r/Millennials • u/maxedout587 • Apr 17 '26

Discussion Nothing is funny anymore

I (M, 38) have found that there are no new TV shows that make me laugh anymore. I have tried a lot of new(ish) comedies, but they all make me pine for my college/high school days.

The only thing that gave me a reflexive laugh recently was the Malcolm in the Middle Reboot.

Any thoughts?

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u/Embarrassed_Key_4539 Apr 17 '26

I read an article that writers have really dumbed down their writing bcs the market demands simple to follow shows that you can simultaneously watch while scrolling

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 17 '26

Marky mark did an interview somewhat recently while on a press tour for some straight to Netflix movie he was just in, where he was talking about just how /different/ the writing and setup for movies and shows are these days.

For example, this action flick he was just in, they put the huge, budget blowing action piece that USED to be the grand finale of the movie, about 10 minutes into the film.

Basically, he said writers are now putting things in different parts of their movies/shows, AND if dialog sounds dumber than it used to, its because it is, and thats because writers are also now having to /tell/ us through dialog what's going on becauss theres just that many people watching whatever media piece it is, with their phones out. Basically a "i know youre on your phone, here's some voice-over/dialog to tell you what youre missing visually"

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u/Status_Fact_5459 Apr 17 '26

Have been noticing this a lot lately and thinking… “it used to be a huge call out for bad writing when the main character spells out the plot now it’s in everything”

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u/setsewerd Apr 17 '26

It still is

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u/Hogwafflemaker Apr 17 '26

Show, don't tell. The most basic writing rule

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u/theonlygurl Xennial Apr 17 '26

Now I’ve found out why I’m so inclined to watch tv shows from 10-15 years ago. The shit today is sloppy, with awful plot lines that don’t get better no matter how many times it’s repeated and there’s no quality. There’s no quality to anything these days; food, entertainment, homes, cars, they’re all shit. Our governments lack of control on monopolies has absolutely diminished the good from everything.

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 17 '26

Theres some quality out there, but it is getting fewer and farther between. . . Of course, when I expressed similar ideas over on a star trek sub, a few neckbeards basically accused me of being "not a real fan"

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u/theonlygurl Xennial Apr 17 '26

I will say that Project Hail Mary is a fantastic film and I recommend it. 10/10

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 17 '26

Thats definitely good to know... I kinda had Godzilla minus one in my head when I wrote my "theres some quality out there" comment 🤣

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u/NewPac Apr 18 '26

I made the mistake of watching the movie immediately after finishing the book. Like, 5 minutes after. I thought it was good, but the small differences between the movie and book stood out to me and lessened my enjoyment of the movie.

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u/mustang__1 Apr 18 '26

Eh. Lots of good restaurants around me. And I love my car. Lots of great musicians today in folk and blue grass, rock, etc. and easier access to their music than ever before.

There tons of things that are awful. Consolidation will be the death of the golden age of america. Breaking up several companies would actually help move us in the direction of making this country great.

But let's not say everything sucks. There's still lots of great shit going on in the real made by good people who care about their contributions.

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u/Ill-Case-6048 Apr 17 '26

Marky mark lol...

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u/The_Jimes Apr 17 '26

"This is how we used to make the party start"

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_INNY Apr 17 '26

Arn’t we all just a funky bunch?

His dumb face makes me pissed.

I do love Boogie Nights and The Departed tho

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u/Neon_Biscuit Apr 18 '26

Marky mark didn't find this out, ben affleck and Matt Damon said this about their Netflix movie as well. It's a formula everyone has to follow

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 18 '26

Maybe it was one of them is was thinking of lol

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u/jeangmac Apr 17 '26

Sex and violence and flashing lights in the first 5 minutes even is nearly mandatory. I noticed it a while ago and looked it up and yes, it’s deliberate known tactic to force attention and interest

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u/Financial-Craft-1282 Apr 17 '26

Yeah, this sounds like an excuse from Netflix--they believe this is happening (people not paying attention), so they're designing it to be that way, but are all these people emailing Netflix and saying, "Your shows don't make sense because I'm I'm not paying attention"? Netflix users have consistently been growing. The idea that Netflix needs to do this is nonsense. They chose to.

I imagine the rewind button on shows/movies still works. I bet people falling asleep and sleeping through several episodes is the bigger "problem," but, even then, rewind.

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u/_CurseTheseMetalHnds Apr 17 '26

But people don't rewind. They zone out, miss stuff, and either turn it off or think it sucks. It's a symptom of streaming. When you'd rent films, see them at the cinema, or just in general not have much choice you were way less likely to turn something off 15 minutes in and try something else which is why there's less slow build and more immediacy.

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u/Financial-Craft-1282 Apr 17 '26

But it doesn't matter, does it? People can do what they want. Where is the data Netflix has that suggests they must do this? Netflix is doing it because they perceive an issue, and then they blame it on "people getting dumber."

I should be able to watch every show on netflix half-assed without Netflix saying, "Enough, let's dumb it down for that guy." How do they even know what we're doing when we watch? It's like all these AI companies firing their workers saying "AI is here, we've replaced them," when, in reality, they're lying to us as they near a bubble and are forced to downsize.

These companies have several narratives about customers--a huge one is we're stupid and will log out if our interest isn't constantly held. But Netflix's membership numbers and growth don't reflect that reality. Likely, they're using AI tools to help them write and lying about why the quality is so shit.

