I will now out myself as an out-of-touch grumpy curmudgeon, because that's what ageing is for.

My wife and I have been spending about three hours every evening watching streaming TV and movies for about a dozen years. We prefer foreign (non-American) productions, especially French, German, and Scandinavian, because a surprising amount can be learned about unfamiliar places and cultures that way. There have been some worthwhile US- and UK-based shows here and there, of course, which are a welcome break from reading subtitles (unless they're located in Scotland, in which case subtitles might still be useful).

After some discussion based on thousands of hours of engagement with shows of many genres, we've come to some conclusions about what viewers could likely do without. If you disagree with any of these points, I'd be delighted to hear about it!

These suggestions could be used to save a great deal of production money, or at least transfer spending away from the pointless and towards the useful, so I hope directors, screenwriters, and showrunners can use these points.

1. Lengthy childbirth scenes

Screaming, screaming, blood, screaming. This has become a trope of late and it's a waste of time. If there's some plot-point oddity about it that needs to be shown, (Oh no! The baby has three heads!) it could be done much more efficiently than the current five minute shriek'n'sweat-fest that has become de rigueur.

2. Lengthy sex scenes

I mean, why? If I want pornography, I know where I can find it. The shows are rated "mature," so I presume its viewers already know what sex is. These scenes do nothing to build or examine the show's characters and their motives. These might have been edgy and daring in, say, the seventies, but now?

Unless there's something uncommon going on that shows something about the characters' personalities
(like the expertly-done S&M scenes in "Billions,") it's a waste of time.

3. Dream sequences

These are almost always completely pointless, and are frequently used as a "Ha ha! Got you! Made you think it was really happening!" trick on the viewer, like the "Made you look!" thing we used to do in third grade. It's juvenile and an insult to the viewer. Just stop.

4. Fight scenes

These can be integral to the plot, and I'm not offended by violence or blood, but there's no need to waste several minutes per drag-out, knock-down-and-get-back-up scene. Cut these to, say, ten or fifteen seconds and save a bundle on choreography.

5. Chase scenes

These have been boring and over-long since I first started watching TV and movies, especially foot chases. The pursued either get away or they don't. There's rarely any actual reason for them plot-wise. If the scenes are silly fun or highly engineered, like in a Herbie movie or "The Italian Job," those are exceptions from which others should learn.

So what have I missed? What am I dead wrong about? I was going to say something about scenes that use crying babies, but I've already gone on long enough. 😉