People simply don't make eye contact anymore.
When you do 22 episodes of a network show, it's incredibly useful to have a format that gives you a jumping-off point for a story.
You think you're funny? I think I'm adorable.
Mythologies become exhausting burdens, from a writer's perspective.
I'm kind of a comic book geek, but I'm not really a super hero comic book geek.
Let's be honest, any show will live or die based on how good the characters are, how good the actors are, how complicated the relationships are, how grounded they are and how much heart they have.