rant · moment 1 of 19
TV Writing Gone Hollow: Ozark, Better Call Saul, and NYPD Blue
from Kump Joins Team 10 · #78
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minTim and Ray riff on modern TV shows relying on shock twists and hollow deus ex machina moments instead of earned plotting, comparing Ozark and House of Cards unfavorably to The Shield and old-school procedurals like NYPD Blue and Homicide.
- 0:43Tim says modern TV is hollow, picking only a few good episodes from recent seasons.
- 1:13Writers resort to deus ex machina, doing things that have no connection to the plot.
- 1:33The gun-in-the-first-act rule—if you introduce it, use it by the third—is basic storytelling that modern shows ignore.
- 1:57Great shows function like magicians where you can't figure out the trick; bad ones like House of Cards and Ozark are still watchable but hollow.
- 2:20The Shield pioneered the modern formula: start with a problem and solve it over a season, with writers literally boxing themselves in then figuring their way out.
- 2:46Every show now feels assembled from flashcards, designed just to reach that cliffhanger moment at the end of each episode.
- 3:09Most TV pads the middle with filler—only the last five minutes and the first five of the next episode matter.
- 3:24Ozark's example: the daughter drowns in the lake for no reason and nearly dies, but it's never addressed afterward.
- 3:47These random moments are tricks meant to keep you riveted, but there's no actual meaning behind them.
- 3:57Shows like NYPD Blue and The Americans avoided this trap and didn't rely on hollow spectacle.
- 4:08Better Call Saul presumably distinguished itself from the Ozark template.