Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:45 PM. Reason: Sp
Try writing 26 hours of something in a row and you'll find your answer.
Then do that 5 years in a row and see if you have trouble doing something fresh.
It's so easy to just say
"That sucked why don't they make good shows anymore, blah,blah,blah......."
^yup.
A (very minor) bugaboo of mine is shows that discard the premise (if one goes by the name of the show or the content of its theme song) by the second episode:
Welcome Back, Kotter: former student of a high school comes back to teach. Okay, he's freshly "back" for one episode, but from that point on, he's just there, not "back". But the song welcomes him back during the credits every week.
Empty Nest: Widowed father lives alone, but wacky circumstances result in his daughters moving back in. By the second week, the nest is no longer empty.
The Jeffersons: The theme song has them "movin' on up", but even by the beginning of the first episode, the "moving" is long over. They've moved, they're not moving (which took place in an All in the Family episode), both geographically and socially.
I could go on...
(pet peeve alert: it's lose, not loose)
Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:46 PM.
I tend to think it's a combination of factors. You might have a very tightly written beginning-to-end story, but the network keeps giving you notes on what to change, and after enough of those, you're WELL off track. You can also have prominent actors leave the show -- permanently or temporarily -- for this or that reason. Now you have to scramble to fix your story. I mean, hey, what if LOST was incredibly tightly scripted from the get-go but Michelle Rodriguez's character was CENTRAL to the story? Oops...you're screwed now...
Lastly, I think it's because you never know how long you'll be on for. Longer-form "mysteries" hook viewers, but you have to keep stringing those out each week to keep people watching. But then maybe you start to worry that you'll get cancelled, so you wrap up that story and now the focus shifts. Twin Peaks is actually an example of that. The network pressured them to wrap up the "Who Killed Laura Palmer?!" storyline midway through season 2, at which point they shifted focus. I suspect that, had the story continued past the end of season 2, it would've meandered around because they really didn't have a clear sense of where it all was headed.
Or what if the premise takes off, but now the network wants more and more seasons of it, and you've got kids to feed, so you aren't about to say "No! My artistic vision DEMANDS that you fire me at the end of Season 4 when we wrap up the show neatly and put a bow on top!" So you keep writing and adlibbing after a certain point, and now you have no idea how to pull together all your disparate storylines.
I wish more shows were written for shorter-term runs, but that ain't how TV works.
I LOVE YOU, dude. That made me laugh out loud because it's so true.micdavis said:
Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:48 PM.
Last edited by blip; May 20, 2011 at 5:14 PM.
Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:47 PM.
Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:47 PM.
I know from the conversations I have with TV writer, editor, producer friends of mine that when you pitch your pilot, even if you have a tightly written series bible, the network always wants changes. The best you can do is a juggling act, but honestly, it's a miracle when a show actually stays true to itself after even 3 years. The only show I know that came close was Babylon 5. And the only reason that happened is because strazenski(i know thats not spelled right, sorry) wrote almost 2 seasons himself. Also the moment the network threatened cancelation, he had to rewrite the whole ending season of his planned 5 year arc.
Shakespeare was the most notorious thief in history. He didn't actually WRITE any of those plays... 99% of them were Ancient Greek and Roman plays that he 'adapted'.blip said:
Originally Posted by micdavis
Try writing 26 hours of something in a row and you'll find your answer."
I can't write any more because my hand is sore, sniff. Tell it to Shakespear. Write in a team? look for another profession? Limit your output to two seasons?
Besides, if you think you can do it, put your money where your mouth is. Let's see you write up three seasons worth of episodes and keep things from getting a bit stale. Post 'em up.
I did not know that there been a show about Meriwether Lewis och William Clark having a romantic tension during their travelsblip said:
Edit...a crap....saw that the lewis and louis name did not match.
Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:47 PM.
Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:46 PM.
Instead of writing suck-a@@ episodes, just gracefully bow out. Flight of the Conchords did. Even though I wanted more, I think they made a good decision.
Last edited by blip; May 19, 2011 at 9:46 PM.
So, you mean like Lost in Space turning into the show about the old man, the boy and his robot?
Or Happy Days being taken over by Fonzie?
Yeah, it happens, but it also probably saved those shows. As Michael pointed out, it's tough to keep it fresh and having a character break out and steal the hearts and minds of your viewers might be a real blessing.
It happens all the time, but it's not always a bad thing.
I don't think "Quark" ever really lived up to it's potential, nor did "Salvage One." I mean, in the pilot (of the latter) they are gathering space junk! It was all downhill, boring, earthbound-junk from there.
Heck, even Gilligan's Island! "Not a single luxury" Yet there wasn't anything the professor couldn't make out of coconuts and bamboo: batteries, dental floss, shark repellent, satellite launch system... Except a patch for the side of the boat!
They were hardly living without luxuries.
How about Fantasy Island? I think that may have moved closer to the premise near the end. Roarke was, at first, fulfilling fantasies as you'd expect, building up sets and flying in a secret guest from the person's past. By the end of the show, he was really using some kind of voodoo magic and creating their fantasies with a magical sound effect and a wink, with a perplexed Tattoo standing nearly apoplectic at his side, "But boss! How did you...? I mean what did...!? Aren't they dead...?"
Parks and Rec is a good example of that. The whole point of the show in the beginning, it seemed, was to get an open pit on a neighborhood block turned into a park. Well, it happened pretty quick. Now, it's just the daily antics of government employees. I can't complain, though, I love The Office and still LOVE Parks and Rec. It's just dumb humor that helps me unwind after a stressful day. I want to laugh when someone steps on a rake and it smacks them in the face (that hasn't happened on Parks and Rec yet...but the same idea). I don't need seriously thought out comedy every minute I watch TV. Other shows, sure, well thought out plots that are interesting and stimulating. Sounds great. Point is, maybe it isn't always bad when a show loses it's initial focus. That can open up other opportunities.
Last edited by blip; May 20, 2011 at 5:20 PM.
Last edited by blip; May 21, 2011 at 10:28 PM.
The real villain in this is the network stooges who have to interfere with every show just to justify their phoney-baloney jobs. They have to butt smooch the bosses by passing along inane "notes" to the writing staff and bugging the producer to death with stupid requests for tweaks based on audience research data that is as vacuous as they are. Try making "art" when cretins are constantly second-guessing every decision in the writer's room.
It's a wonder any show gets past the first season with anything like the original premise. Take "Deadwood" for instance. HBO screwed with the budget to the extent that Milch had a hell of a time putting his vision on the screen. I worked on the first season and you could see the texture of the show getting flatter and flatter from a visual standpoint. Plus HBO wanted to pull the plug so Milch would produce a "committee"-made show called "John From Cincinatti". Who remember's that POS! But Deadwood? What there is left of the original premise and story arc to see on DVD is a masterpiece produced pushing HBO bull crap up hill all the way!
Last edited by blip; May 20, 2011 at 5:14 PM.
What can really F-Up a show is not having a "Bible" or guide, and letting everyone with a script toss in an episode. Andromeda...what a MESS this show became, if I were Kevin Sorbo I would have hit the point of W...T...F...
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