Hand-wringing over what constitutes the difference been movies and TV shows has become commonplace in the streaming era. (Some, led by Martin Scorsese, have even begun arguing over what films constitute cinema — but that’s a whole other conversation.)
This parsing tends to be meaningless at best. It usually represents anxiety over a changing marketplace, one in which Scorsese’s 3.5-hour epic “The Irishman” only appears in a few theaters and movies primarily found on streaming services are competing for Academy Awards.
Despite these tiresome arguments, the distinction between movies and television has always seemed obvious. For one, movies tell a self-contained story (at least, they did before the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and television tells a story over multiple installments. But, of course, that’s not what most people are actually debating. They’re generally discussing the quality of production, storytelling and acting. The better a TV show is in this regard, the more likely it is to be referred to as a multi-episode “movie.”
Though many have come close, no show has really achieved a level of quality that fits that designation. No show until, perhaps, “The Mandalorian.”