Fantasy tv is dying. Here's why.
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses the decline of high-budget fantasy TV shows, attributing it to the unrealistic expectations set by Game of Thrones' success. It reviews four major contenders attempting to fill the void left by Game of Thrones: Wheel of Time, The Witcher, Rings of Power, and House of the Dragon. Despite their efforts, none have achieved the same level of acclaim. The script suggests that the era of expensive fantasy TV is fading due to streaming services prioritizing profitability over quality, leading to a shift towards cheaper content production.
Takeaways
- 📺 The script discusses the decline of high-budget fantasy TV shows and the challenges faced by the industry.
- 🔍 It highlights how streaming services are shifting their focus from expensive fantasy productions to more cost-effective content like reality TV.
- 🎭 The script mentions four key contenders that were expected to be the next 'Game of Thrones': 'Wheel of Time', 'The Witcher', 'Rings of Power', and 'House of the Dragon'.
- 📉 'Wheel of Time' had a mixed reception and was criticized for its pacing and budget issues.
- 🚫 'The Witcher' faced fan backlash over adaptation choices and saw its lead actor, Henry Cavill, exit the series.
- 📈 'Rings of Power' had a high production cost but failed to capture a large audience or maintain viewer interest across seasons.
- 🐉 'House of the Dragon' suffered from budget cuts and creative differences, leading to an unfinished feeling in its second season.
- 💸 The script points out that streaming services are no longer profitable and are cutting costs, which impacts the production quality of fantasy shows.
- 📚 It suggests that the era of TV shows based on fantasy novels might be ending, as the business model returns to normal and fantasy is not as welcome.
- 🎨 The narrator expresses a personal love for the fantasy genre and suggests that animation might be a cost-effective way to adapt fantasy novels for the screen.
- 📸 The script ends with a personal note from the narrator about their interest in photography and a promotion for Skillshare.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is the decline of high-budget fantasy TV shows and the challenges faced by the industry in replicating the success of 'Game of Thrones'.
What does the speaker attribute the decline of fantasy TV shows to?
-The speaker attributes the decline to high production costs, streaming service models that are not profitable, and a shift in focus towards cheaper to produce content like reality TV.
Which four fantasy TV shows does the speaker discuss in the script?
-The speaker discusses 'The Wheel of Time', 'The Witcher', 'Rings of Power', and 'House of the Dragon'.
Why does the speaker believe 'Game of Thrones' was so successful?
-The speaker suggests 'Game of Thrones' was successful because it was different and fresh at the time, and it benefited from a unique moment in television history.
What is the 'reality check era' mentioned in the script?
-The 'reality check era' refers to the current state of the streaming industry where streamers are raising prices, increasing ads, and focusing on cheaper content production, leading to a decline in high-budget fantasy TV shows.
What was the budget for the first season of 'Game of Thrones'?
-The budget for the first season of 'Game of Thrones' was about 6 million per episode.
How does the speaker describe the adaptation of 'The Wheel of Time'?
-The speaker describes 'The Wheel of Time' as feeling rushed, looking like a CW show, and having a generally good capture of the book's feel despite some mistakes.
What issue does the speaker have with 'Rings of Power'?
-The speaker criticizes 'Rings of Power' for its lackluster reception, huge lore changes, and a storytelling style that leaves both die-hard fans and casual viewers unsatisfied.
Why did the second season of 'House of the Dragon' face criticism?
-The second season of 'House of the Dragon' faced criticism due to its slow pace, repetitive scenes, plot conveniences, and a lack of forward momentum, making it feel like filler.
What does the speaker suggest as a potential solution for the high costs of fantasy TV production?
-The speaker suggests that animation could be a potential solution for making fantasy TV shows cheaper to produce.
What hobby does the speaker mention they have been exploring?
-The speaker mentions they have been exploring photography as a new hobby.
Outlines
📺 The Decline of Fantasy TV Shows
The paragraph discusses the fall from grace of fantasy TV shows, particularly in the wake of the highly anticipated but ultimately disappointing final season of 'Game of Thrones'. It highlights the 'fantasy boom' that began with the success of 'Game of Thrones' and how networks and streamers sought to replicate this success with shows like 'Wheel of Time', 'The Witcher', 'Rings of Power', and 'House of the Dragon'. The paragraph also touches on the high expectations set by 'Game of Thrones' and the challenges these shows faced in meeting viewer demands, including budget constraints, rushed production, and a shift in the industry towards more profitable, less ambitious content.
