Stargate SG-1 was the Last Great Sunday Television Show

For some reason I found myself recently watching an arbitrary episode of Stargate SG-1, I believe it was the episode where there's a Stargate-like show within the show, and the main characters are trying to understand how the writer ended up knowing so much about the Stargate program. Very silly, very tongue-in-cheek, very meta. And pretty much how the entire story-line for Stargate worked: it was a show that knew how to take itself just seriously enough, but also knew exactly it's place in the line up. I don't know the original air times for SG-1 - probably not Sunday! - but I think of it as the epitome of a now extinct breed, the Sunday Television Show.

The Sunday Television Show was the perfect fit for a lazy Sunday afternoon when you wanted a break and had little else to do. Beyond the basics of good television, good Sunday TV needed to fit the moment:

• Easy to get into - e.g. episodic. You couldn't rely on consistent viewership or the now common binge viewing. The use of over-arching themes, e.g. fighting against the "Goa'uld" add depth without asking too much of the viewer. I don't have to know much about the Goa'uld to enjoy a particular show.
• Light hearted. You've still got daylight left after the show is over, you don't want to depressed or confronted with some deep philosophy. SG-1 episodes rarely ended with a cliffhanger.
• Small core cast, with obvious roles. You need to introduce the cast every damn episode. You don't want to waste a lot of time introducing them. Stargate perfected this. You knew the characters merely by their title: "Colonel" Jack O’Neill, "Doctor" Daniel Jackson, "Physicist/Officer" Samantha Carter, Teal’c. You just introduce the character by their title once per episode and you're done.

Other Great Sunday TV

• The Rockford Files
• Highlander (TV Show)
• MacGyver
• Star Trek (TNG or TOS were both strongly episodic)

The End of Sunday TV Shows

As streaming is now the norm, the virtues of Sunday TV shows have become less critical. While shows that are easy to get into still fill a niche, it's less essential when you can simply go through the episodes in order anytime you want. There are still strong Sunday TV show vibes from e.g. Superstore or Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but it seems a weaker phenomenon than in the past.

In a way, I'm a bit sad to see them go; Sunday TV was a special type of art form perfectly crafted for a moment in time. At least we'll always have SG-1.