TV vs. Film

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Has TV begun to truly compete with Film as a great dramatic medium (neither can compete with novels, IMO)?

Opinions, examples?

[Cagliostro]

I dunno. You can cite crap on both sides. The main difference is, if you are speaking about shows vs film, you can invest a lot more time in a show than a movie. Movies only run so long so that more people can come in and see them (with some exceptions), so they are never going to be as engrossing as a television series. But due to the time constraints, movies tend to pack a bit more punch. Because if you compare the entire series of M*A*S*H to something like Fearless, just to name a dramatic movie at random....well, M*A*S*H had a bunch of lightness for the first few seasons, obviously with the exceptions. But by the end of the series, it was frequently stepping up the drama. Meanwhile, Fearless has a nice tight ball of drama, and it's impact is much more significant, in general, because those 2 hours or less is all there is to it.
It's a bit of an apples vs. oranges thing, but if you are talking about the writing, in general it is getting better while the drama in movies tends to be less so. But that's just the crop of movies out now, and what the folks at the studios think will sell, as making a "hit" is the primary concern. Obviously the same with television, but it just seems to me that a lot of talented writers seem to be sticking with TV right now.