If a legendary movie maker criticizes a TV show, does it make it an expert opinion or a biased opinion?
Quentin Tarantino is an all-time filmmaker (and actor), responsible for bring such great films as Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Bastards, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood to the silver screen. His selection for certain projects is admirable, and if the 61-year-old has been telling the truth about retiring after making 10 films, he’s only got one more to go.
Even if he steps away from movie making altogether after his next project, Tarantino will still go down as one of the best directors to ever do it. It’s also likely that his opinion and vision will always be sought after, and in a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Tarantino was asked to compare movies and modern day television.
The American filmmaker first conceded that – as you’ve probably overheard at the water-cooler – TV is pretty damn good nowadays:
“Everyone talks about how great television is now. It’s pretty good, I’ve got to say. But it’s still television to me. And what’s the difference between television and a good movie? Because a lot of the television now has the patina of a movie. They’re using cinematic language to get you caught up in it.”
Tarantino clarified that he was talking about “good shows,” and when you say that, it brings to mind programs like Breaking Bad, The Wire, Succession, The Sopranos, and whatever other series that are often thrown around in the “best ever” conversation. Quentin basically described them as “shows people are compelled to watch,” and admitted that there are often compelling shows, but none that reach the level of a movie.
He ended up using Taylor Sheridan’s hit western drama as an example in his argument:
“I’ll use Yellowstone. I didn’t really get around to watching Yellowstone the first three years or so, and then I watched the first season and I went, ‘Wow this is f**king great. I’ve always been a big Kevin Costner fan. He’s wonderful in this.’ I got really caught up in the show and all of the sudden I’m having a good time and I’ve got a couple of seasons I haven’t seen so I’m watching it.
In the first season, I’m like, ‘This is like a big movie.’ So I end up watching three seasons of it, and I watch that 1883 (spinoff) and say, ‘Oh this is a good western show.’ Then, after I’ve watched two of three seasons or one season of 1883… while I’m watching it, I’m compelled. But at the end of the day, it’s just a soap opera.”
The respected director backed up his point of view by pointing out that once you get to know the characters, the back stories and all of their connection points… it just turns into a repetitive, soap-opera-like program. Tarantino also suggested that TV shows – comparative to movies – are generally forgettable.
He wishes that more TV shows had bigger climaxes like the limited run time call for in movies:
“You don’t remember it five years from now. You are caught up in the minutia of the moment. The difference is I’ll see a good western movie and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. I’ll remember this scene or that scene and it built to an emotional climax of some degree…
There’s not a payoff on this (TV) stuff. There’s just more inter-connectional drama. And while I’m watching it, that’s good enough. But when it’s over, I couldn’t tell you (what happened). I can remember who the bad guy was in the first season of Yellowstone. But I don’t remember any of the details of it, and I don’t remember any of the bad guys for season two or season three.”
Quentin Tarantino went on to say that TV, in his opinion, could more easily reach the level of cinema if they were to work towards “drop the mic” moments at the end of their seasons – rather than just setting it up for the next season. And I know he might be spitting out some hot takes, but I have to agree with him on that. Then again, a TV show is naturally trying to keep people watching, and if you wrapped up a season in a nice little bow at the end, people might decide to abandon ship and never come back.
Perhaps a anthologies and mini-series like Band Of Brothers, Chernobyl, True Detective, and even Taylor Sheridan’s own Yellowstone prequel 1883, are the happy medium?
There’s a delicate balance to it all really, and Tarantino talks more about that in the interview clip linked below:
