TV Shows That Are Literally Too Dark: From Stranger Things to Euphoria

From American Horror Story to Strange things to Euphoria to Game of Thronessome TV shows are difficult to watch because of the dark subject matter, while others are not very easy to watch because of the dark lighting.

Some programs have become notorious for being harder to see, and filmmakers have weighed in on is it up to the viewer or the content itself.

“I don’t know why there’s a trend now to shoot very dark, but I think—I won’t name names—there’s two sides to it.” Shasta Spanwho worked on american horror stories, told Griffin in November 2023 “There’s a version where people know what their exposure and balance are, and they know how to make a scene look a certain way, which is technically dark. And there’s another side where people don’t know what they’re doing. They make it very dark.’

Span quotes a few examples from the director, adding, “They have no light in the actor’s eyes. They have no separation between foreground and background and it’s unprofessional and looks terrible. … Night scenes can be done, and they’re done so beautifully, but they’re also done so badly.”

Meanwhile Lynn Moncrief, who brought movies like Five Nights at Freddy’s to life, questioned whether “big TVs” were guilty.

“They tend to have a 16:9 aspect ratio. We are no longer in the era of 4:3 analog television, where the differences between television and movies, at least in terms of composition and aspect ratio, are so extreme. Until 2000, this aspect ratio was imposed on you during the filming of television,” Moncrief noted. “You’re seeing a lot more projects and they’re shooting 2.39:1 with letterbox and things like that, which used to always be a fight. This cinematic influence has had a direct impact on streaming shows, whereas in the past that wasn’t the case.”

House of the Dragon cinematographer Pepe Avila del Pino had his own view on this topic. He specifically called out the “over-processed color correction” that has become all too common with all your favorite TV shows.

“Blacks are not blacks. And there is a standardized view. A lot of TVs are starting to look the same, and that has to do with a lot of things. One of them is technology that we all have, like using LED lights, which are faster and more practical,” explained Del Pino. “The cameras are also faster and the lenses are more sensitive to light. All of these reasons tend to push the day-to-day workflow on a TV set into a very rushed schedule.”

He continued, “I think it’s more a consequence of the tools used than the artistic vision. Over the last few years, there have been a lot of people making television very quickly. Things are pre-produced, produced and then distributed to post-production and then sent back to the streamer in a very short amount of time. All these factors contribute to low light and overcorrected color on the screen.”

Keep scrolling to see examples of some shows known for being visually too dark: