TV is starting to resemble the fake shows on 30 Rock

Pajiba

From Fox's Crime Scene Kitchen to Netflix's Is It Cake? to And Just Like That, there are a quite a number of shows these days that can best be described as "Accidental 30 Rock," says Kayleigh Donaldson. "It’s been fascinating to see how Netflix in particular is falling into the Accidental 30 Rock trap," says Donaldson. "The mammoth streaming service was supposed to change the game, to be the subversive force that didn’t play by traditional TV’s rules. It took them only a few years to do the exact same nonsense that network broadcasting does. Their reality slate, from Is it Cake? to The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, reeks of the kind of decision making made by harried executives on a tight budget desperate to fill out the schedule. The supposed benefit of Peak TV is the freedom to not have to appeal to every single demographic at once, but I can’t help but wonder who any of these series are supposed to be for. What audience did Netflix have in mind as being so dedicated to Is it Cake? that they’ll watch all 320 minutes of it? Algorithms don’t dictate all of TV but that mindset feels cruelly inescapable today. A system where the goalposts are endlessly moving and flash-in-the-pan gimmicks matter more than long-term audience commitment will inevitably lead to messier and more inconsequential entertainment."