Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ famously omits graphic violence. You never see the bad guy stab anyone – though it’s heavily implied. Some say that this accounts for the impact of the film. The most thrilling parts are left to the viewer’s imagination. And a person’s imagination can be pretty terrifying. The delight of the unseen was especially appropriate at a time of 13 inch televisions and black-and-white movies. If the graphics on the screen couldn’t carry the movie, then the graphics in a person’s mind would do the trick.

Fast forward to ‘Burn Notice’. I don’t watch this show, but my in-laws do. They have a huge TV with a super high resolution. The TV has a diagonal span that almost surpasses my height. I’m short, but not that short. This is a big TV.  I’ve only seen Burn Notice at their house. It strikes me as poorly acted, poorly written, and self-serious to the point of absurdity. I keep expecting that self-referential nod to the open secret that the show is ridiculous, but it never comes. It’s a bad show. From all that I can see in high definition, there’s nothing worth seeing.

What is so good that I watch? Although I’m seven years late, I’ve recently been watching Marvel’s Luke Cage. Being a superhero show, some of the standards are lowered. The script is weak at times, the acting is OK, and the plot has some credibility holes. But the point of the show is to explore a world in which superheroes exist, and one of them happens to live in Harlem. Luke Cage is part of the earlier Marvel cadre of post-acquisition-by-Disney shows that also includes Iron Fist, Daredevil, & Jessica Jones. These shows are less tongue-in-cheek and comedic than the later shows like Loki, Wandavision, or Moon Knight. I enjoy watching Luke Cage on a small 40 inch television, and occasionally on my phone.  

Then I stayed at an Airbnb last weekend that had a HUGE TV. This thing easily had a diagonal measure that surpassed my height. After getting the kids down and answering emails, I sat down to enjoy my current go-to show before hitting the hay. And dang it if I wasn’t distracted the entire time. On this massive screen I could see every pore on everyone’s face and every blank stare parading as acting. I could see each and every glare of poor lighting and every character’s ill-timed reply and change of expression.  Most of the show is one big charade.

Much to my dismay, I had discovered that I was watching ‘bad tv’. Let me be clear. I’m not supposed to watch bad tv. That’s the realm of those other people. But me? I have enlightened preferences and a refined pallet. I’m not a person who watches bad tv. But that grandiose self-conception has been dashed by this serendipitous visit to a nice Airbnb.

I’ve had some time to dwell on my new revelation and this is what I’ve settled on. First, I’m going to keep watching Luke Cage on my small TV and I’m going to enjoy it. There is little that I can do now about the nagging knowledge that, given a higher resolution, it’s not a good show. You can’t unknow things. Second, maybe Burn Notice isn’t a bad show. Maybe it’s just a bad show when I can see too much detail, such as on my in-law’s TV. Maybe I would enjoy it on a TV with lower resolution. Regardless, I’m not going to watch it.

Third, now I have a new margin of preference over shows and movies. Now I consider whether a show or movie would be helped or hurt by more visual detail. Quick-paced, big-budget action shows like Jack Ryan are probably better in greater detail. Game of Thrones is probably better as a 4k experience. But shows in which the comedy or the drama unfolds by virtue of the circumstances, rather than the visual spectacle, are probably best watched at a lower resolution. When the audience experience hinges on implications and connections that occur in the viewer’s mind, that’s probably a better show at a lower resolution. Luke Cage is a ‘good’ show in low-res. In high-res, I’m afraid that see too much.

When Hitchcock omitted visual detail, he leaned on the mind’s eye to fill in the gaps. He was guiding the brain toward conjuring the unnerving scenes that he could not as easily mimic on screen. Advances in home entertainment have moved the goalpost. A more detailed viewing experience changes the type of shows that we are willing to watch because we have a new criteria for fitness. The supply side response on the part of studios is that shows lacking visual stimulation will need to lean more on the mind’s eye and our interpretations of social interactions in order to for audiences to experience the best version of the show. Because the best version won’t be in front of us. We know too much.