Developing From a Negative

The Rewatch II

Last week I wrote on the topic of how I gauge the quality of a television show and that is by their rewatch value. Some may believe that Game of Thrones (GoT) was a creative revolution in television but since the questionable final seasons I personally have had no desire to even watch the well-crafted early seasons. The rewatch value of GoT tanked the overall quality of the show and any accomplishments they may have achieved over the years pale in the fact that it is virtually unwatchable.

I am revisiting this topic because I restarted three television shows since I wrote my last column and I found that to be ironic. First, I restarted the mint television show Better Call Saul (BCS) in preparation for the fifth season that is airing later this month on AMC. There is not a single episode of this show that requires skipping.

The Orville was another show that I powered through in my free time this past week. The fact that there are only two seasons of this show helps with speedy rewatches. Plus, there are a couple episodes within both seasons that should have spent more time in the writer’s room and can be skipped without the overall integrity of the show changing.

Then to supplement the BCS episodes, since I finished The Orville, I restarted The Office Ladies podcast in conjunction with rewatching The Office despite the podcast only having fifteen episodes released at the time of this printing.

This podcast is the meta of rewatching a show. Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, who portrayed Pam Beesly and Angela Martin on The Office respectively, rewatch an episode a week and then review it, share trivia, and give an inside view to the filming process of this groundbreaking show. I cannot get enough of it.

In an era of television show renaissance, the fact that this podcast and The Office are resonating with the next generation of television watchers proves that audiences will return to quality storytelling over the latest stale prime time hit.