📉 The Struggles of Fantasy Adaptations
This paragraph delves into the specific struggles of the fantasy adaptations mentioned, such as 'Wheel of Time', which improved in its second season but was still criticized for its pace and production quality. 'The Witcher' faced fan backlash and lost its lead actor, while 'Rings of Power' suffered from a lack of audience engagement despite its high budget. 'House of the Dragon' saw a decline in viewership and criticism of its pacing and plot conveniences. The paragraph also discusses the broader industry trends, including the streaming service model's shift towards less expensive content and the impact of budget cuts and corporate decisions on the quality and production of these shows.
📸 Exploring New Creative Outlets
The final paragraph shifts focus from the decline of fantasy TV to the speaker's personal exploration of new hobbies, particularly photography. They discuss their enjoyment of Skillshare, a learning platform for creatives, and mention the various classes available for skills like film, illustration, and animation. The speaker encourages viewers to try Skillshare with a free trial offer and thanks their patrons for their support. The paragraph ends on a personal note, wishing viewers happiness and love in their lives.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Fantasy Genre
💡Game of Thrones
💡Streaming Services
💡Budget Cuts
💡IP (Intellectual Property)
💡Viewership
💡Rings of Power
💡House of the Dragon
💡Cancellation
💡Reality Check Era
💡Skillshare
Highlights
The cancellation of the 9th and 10th episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2 is a notable event in the fantasy TV genre.
Shows are being canceled, stars are dropping out, and viewership is plummeting, indicating a shift in the fantasy TV landscape.
The fantasy boom started with the rise of Game of Thrones in 2015, leading to a surge in fantasy genre TV shows.
Streaming services are now hunting for the next big fantasy show after the success of Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones set a high bar for success, not just in quality but also in viewership and cultural impact.
Wheel of Time was an early contender to be the next big fantasy show, with a high budget and beloved source material.
The Witcher had star appeal and a successful video game adaptation, making it a strong contender.
Amazon's Rings of Power was a massive gamble, with a high price tag and the potential to be the next big hit.
House of the Dragon was HBO's attempt to fill the vacuum left by Game of Thrones, with high expectations.
None of the new fantasy shows have reached the heights of Game of Thrones in terms of critical acclaim or popularity.
The decline of high-budget adult fantasy TV is not just due to the genre but also the changing TV industry.
Streaming services are now focusing on cheaper to produce content, affecting the production of high-budget fantasy shows.
The slow pace and lack of forward momentum in House of the Dragon Season 2 led to a feeling of filler content.
George R.R. Martin disavowed the direction of House of the Dragon in a now-deleted blog post.
Budget cuts and strikes have forced shows to reduce episodes, affecting the quality and storytelling.
The future of fantasy on TV may lie in cheaper production methods, such as animation.
The era of high-budget fantasy TV seems to be ending, with a return to more traditional TV business models.
The author's personal interest in photography and the use of Skillshare for learning new creative skills.
Transcripts
hi everyone today you're watching man
carrying fantasy psych it's over it's so
over bro you like your little stories
about kings and queens each other too
bad it's time to eat your government
mandated Netflix True Crime slop what
happened how did we get from this to
this sorry this blank screen is a visual
representation of the n9th and 10th
episodes of H of the Dragon season 2 why
because they don't exist because of
reasons I will get to later in this
video that you're watching uh right
exactly right now shows canceled Stars
dropping out mean words spoken and
viewership plummeting I mean it's hard
to remember that it wasn't always like
this there once was a beautiful moment
in television a moment called 2015 if
you're like me you've been witnessed to
an exciting time in the fantasy genre
they're calling it the fantasy boom with
the unexpected rise of Game of Thrones
TV networks and streamers got wise to
the fact that fantasy is an awesome
genre and that it can work very well in
serialized form but with every boom
comes a bust no I said bust thank you
and while I don't think we're fully at
that point we're defin on our way there
is a culprit here and no it isn't that
Game of Thrones shat the bed in its
final season a season so bad even I know
what happens in it I haven't even
watched the show I just started reading
the books for this month because I'm
addicted to showing up late to parties
point is it's stin and since then
streaming services have been hunting for
the next big fantasy show but not just a
fantasy show oh no no and here's the
first part of the problem Game of
Thrones raised the bar a little too high
not in terms of quality but success
Network Executives instead of looking
for a sustainable long-term solution
wanted the white whale the next Game of
Thrones we had some early contenders um
I'd say roughly uh four but not all of
them could be the chosen one let's go
through them right now on Who Wants to
be the next Game of Thrones contestant
number one in my mind Wheel of Time was
the fantasy fans adaptation beloved
