Modern productions are graded on reference monitors in darkened suites, often for high dynamic range, where shadow detail is fully visible. Consumer televisions are dimmer, rooms are lit, and streaming compression discards detail in dark areas first. The result is that shadow information the colourist could see never reaches you.
The grade assumes a room you are not sitting in
Colour grading happens on a calibrated reference display in a suite with controlled, very low ambient light. In those conditions a shadow can hold a great deal of information at brightness levels that vanish the moment there is a lamp on behind you or daylight through a window.
High dynamic range makes the gap wider rather than narrower. HDR grades use a much larger range between darkest and brightest, so a scene deliberately sits low in that range for contrast. On a display that cannot reach the intended peak brightness, the whole image is compressed downward and the low end goes to black.
Compression throws away shadows first
Video codecs allocate bits where the eye notices detail most, which means large areas of near-black get relatively few. In a dark scene with subtle gradation that produces banding and crushed detail, and it gets worse when a service drops your bitrate because of network conditions.
This is why the same episode can look acceptable on a disc and murky on a stream, and why the notorious cases are usually cited from streaming. The source is often fine; what arrives at your set is not what left the grading suite.
What actually helps
In order of effect: turn the lights down rather than turning brightness up, switch your television out of any eco or power-saving mode, and use the Filmmaker or Cinema picture preset if it has one. Eco modes reduce backlight aggressively and are the single most common cause.
If you cannot darken the room, accept that some titles will not work there and choose differently. That is a legitimate criterion, and it is one TasteRay can take into account when you say what your viewing setup actually is.
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FAQs about Why Do Movies and TV Shows Look So Dark Now?
Is it the show or my TV?
Usually both, in combination. The grade is genuinely dark by intent, and most consumer displays cannot render it as graded, particularly in a lit room or an eco picture mode. If a title looks fine on one television and unwatchable on another, the display and its settings are the larger factor.
Does turning up the brightness fix it?
Rarely, and it often makes things worse by washing out the rest of the image. Reducing the light in the room does far more, because the problem is contrast ratio rather than absolute brightness. Switching off eco mode and choosing a Filmmaker or Cinema preset is the next most useful step.
Why do older films not have this problem?
They were graded for film prints and later for standard dynamic range television, both of which had far less range to play with, so shadow detail had to sit higher to survive. A 1970s film has nowhere to hide information, which is exactly why it reads clearly on any display.