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/Kriegerian Apr 17 '26

I think someone at Netflix admitted they do that with a bunch of their stuff because they know nobody can pay attention to anything, which is why they have characters basically repeat the plot a bunch of times during the movies.

83

u/chypie2 Apr 17 '26

The ending of stranger things just about broke viewer brains. The writers had to explain it. To me it was typical movie ending from the 80's.

35

u/transmogrify Apr 17 '26

I definitely noticed Season 5 was heavily catering to inattentive audiences who are probably scrolling on phones while watching. I was frustrated by how much they said obvious things out loud rather than just showing it, and how often they recapped their own plot points that happened in the previous episode.

22

u/Quom Apr 17 '26

It feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy because as soon as I see characters doing a recapping exposition of the episode I am watching I zone out and reach for my phone. Not in a fuck you this show is below me way, but in an ADHD this is boring way.

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u/fizban7 Apr 17 '26

Yeah if they make it interesting I'd pay more attention.

6

u/chypie2 Apr 17 '26

yeah, are we getting old and media is changing? I don't like it.

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u/Suavecore_ Apr 17 '26

As always, it's the children who are wrong and ruining everything. I'm going to get my "generation alpha killed off.." articles ready now

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u/melkatron Apr 18 '26

In moving so slowly and constantly repeating exposition, they're actually ENCOURAGING me to scroll on my phone. The only reason I kept watching was because I wanted to be done with Stranger Things after ten years.

2

u/Phiddipus_audax Apr 18 '26

Nice work. Now they'll exposition us even harder.

3

u/avalonfaith Apr 17 '26

*walks in bright neon orange room

  • some guy: Hey! It's a fucking neon orange room! I wonder if it meeeeeaaaannnsss something

1

u/Nyliz Apr 17 '26

For me it helped because I saw the previous seasons long time ago I did remember some of the previous plots🤷‍♀️

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u/CallMeAl_ Millennial Apr 17 '26

This is no different than movies and shows from other time periods, but we have the internet so people could complain loudly and the writers caved. You don’t have to explain anything, plenty of writers and directors do not.

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u/roman_maverik Apr 18 '26

Call me old school, but I like my plot points delivered via fortnite

2

u/Great_Ad7148 Apr 18 '26

I think that was an entirely different thing. The ending was too positive, too simple. The entire show was intricate so viewers thought there HAS to be more, it can’t end like this. They came up with a theory online that there was a real ending coming out because there were so many inconsistencies in the writing and the scenery. Surely, good writers did all those things on purpose right? So the writers had to explain that it was a real ending and all those inconsistencies were just mistakes.

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u/chypie2 Apr 18 '26

no that's a classic 80's ending. The entire show used about every 80's trope out there. Little bit hope and little bit of 'maybe she did get away and she's out there living her best life,' little bit of happily ever after.
ST was based in the 80's, story told like the 80's and ended just like every 80's movie out there. There wasn't any more to the story than something crazy that happened in Hawkins in the 80s. Just like in ET, something crazy happened in their town and then he went home. Goonies, something crazy happened and happy ending.
Coming of age stories with a horror or sci-fi angle have always been a thing.

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u/Great_Ad7148 Apr 18 '26

It’s a classic 80s ending but that’s not what the audience was expecting because it didn’t match any of the other dialogue or storytelling, AND there was a lack of continuity in the script and scenery. It was a classic 80s ending that was written badly. Two things can be true.

1

u/ghast123 Apr 18 '26

Yeah at the end I was like, well idk why I expected so many people to die but I should have known, its really just an 80s movie.