why movies suck The slow decline of the boxoffice is not due to piracy but to a dearth of good movies. TV shows are much more compelling nowadays, with good reason. They span much longer than the typical 1.5-2.5 hours movie. Most good writers will actually plan out the story arcs, rather than say "Ok 3 hot women and a bunch of CG effects. Go film this."

#1 at Amazon: Lost DVD! w00t. My favorite show.

TV shows can suffer through the occasional bad episode. At worst you've only wasted one hour of your life. If we are talking about the killer shows like Lost, Sopranos - even the bad episodes are never completely unredeemable. Characterization in movies nowadays are a joke, especially from the major studies. Lots of flawed contrived storylines with stereotypical setups and jokes (aka the "meet cute").

Some of the resurgence also has to do with entire TV seasons being released on DVD.
1) we get to watch the entire season without any commercial interruptions and our own leisure.
2) no more suffering while waiting for a resolution to last week's cliffhanger.
3) Even if the show isn't getting the best ratings, the creator can still try to create the best work possible and hope to recoup some $$ on the DVDs.

That being said, the movie experience can't be beat for surefire hits. The occasional movie that captivates me for 2 hours deserves my $7 bucks at the movies (ahem Batman Begins).  ¶ 11:49 PM