive girlfriend. It is clear that neither Bergman nor Tarkovsky give us such opportunities, rather the opposite. So we “jam” the misunderstanding of film masterpieces by watching understandable and easily ridiculed series.

The fourth reason is a wonderful world. No, the circumstances in which the serial characters live are not at all ideal. Quite the contrary, especially in cheap housewife dramas. There, literally everything is thrown at one heroine: treason, abduction, serious illnesses, and so on and so forth. Nevertheless, the viewer, perhaps without noticing it, constantly envies her in small things. For example, if she or her lover drives up to the house (office, train station, restaurant) by car, the parking space is always free. I understand, of course, that it would not be interesting for anyone to watch for 15–20 minutes how the heroes cut circles around the microdistrict in search of at least some kind of parking gap. But it’s still funny.

And one more feature of the marvelous serial world – here everyone has an abyss of free time. People are not burdened with cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, utility bills, meeting relatives at the airport. They, relatively speaking, “think one thought”, are engaged in some specific issue, without being distracted by many others. Maybe that’s why it’s so pleasant, dozing, to follow their monotonous and hectic life?

Of course, the quality of the series both varied and varies – from the conditional “Meeting Point” to the conditional “Santa Barbara”. Recently it occurred to me that this television production could be assigned stars, as is done in the hotel business. Five stars (impeccable comfort, you don’t want to leave): a captivating yet intelligent story, excellent directing and camera work, convincing acting, lively, witty dialogues, location shooting, thoughtful details. Then four, three and, finally, two stars (conveniences at the end of the corridor, an evil woman at the reception): a vulgar, predictable plot, the exchange of colorless remarks, not a shadow of a smile, frankly pavilion shooting with creaky scenery, a mandatory set of stamps – from those substituted in the maternity hospital children to defeat the talkative villain, who, before destroying the goodies, explains in detail to them all his plans.

And another interesting sign of a low-profile series is the bad performance of the actors who play secondary roles. Funding is apparently running out on them, they are being recruited on a leftover basis, so there is no point in trying. If sometimes well-known artists who perform their functions at least professionally are invited to the main roles even in television stories for housewives, then any neighbors, passers-by, hospital nurses, salesmen and taxi drivers are portrayed by some completely random personalities, as if they had just run away from the studio, where they acted as extras on a talk show on the topic “who is whose illegitimate son.” Their antics are so depressing that they can alienate even the undemanding viewer. Or not? It is possible that he agreed with himself in advance on a condescending attitude towards such pseudo-actor exercises.

Why are we still so attached to the serial format? Is it because real human life is a very, very long series, not without lengthiness, repetitions, clichés, boring dialogues and ridiculous situations? Yes, of course, the villains that come across to us on the path of life most often do not walk with distorted faces and do bad deeds without lengthy prefaces. Yes, there is again nowhere to park near the house, and a tap is flowing in the apartment, and you should not yearn for your beloved who has left, but urgently call a plumber and collect water with a rag before he arrives. Yes, for some reason I never managed to wake up with perfect makeup and flawless hair, as is often the case with TV heroines. But in general, it’s still reliable. Everything seems to be happening very, very slowly, and then suddenly it’s time for the last episode. It’s just a pity that in life you don’t have to count on a second season.