100 years of state education is what happened. That and the media being one of the earliest converged industries

Look at the entrance exams for universities in 1880 compared to 2020, look at the general knowledge that was expected of a view to get a joke or understand a reference in films from the 20s, or 50s. Look at how smart your average person is though he has a supercomputer and encyclopedia within arms reach.

The same thing happened to all media. It's now made for a highly 'educated' class who know nothing and are incurious, though they profess to 'fucking love science'.

Now add the politics atop that, and the funny money accounting and tax shenanigans that happen in hollywood, and there's no incentive to make anything good.