It was Ardal O'Hanlon who provided the voice of reason.
For an actor who came to prominence playing the iconic, loveable gombeen that is Dougal from Father Ted, the Monaghan native made made a lot of sense when I interviewed him recently.
"There’s too much mediocre stuff being made, and even the really good stuff will often tread water for a number of episodes," he said. "Even the very best series; there’s too many episodes, the episodes are too long, and there’s invariably two or three episodes that tread water."
O’Hanlon singled out Game of Thrones as a prime example. "I watched the first three series, and I really enjoyed them," he said. "And after that, I thought 'There’s far too many characters here, I cannot possibly keep in touch with all of this’. And it starts sprawling and spreading out, and you’re following maybe fifteen different stories in an episode… it was impossible."
There are certain shows that still stand up as consistent, including The Sopranos, The Wire and Deadwood - "but," he added rather ruefully, "I think it’s fair to say that we have passed peak TV."
It’s a somewhat controversial opinion, perhaps, particularly given the fact that the sheer breadth of TV options available to us today is a very different proposition to what most of us grew up with. Streaming services have revolutionised television so categorically that it is now more popular than film, in terms of subscriptions vs. box office sales.
"There's too much mediocre stuff being made, and even the really good stuff will often tread water for a number of episodes"
Yet even so, I found myself nodding in agreement with him like one of those solar-powered dashboard dogs. We may have more choice than ever before, but the quality is not always up to par - and where is the consistency?
O’Hanlon is correct in saying that so many series nowadays are bloated affairs. How many times has a series started out with a couple of incredible episodes that draw you in, only to sag horribly in the middle?
Even The Studio, Apple TV’s latest big offering with Seth Rogen playing the hapless head of a fictional Hollywood studio, has proven erratic. Its first two episodes were promising; the third was middling, and by the fourth, it had descended into unintentional farce.
I’ve had to drag myself across the line of more than one series in recent years, including Shogun (three episodes too long), the last season of True Detective (ditto) and even Baby Reindeer, which could have done with a snip here and there.
Then there are others that I really liked but never bothered to finish because their iron-clad grip gradually loosened over the course of a few middling mid-season episodes. Hacks, Beef, Masters of the Air… it’s not me, it’s you.
Of course, attention spans are a whole other problem. The recently-aired third season of The White Lotus was a masterclass in the slow-build, getting to know each character and their story, and seeing how they ultimately intertwined and converged.
Okay, so the ending was arguably anticlimactic, but the journey was a pleasure - something that its creator Mike White has excelled at with each season. But no, all we heard was whinging: "It’s too slow! It’s too boring!"
Even White himself responded to the discourse, saying "If you don’t want to go to bed with me, then get out of my bed. I’m edging you! Enjoy the edging. If you don’t want to be edged, then get out of my bed." Indeed. In a world of dumbed-down instant-gratification Harlen Coben adaptations, we all need to be more White Lotus.
It might sound contradictory to complain of one series being too long and praising another for a slow-and-steady build, but there’s a fine balance to be struck. Have we passed peak TV? It may be too soon to tell, but let’s just say you won’t find me skipping an episode of The Sopranos anytime soon.
