What They Shoulda Written Was... a screenwriting blog

TV has changed, y'all.

Which is good. Mostly.

And there's sooo much of it. And a lot of it is incredibly niche. Which is also mostly good. The idea, if not always the execution, anyway.

And I wanna talk about it all. For instance, in my chosen genre of comedy, writers and showrunners have abandoned the classic sitcom set-up/punchline structure in favor of more serialized, novelistic storytelling. As a result, we’ve seen some of the most groundbreaking scenes, writing, and performances in television history. But this new golden age has come at a cost: it’s made us all into professional nitpickers. It’s so easy to get lost in the details - what happened to that character? What was the point of that season? Why didn’t they just do this instead? - that we forget to sit back and enjoy what we’re watching. Many memorable shows are remembered for how they ended and their endings often left viewers disappointed. I'm staring burning holes into the back of your head Game Of Thrones. I know you're not a comedy, but still.

I'm guilty, y'all. Guilty of nitpicking as a viewer but especially as a screenwriter. But I'm not ALL about the nitpicking observations. I'm also into the enduring joys, the "what the fuck was that" groans, and the "Aww, that gave me all the feels" moments I experience while watching movies and TV shows. I'll mostly focus on TV comedy, but I will occasionally delve into whatever teen disco drama, docu-horror, game show porn, animated telenovela, or German expressionism sitcom I'm watching on a given week. I don't think any of those are actual genres, but you get my meaning. Because I saw what they wrote, but what they shoulda written was ...