"On the small screen, 2025 was all about money-the ostentatious peacocking of wealth on shows such as Sirens, And Just Like That, Selling Sunset, and With Love, Meghan; the spiraling production costs of episodes themselves; the politicized wrestling over which megacorporation will take over Warner Bros. Discovery and its TV arms, including HBO. CBS canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, in what seemed to many critics like an obvious sop to the Trump administration, ahead of Paramount's $8 billion merger with the production company Skydance."
"With all of this in mind, the television series we loved most this year exemplified and defended the medium's artistry, demonstrating what can be done with serialized storytelling, ingenuity, and ambition. They leaned into topical flash points and dispensed with bland distraction. During a stretch when so much felt resolutely mid, these shows were anything but. Adolescence opens with a photo of a chubby-cheeked boy posing for a first-day-of-school photo, his hair cowlicked, his face proud."
2025 television emphasized ostentatious displays of wealth across shows and escalating episode production costs alongside high-stakes corporate battles over studios. Major programming moves reflected political pressure and merger-driven decisions: CBS canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert amid merger talks, and ABC briefly pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live, provoking public outrage that erased billions from Disney's market value. Some series defended television as an art form through serialized storytelling, topical focus, and bold technical choices. Adolescence begins with a first-day photo and then uses continuous-shot staging to immerse viewers in the investigation of a 13-year-old accused of murder.
Read at The Atlantic
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