New movies or shows have always been something to look forward to. They have always been a way to bond with my family and a way to relax after a long day. Recently though, that little guilty pleasure has been ripped away and replaced with mostly sub par movies, and all of the good shows keep getting cancelled in the second season, leaving me on a cliffhanger.  

Even with the writers’ strike ending on Sept. 27, 2023, Hollywood still hasn’t gotten out of the habit of making movies that have little to no storyline, copy-paste characters and zero character development. 

While before you could almost guarantee at least one good movie a year, now all you can guarantee is a political agenda so heavily set in that it erases any storyline. The political agenda isn’t even the problem, though; there have been so many good movies with some agenda behind them. Even if we don’t agree with what the agenda is, we can still appreciate the writing.  

Even if there is a new show that – against all odds – has good writing, the streaming service it is on often cancels it after the second or third season. A perfect example of this is the Netflix original
“Shadow and Bone.” 

I myself am a big fan of fantasy and suspense, so naturally “Shadow and Bone” popped up on my recommendation list when I was sifting through all the shows on Netflix. By the second episode, I was hooked. There were compelling characters and a clearly well thought out world. After waiting a year and a half for the second season, it ended on a cliffhanger.  

Naturally, I immediately looked up when the next season would come out. To my surprise, it had been cancelled. Even a year later, I am still bitter. Netflix doesn’t seem to understand that as humans we crave stories as an escape and as a way to help process the world around us. 

I just hope that the new movies coming out in 2024 are better than what has been released thus far.