Source material long neglected getting
the high budget Amazon treatment with a
a genuine movie star there's a million
books and it is finished part Lord of
the Rings part Dune and entirely insane
kind of a logical choice for an unmined
IP contestant number two The Witcher had
the star appeel and the Netflix branding
and also went for game of thrones's dark
tone and already had a successful video
game adaptation I always had a sense
that this had the most going for it
contestant number three Amazon's massive
gamble after purchasing the rights to
the Lord of the Rings for something like
a hundred billion trillion trillion
dollars Jeff Bezos was challenging the
gods with a show almost too big to fail
it had to work right I mean it cost the
most but there were promising signs too
like unknown showrunners who were
reportedly toen obsessive to me this was
the riskiest but it had the most
potential contestant number four finally
HBO's answer to the vacuum they created
they had a million George R Martin
stories in the works but this took
precedent this was another gamble in a
way you know betting millions of dollars
that there was still Goodwill toward
this IP that's the question huh so there
they are you know the four contestants
let's see who the winner is the next
Game of Thrones
is I'm drawing this out so much because
you know the answer everyone knows the
answer it was rings of
power just kidding it was none of them
so no fantasy show has reached the
critical and popular Heights of Game of
Thrones but has any show really I mean
that's the thing not to sound like
Debbie Downer but in the year 2024 it's
starting to feel like that era of TV is
Gone Forever part two to understand the
broader death of fantasy TV let's look
back at our contestants and see how they
fared Wheel of Time wasn't the worst
case scenario some people really love it
and it certainly got better in the
second season I have my own opinions if
you've got an hour to spare problem with
dissecting a TV show over something like
a novel is that so many external factors
go into the sex or failure of a project
was it clumsy riding and a rushed Pace
or did Amazon simply demand fewer
episodes and crunch the budget people
underestimate how many useless
Executives just stand around and make
dumb decisions all day yeah Wheel of
Time feels rushed it looks like a CW
Show and huge mistakes were made but it
generally captures the feel of the books
generally then why didn't it reach that
level of Game of Thrones in Zack Baron's
GQ article on the making of the show he
writes for the first season of Thrones
HBO spent about 6 million in episode a
number that steadily climbed from there
Amazon in The Wheel of Time starting at
Upward of a reported 10 million per
episode simply put expectations for
Fantasy have changed this isn't the days
of Merlin anymore the budget is going to
affect actor locations each episode
needs to feel like a movie as a result
we get shorter and shorter Seasons these
are Hefty books and to put even one of
these things into Eight Episodes is
pushing it the result is a rushed Pace
convoluted plotting and characters we
don't have time to care about do you
guys really think they'd give 14 Seasons
to cover this 14 book series I'd be
surprised if we got anything past three
The Witcher is a show I honestly never
cared about I mean I'm happy it has fans
but it seemed like from the start it was
a mixed bag fans of the book were angry
over choices in the adaptation and it
sounds like the angry fans included the
star of the show Henry caval himself who
exited the series under mysterious
circumstances to be replaced by Liam
Hemsworth for the third and fourth
season it seems like the star power
wasn't enough to keep this show popular
I think it had good numbers for sure but
it wasn't water cooler TV which brings
us to rings of powers lackluster
everything only about half as many US
households watched the season 2 premiere
as did the series opener over their
first 3 days of release the first season
cost $715 million and even though the
second season is doing well by Amazon
standards it isn't capturing viewers
attention only 37% of viewers in the US
watched season 1 to completion the fact
that they're losing viewers in season 2
is a bad sign you know I could talk a
lot about why this show doesn't work but
mainly I want to ask who is this for
token fans are horrified by the huge
lore changes and casual fans are bored
to death by the almost Wikipedia style
storytelling Amazon can only adapt stuff
in The Lord of the Rings but everything
in this show is told in more depth in
the sarion a property they don't even
own also Amazon put all their faith into
virtually untested showrunners who
themselves admit that making the show
was a massive learning experience at one
point the showrunners asked mentor and
former boss JJ Abrams to call Amazon to
put in a good word which kind of makes
sense the show suffers incredibly from a
storytelling tactic called the mystery
box which has been been championed by JJ
Abrams over the years basically you give
the audience a mystery to be answered
even if it's something simple and you
run with it doesn't even matter what the
mystery is rings of power has quite a
few mainly is that Sauron is that Sauron
is that Sauron is that saon you you get
the point if you want an extensive
breakdown and a great video about this
show hello future me has the king of
them all let's bring it all back home to
HBO or I guess Max now even though I
never watched Game of Thrones I've
become a huge fan of House of the Dragon
the first season was beautiful and
