I like when high concept stuff is explored in a more grounded way. I guess that's my sensibilities. Hyper-reality is just too much for my delicate self to handle. Reality-reality is bad enough. I think it's very clever, but cheap.
On top of that, every show now-a-days seems to have to put in some overt sexual or violent content, if not that it makes a passive attempt at mind fucking you with varying results. We know it's just to generate interest and buzz but it's really to the detriment of it's quality.
I don't mind when those events are consistent with the theme or an exploration of the concept, but modern television and even a lot of modern literature is just a string of interconnected events staking claim to various different aspects of the human experience, picking them up and discarding them at will and then patting it's self on the back for doing so.
We accept this because that more closely mirrors real-life but that's kind of sad isn't it? That all television is just becoming a overly saturated version of the mundane. I think it started with Breaking Bad and has just spiraled out of control from there.
That said should we put stock in people making things for us to that exists to just whittle down the hours towards death? I think so, complaining would be pretty pointless otherwise.
Modern writing is largely trash because no one is writing a cohesive narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. Everything is written with the idea that it will continue to be written forever. Threads must be scattered far and wide to ensure there's always something to pick up, some way to raise the stakes. And then those stakes never get lowered, continuing to spiral off into the blue yonder like a rocket full of robot zombies (PLOT TWIST).
My favorite example is Weeds. The first three seasons are a pretty normal, mostly funny show. Then shit went off the rails and it became garbage instantly. It's actually the show that most informs my contention that if you can't tell the full story of your show in three seasons, then it's a bad show. Obvious exceptions for sitcoms and other episodic shit like Trek, where that's kind of the point. But if you're writing a gritty "realistic" show, end that shit in season 3.
I don't think it has to be 3 seasons as a hard and fast rule but you should absolutely know where it's ending when you start writing it
Worse is when they end up writing a coherent and planned ending to a show but then the network realizes said show prints money like mad, and so they drag it out for something like ten seasons no I'm not thinking of any show in particular why do you ask?
supernatural?
What I really like is television that is semi-serialized. Episodic but every now and again events contribute to a greater narrative. That gets a lot more mileage imo.
I don't think anyone has time to start slow now. Networks will say if you don't grab people in you only get one season then boom, so much for your long-term storytelling.