Embracing the Darkness of Modern TV

We watch comedies to laugh. We watch horror to be scared. Now, we watch TV to be…disturbed? Have you noticed that some of the most popular TV shows feature the most unsettling content that you can dream up? These are dark, gritty series with short but impactful seasons that leave us rattled yet hungry for more.

We have more TV viewing options than ever before. Yet, we gravitate towards the dark stuff. Think of the last TV show that somebody recommended to you. Was it a family-friendly sitcom? A tear-jerking drama? More than likely it’s something like Game of Thrones, The Handmaid’s Tale, or Breaking Bad. And in taking their recommendations or following our own curiosity, we’re embracing the darkness of modern TV.

My TV show binges.

I can’t say that I’m a TV connoisseur, but I’m starting to catch up to modern-day TV viewing with shows like True Detective, Stranger Things, Castle Rock, Fargo, Fuller House, and Mr. Robot. Notice how only one of these shows is a lighthearted sitcom. The rest are pretty heavy.

The two shows that kicked off my TV binge watching phase were Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects. Both shows were heavy hitters at the Emmys the year their first season debuted. They also featured all-star casts and contained interesting premises.

I knew that Sharp Objects was a murder mystery. So, it was bound to be disturbing, and I figured I knew what I was in for. But Big Little Lies caught me off guard. I thought I was going to be watching a show about bickering upper class housewives, but that didn’t even scratch the surface of the multiple layers buried within its plot and characters. That’s when I began to notice how dark themes seem to creep into every new show I’d watched lately.

The evolution of dark TV shows

TV has evolved into a super-powered beast compared to its predecessors. Remember how The Simpsons used to be the edgiest show on TV? Utilizing the advantage of a big budget and often sponsor-free format of streaming and cable services, TV shows can now have the quality and star power of a major motion picture with the serialized, lengthy storytelling room of a traditional series.

As a result, they can create addictive shows about any topic. This allows them to go dark, leaving us with emotions as powerful as a laugh or jump scare but one that is much more lingering and thought-provoking. Not everyone is watching them, but they are popular enough that word spreads. And when late-to-the-game viewers finally do get around to them, they’re hooked as well.

Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects

Both Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects are HBO shows produced by the same creators focused on damaged female characters and a storyline revolving around a mysterious death. Details unfold slowly in a character-driven story that reveals repetitive flashes of confusing images that don’t make sense until the season or series’ final seconds.

Their endings are cathartic and disturbing at the same time. All of these thoughts, feelings, and puzzle pieces swirl in your head. Even days later, you’re still shaking your head at some of it or reliving that moment of shock that you experienced in the big reveal. And when Big Little Lies season 2 premiered, my mom, sister, and I made sure to get access to HBO so that we could watch it live each week. You can read my review of that season here.

A new kind of thrill

Plenty of movies have used disturbing subject matter to draw in audiences, but they only require roughly two hours of your time and not nearly as many details to absorb. But whenever anyone asks you if it’s good, you say, “Absolutely. Go watch it.” But you can’t tell them why it’s good at the risk of spoiling it. All you can do is maybe compare it to a similarly disturbing show that they have seen.

In the meantime, the emotional reaction that these shows bring about is addictive. The shock and disbelief at some of these plot points and intense acting create that roller coaster mentality of “this is scary but safe.”

It’s not the thrill of a horror movie jump scare or the painful endorphin-rush of laughing so hard at a funny joke that you can’t breathe. It’s a lingering confusion followed by a growing disbelief and replaying scenes in your head over and over as if having lived through a real life event. The show stays with you long after you have finished it. It provides escapism and a slow-acting adrenaline rush that distracts from your true life conflicts by focusing on fictional ones.

Disturbing ourselves for fun

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why are we drawn to dark stories? Even when we seek out lighter content, they don’t pack the same punch. It’s why medical shows, detective dramas, and stories about the worst of humanity, such as drug dealers, mobsters, and cannibals, have spiked in popularity. It’s not even about rooting for the hero or against the villain, saving the day, or solving the case. Even if it doesn’t work out, it’s still entertaining, sometimes more so because it defies our expectations.

These shows put our own problems into perspective, making us grateful that we’re only the viewer and not an active participant in this world. It gives us original content that we’ve never seen before, unexpected spins on classic premises. It also allows the creators of this content to use the full spectrum of their imaginations because nothing and no one is off limits.

Will it hold up? Who knows? Maybe audiences will become burned out, and we’ll force ourselves to seek out lighter stories. The creators will follow, testing out new methods to draw in its limited but faithful fans. Until then, they’ll continue to shock us until we’re numb to it, and in the meantime, we’ll keep begging for more.

What are your favorite TV shows? Are they dark and disturbing? Leave your answers and recommendations in the comments!

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