Chris Coyier wrote a lovely post about why people watch TV instead of movies, in which he observed:

Paraphrasing from what I remember, it’s that TV’s incentives are to make the most of it, not to make the best art possible, which is more aligned with movies. I’d think the budget and talent also favor movies (on average and per-minute).

So why the imbalance in the other direction for me, and maybe a lot of you?

I am more of a movies guy than a TV guy, basically for the reasons Chris stated. But I also watch a fair bit of TV, especially on weeknights. I have thought about this question a lot over the years. 

I think there are two reasons people choose TV shows over movies, beyond general FOMO and pop culture:

  1. Lack of time. 60 minutes isn’t enough for a movie, but you can squeeze in an episode of Ted Lasso or Mad Men or The West Wing, no problem. 
  2. Intertia.

Watching a movie requires making a series of choices.

First, pick watching a movie over a TV show. 

Second, which movie? (How much time do you have? What are you in the mood for? If you’re not alone, does your partner/​friend/​child want to watch this with you? )

And then, if you haven’t answered this question already: where is streaming? (Do you have that service? Can you rent it elsewhere? Where you can watch this movie?)

All those choices are made only once with a TV show. Once you pick the show, you just settle in with inertia. You don’t need to pick a new show every night. If you start Mad Men, you could easily spend a month of evenings watching nothing but that show without expending another ounce of energy on those choices. 

Choosing movies requires, in my opinion, an almost heroic level of energy. It’s not a wonder most people pick TV.