Be honest with yourself, has their ever been a TV show that matches the artistic merit of a film...

Be honest with yourself, has their ever been a TV show that matches the artistic merit of a film, rather than being simple entertainment?

...

Isn't The Decalogue technically a TV show?

There's anime shows like that, but I don't really know about live action. I'm sure there are some, but the format in the US doesn't lend itself to movie-like productions. Shows have historically been episodic or mostly episodic, they go on for years, and it's not something where you're likely to get a clear artistic vision backed up by good filmmaking and production values. They aren't even really led by directors, but by writers. Japanese live action shows have very limited length (9-12 episodes), which is good, but the filmmaking and production values are even lower than in the US and the stories lack ambition.

That isn't a real thing. All means is that it's something liked by the master's of their craft. It's irrelevant.

Oh, I just remembered: what about Twin Peaks? I haven't seen it but it seems to be highly regarded.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Be honest with yourself, has there ever been a film that didn't rush through the story in order to fit it into 2 hours?

I'd say Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I would also add Stargate Universe hello haters :^) because of the way they approached the concept of space, something contemplative, maybe phylosophical. It had something to do with certain characters and the way it was filmed. It was really different from what I've seen on the previous shows and on TV in general.

You're the only other person other than myself to have this opinion. It's honestly one of my favorite shows of all time. So sad that it was one of the victims of the stupid writers strike. That and Heroes had unlimited potential and the strike just killed their momentum.

I forgot to add Deadwood and Carnivàle. 2 other shows that didn't feel like I was watching TV.


TSCC had a great quality of writing. It's one of the few shows (with BSG and SGU some characters on SGU were poorly written, I know but that's not the point I want to make) that allowed me to question myself on various topics after each episode (you know "if I were in this situation blablabla", "did he/she make the good decision?" that kind of thing). These shows felt bigger than what I'm used to see on screen (tv, movie, whatever).

The writers strike affected a lot of shows, sadly. If it didn't stop, BSG for example could have ended at the episode 10 of the 4th season when they find a previous Earth destroyed by the cylons it was written as a possible ending (you can see it by the actors' performance).

TSCC had the writers strike againt it and it was on Fox.

FUCKING RECTIFY, YOU PLEBS!!!

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Twin Peaks (not even widescreen)
True Detective Season 1
The Sopranos
Young Indiana Jones

prolly some hbo tv kino

Anime is likely op's best bet, that is if he can stand weebshit. There tends to be more "artistical" series within the medium. Of course, a majority of anime are made from the ground up to be products.

For recommendations, anything by Yoshitoshi Abe. And probably the only Holla Forums approved anime; Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I really recommend Serial Experiments Lain from Abe. Each individual vignette tends to mean something, and are usually visually dynamic from one another.

RECTIFY

WATCH TI YOU PLEBS!!!!!!!!!

I hope they release a trailer soon. The remake is supposed to be out next year.

The majority of them are adaptations commissioned by someone, and even an original work isn't necessarily the director's own idea. These things don't tell us anything about the work's artistic merits or intent, and people pay too much attention to the imagined circumstances of a work's creation rather than the work itself.

Fargo

True, being an adaption isn't indicative to being devoid of artistic merit, but there's so many light novel adaptions that are glorified advertisements to boost sales. Although, usually in these cases the material wasn't worth the heart and soul of a director anyway. I see you point though. Even under those circumstance you should judge the actual show, rather than the circumstances of its creation

The answer is no.

There's some quality TV no doubt but they all use padded soap opera techniques to draw it out.