tragic and Patty Constantine gave the
perform perance of a lifetime it seemed
like it was pretty popular but then
season 2 arrived and the cracks started
to show the slow but steady Pace has
become glacial repetitive scenes plot
conveniences and a lack of forward
momentum made for a season that felt
like filler yeah there were great
moments but by the end it felt like
nothing had meaningfully changed on top
of that George RR Martin disavowed the
direction of the show on a now deleted
blog post so what's going on did the
writers just suddenly lose their talent
or did the corporate people do something
yeah yeah it was the corporate people
Warner Brothers Discovery under the
reign of David zaslav suffering
tremendously and is forced to slash
budgets left and right it's hard
everyone's suffering except David zaslav
himself who made $49 Million last year
because of budget cuts and the actors
and writer strikes the show was forced
to cut the last two episodes which would
have included very climactic battles
this is why the season feels just kind
of unfinished but don't worry we'll get
to see the rest of it very soon in 2026
let's stop for a second and make some
conclusions these four shows have been
interesting case studies to see how an
industry attempts to recreate an anomaly
first you get a well-known IP then you
throw money at it the end the decline of
high budget adult fantasy TV isn't just
because of the fantasy genre it's
because of TV itself the streaming
service model which revolutionized the
industry is now killing it here's the
secret streaming was never profitable it
was propped up by novelty by big Tech's
willingness to destroy yet another
industry with the promise of something
better only to give you a worse version
of what you already had it's like uber
and ride share apps what if we made
taxis but it's just random independent
contractors using their own Vehicles
making next to nothing Uber lost money
in order to destroy an existing business
model similarly streaming destroyed a
profitable business model in order to
make a worse product how many 22 episode
series do you see anymore I mean I could
go on forever about this I made a video
going deeper into this topic already
I'll just say that fantasy is in the
crosshairs in this new era let's call
this era the reality check era in the
reality check streamers are raising
prices increasing ads and focusing on
cheap to produce content such as reality
TV basically it's becoming Network TV
again fantasy never really thrived in
that landscape fantasy as we've come to
expect it is expensive as to
produce if you want movie quality
dragons don't expect much more than six
or eight episodes and if these fantasy
shows aren't bringing Prestige or huge
viewerships then like what's the point
from a business perspective you're
already seeing this attitude shift HBO
forcing their Flagship series to cut two
episodes because of budget is crazy
similarly the witchers ending after its
fourth season if not sooner in the near
future only proven IPS will be gracing
the small screen no matter how needless
and unwanted wanted uh there's no longer
the same money or energy to create
gamechanging fantasy when Game of
Thrones came out it was different and
fresh just like many of the shows of
that Golden Era the business is going
back to normal and fantasy was never
really welcome in that time so what do
we do now I love fantasy as a genre and
I think TV is a perfect way to adapt
fantasy novels which are often long as
hell perhaps we find a way to make
fantasy cheap to make even though
animation isn't particularly cheap it's
cheaper than any of these shows and
seems like an obvious Avenue if my
beloved Stormlight Archive got adapted
as an animated series I would be
happy moral of the story
fantasy it's not your fault I love you
fantasy and if you aren't destined to
stay on the small screen at least we see
you on the big one probably and in books
of course but books are not a visual
medium what is a visual medium
photography and what is my new favorite
hobby photography even though I'm am
only a novice at photography and I am
still the master of transitions in
outdoor photography see shoot and share
the beauty around you by Min te I've
been exploring photography through a
lens I've never seen through enjoying
the word play and it's only one of a
number of great classes I've been
exploring on skillshare skillshare is
the largest Learning Community for
creatives with thousands of classes led
by industry experts across film
illustration design freelance
productivity and more skillshare offers
learning paths which are curated
sequential class collections for
mastering a specific skill there's so
many fun Avenues to take you know
there's categories in film illustration
animation I've been having a fun time
just re-exploring my old Hobbies like
photography and learning a bit more and
just having fun going through the the
catalog the first 500 people people to
use my link in the description will
receive a one- Monon free trial of
skillshare that's a free trial that's
cool get started today don't miss out
thank you for watching everyone I put a
lot of uh effort into these longer
videos so I appreciate um you these are
our loyal patrons many of whom are brand
new now that I started reading Game of
Thrones and vlogging it two bucks for
everything on the patreon anyways just
wanted to say that and thank the patrons
thank you skillshare and thank you the
viewer for being there for me Paris
social I hope you are happy and loved in
your life and have a very lovely day
bye-bye
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