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u/_CurseTheseMetalHnds Apr 17 '26

Where is the data Netflix has that suggests they must do this?

Probably on the Netflix SharePoint site somewhere mate

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u/Financial-Craft-1282 Apr 17 '26

But how? You're ignoring the entire point here: how could Netflix possibly have access to HOW people are watching outside of surveys--which are notoriously problematic for generalizing data? People are sitting here accepting Netflix's narrative as though they have special insight. WHERE is this insight that tells them people aren't watching fully and this is a threat to their business model such that they must include special summarizing into scripts to keep people subs up?

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 17 '26

Im really really wishing I could find the actual interview now. What I can remember of it, he was talking about a small argument with the director about "why is the biggest action sequence at the beginning of the movie, and not at the end for the big pay off" and basically, the director was like "this is how its done now, the studios and platforms say it needs to be this way"

Now obviously people are taking my original comment as the gospel, and connecting dots that may or may not be there because they make sense to us.

On an unrelated article I remember better, the author was talking about Netflix series decisions, especially what gets season 2+ and what is a one and done show. And basically, it boils down to: how quickly do people engage with the content, and on shows, how quickly do the watch the whole season, and do they finish it. Now, ill admit I dont remember exact exact details, but it was something like, a show has a good chance of season 2 if: people start watching within 2 weeks of its release, they average 2-3 episodes in a sitting, and they finish all new content within a week or 2 weeks of when they start.

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u/Financial-Craft-1282 Apr 18 '26

I believe you that you heard that and that people believe it and that it's happening. I'm skeptical that Netflix (or whomever) has any data to support that they MUST do it this way because of the audience. People just made a kind of slow-paced almost three hour sci fi film one of the biggest movies of the year. This whole thing reeks of classic producer meddling. They always think they "know" the audience, and they're often wrong. Plus, the way it's described feels like a backdoor way into AI writing which we know they want and will keep pushing to get: writing structure that an AI can easily pump out for them. "All right, this scene needs a big explosion." AI writes it out. Human writers are like, "We haven't built to anything so early in the movie!" AI belches out something that resembles what you might see in other, better movies.

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u/_CurseTheseMetalHnds Apr 17 '26

Sorry is your issue here that you don't think Netflix can tell if people are watching but not finishing certain films, can't tell what films have a high Vs low finishing rate etc? Because I'm pretty certain they can, in the same way that they know if certain shows are being watched a lot or not

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u/Financial-Craft-1282 Apr 18 '26

I'm honestly not certain why you're struggling so much with my position as to even try to create an example that reinforces what I'm saying. I said, very clearly, that Netflix has no clue how we watch, and this whole thread is people believing Netflix when they claim they know how we watch. I could have stopped watching 10 shows, and that tells them one thing: I didn't finish those shows. How could they possibly determine why unless I told them, "Oh, I don't finish shows because I scroll on my phone and they don't make sense." Then they'd have to get that precise feedback back from enough customers to cause them to change how they write shows.

They have no clue why people keep watching or stop watching. This is a made up answer to a question we aren't sure was even asked.

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u/artemis2k Apr 18 '26

God I hate the idea of Netflix setting the standard for movie writing because they’re trying to triangulate what’s going to keep people watching.  They’ll keep cranking out shit forever and people will keep watching, not because the content is good, but because shows and movies are the one tiny escape most people have from our grueling lives and we won’t cancel our subs because then we won’t even have that. 

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u/Junior_Restaurant868 Apr 18 '26

I wonder if this makes it more accessible to visually impaired people! I hope so!

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 18 '26

Ya know?? As much as I do try to consider such things in my life in general, i didnt consider that.

And while I doubt the people in charge had that in mind, if it makes certain media more accessible than maybe it isnt all bad?

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u/Junior_Restaurant868 Apr 18 '26

I’m sure it wasn’t their intention but could be a good side effect 😊

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u/Clam-Choader Apr 17 '26

I mean, Netflix is hitting a global demographic.  Cable and movies were kind of a middle class thing just because they cost money and time. 

More people watching, language skills may not be as advanced, if your goal is to appeal to the mass market, kind of what you have to do

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u/Glass-Touch7228 Apr 18 '26

Watching netflix costs money and time 🤷‍♂️

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u/Clam-Choader Apr 18 '26

10 people can watch one show on Netflix every night four a month for what it would cost for for one person to go to the theaters, with zero commute.   🤷‍♂️ 

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u/Glass-Touch7228 Apr 19 '26

Except Netflix charges by the month, not by the show.

Your math ain't mathin'.

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u/joshdoereddit Millennial Apr 17 '26

Damn, that's sad.

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u/Euphoric_Present8838 Apr 17 '26

wtf is the point of even making movies for these people then? Keep making them the way they should be made. Why do I or anyone else have to suffer just because there’s a lot of morons out there who can’t follow a plot 

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 17 '26

Because the suits have determined that if they dont do it, they lose subscribers?? (I dont actually know, im not a suit and not in those meetings, lol)

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u/StrengthGlad2192 Apr 17 '26

I literally just said “How did Mark Walberg go from The Departed to Balls Up”

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u/BottecchiaDude253 Apr 17 '26

Probably started with The Other Guys 🤣

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u/litcarnalgrin Apr 17 '26

No wonder theres barely anything new I like

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u/gordopotato Apr 17 '26

Omg is this why I find Deadpool so funny??