The Math on Movies (And why they add up to being superior to TV)

By: Matthew Barnett, Photography Coordinator at NBCUniversal

Do you value your time?

In the golden age of television, I prefer movies. And here’s why you should too.

Since 2016, I’ve watched 840 films. (Don’t ask me my favorite. But it’s Interstellar.) That’s almost 70 full days spent watching movies.

So why have I allowed myself all that time on the couch? It’s simple. Movies give me the most bang for my buck—the ‘bang’ referring to stories and the ‘buck’ referring to time. 

When do we get the most emotional satisfaction? At the conclusion of a story. Of course, we enjoy the smiles, tears, and laughs along the way, but if we’re honest, the most gratifying part is when our favorite couples finally get together, or when the case is solved, or when our favorite characters blossom into who they’re destined to become. We crave the ending, the emotional ribbon that ties the package so neatly. 

Unfortunately, it’s only when we come to the end that the journey becomes significant. The two are inextricably connected. Without the journey, the ending means nothing, and without the end, the journey holds no weight. 

That’s a lot of talk about emotion. Let's bring some logic back into this, namely the time investment piece of the movies vs. TV debate.

Whatever you invest your time in, you become better at. I’m not good at video games, and if I spent more time playing them, I’d become incrementally better— but at what cost? The same goes for TV series. As I watch a series, I’m constantly thinking about how I could have watched an entire movie during a comparably insignificant two-episode stretch. By the time I painstakingly reach the end of a season, I think about how I could have watched four films in that time, traveled to four different worlds, and been transported to many more lives and times.

It’s not only about the quality of stories. Quantity matters too. And by the sheer fact that I can watch more movies in less time than I can watch all the seasons of Friends or Game of Thrones already gives films the upper hand. You may have watched all sixteen seasons of Criminal Minds, but I’ve seen stories across the gamut. I’ve seen I’ve witnessed the math to the moon roll off the fingers of Katherine G. Johnson in Hidden Figures, and traveled to that same moon in a basket by an extraterrestrial in ET. In classic heart-wrenching style, A Walk to Remember’s Jamie Sullivan has devastatingly ripped my heart out, while snowballs have emptied my lungs of laughter and filled my eyes with tears. In that same time, you’ve watched rote murder after rote murder, rote solve after rote solve by the same Criminal Minds team.

Let’s reframe the conversation around movies.

Matthew's Movie Recommendations:

For you prolific series aficionados, I offer this advice— this perfected plan of attack— to help utilize the most of the seven-day week.

Weekday Watches (Less than two hours):

• Kodachrome (Drama)

• The Other Guys (Comedy)

• Law Abiding Citizen (Thriller) 

• Endless Love (Romance) 

Weekend Watches (More than two hours):

• The Harder They Fall (Drama)

• Molly’s Game (Drama/Crime)

• Interstellar (Classic)

• The Invisible Man (Thriller)