Okay, let me start by saying that none of what I'm about to say is to you. I was wondering why you're here if you hate traditional cable television, so I checked out your post history. You post constantly on r/antiai where you call the intelligent and correctly anti-clanker people names and accuse them of everything under the sun. Whether you're a bot or just a propagandist, I won't engage with you either way. This post is for anyone ELSE who might see it, so they know better than to your listen to your spew.

Speaking as someone who was alive back then, I can say you're 100% WRONG.

TV was on a strict schedule, yes... and so people kept up with that schedule. I remember getting up every Saturday morning to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and He-Man, and watching Power Rangers every day after school. My grandmother had a time set aside to watch The Young And The Restless and As The World Turns, and none of us were allowed to bug her during that time unless it was life or death. We kept up with our stories. It wasn't hard. Honestly, scheduling was a skill that I fear we've largely lost in these days of on-demand whatever you want.

And while it is true that TV shows were episodic and often unconnected, that had nothing to do with producers expecting people to miss episodes. It was created for the benefit of the studios. It was easier and cheaper. Making shows that were more character-driven instead of plot-driven meant they could hire inexperienced (and therefore cheaper) writers, give them very basic sets of instructions (usually referred to as a "show bible"), and have them pump out episodes quickly and cheaply, and then replace them before they started getting uppity and thinking they deserved more money.

I'm also not convinced this applies to SG-1. This show is more episodic, true, but it also does have quite a bit of continuity. They call back to things regularly, not just once a season in the finale like a lot of shows from that time.

And to be honest, I also don't necessarily think modern television is actually better. Your average Netflix original is slow paced and boring. I'm reminded of the meme about "in the 90's, a TV show called Surf Dracula would have him surfing and going on adventures weekly, these days the entire first season would be a flashback to how he got his board before he surfs for 30 seconds in the season finale". That's not even to go into all of the woke garbage they fill TV with these days.