Smarter viewers are less likely to spend money on a comedy where the big screen effect is minimal and it's going to be on Netflix, or HBO, or Amazon Prime, or On Demand, etc. As a result, there's a slide in the quality of comedies because the people who actually pay to see them all the time tend to be less educated and demanding with respect to their humor (read = the unwashed masses, teeming with ignorance).
However, smarter viewers are also into multiseason story arc television, so the quality of television writing is improving in certain areas (HBO, Netflix, a few channels like AMC that have embraced the idea). How many of us watch the "big three four" anymore? There isn't a single show on network television that I watch other than The Big Bang Theory, and even that show far too often reminds me why I hate sitcoms with no real development. Even a show that is ostensibly witty follows the same stale and canned tropes.
Smart television is for binge watching, and it avoids the cheap plot twists of the past.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
