What Happened To Serial TV Shows?
Just what happened to gripping story in television programs which aren’t resolved in a single episode?
Quite recently, I sat down and re-watched both seasons of Twin Peaks. Needless to say, it’s an amazing piece of cinematography by the king of surreal: David Lynch. While I was watching TP it got me thinking: Just what has happened to gripping story in television programs which aren’t resolved in a single episode?
Could this be a sign that we’re all getting lazier in our ways for dedication to a show and we demand closure straight away without being tied down to watching every single episode? Or is it there’s no room in the schedules for that kind of TV show security? If you live across the pond in Blighty you would have all seen it- Lowest common denominator comedies on late night BBC3 which get axed after just 3-4 episodes. Is this the sort of pressure writers are coming under, where they don’t know how long their TV show is going to last so they try and wrap up the story straight away to give closure to their hardcore fan base?
Now before I go any further, let me explain to the people who haven’t heard/watched Twin peaks: Twin Peaks was a surreal, psychological detective drama which ran for 2 seasons on ABC in the early 90′s. Set in a rural part of Washington, It focused around the death of Laura Palmer and how an FBI agent’s unconventional methods lead him to who killed her. The tone and atmosphere is heavily borrowed from horror films, but is simultaneously blended with surreal comedy to give an almost bittersweet effect for the show. This successful combination led it to be one of the highest watched shows in American television.
The last big serial drama I can remember was Lost, and the only reason why that was serial was down to the fact the plot was so weird, it kept changing direction every episode which made you have to press select on your sky remote just to make sure you was actually still watching Lost and you hadn’t mistakenly channel changed to some weird spinoff. I know that quite a lot of American dramas try to keep the serial ideology at heart by having a smaller story arc which briefly springs up every few episodes as though it’s a relative poking you while watching a younger sibling's school production just to make sure you’re still awake.
Could this be a sign that we’re all getting lazier in our ways for dedication to a show and we demand closure straight away without being tied down to watching every single episode? Or is it there’s no room in the schedules for that kind of TV show security? If you live across the pond in Blighty you would have all seen it- Lowest common denominator comedies on late night BBC3 which get axed after just 3-4 episodes. Is this the sort of pressure writers are coming under, where they don’t know how long their TV show is going to last so they try and wrap up the story straight away to give closure to their hardcore fan base?
Now before I go any further, let me explain to the people who haven’t heard/watched Twin peaks: Twin Peaks was a surreal, psychological detective drama which ran for 2 seasons on ABC in the early 90′s. Set in a rural part of Washington, It focused around the death of Laura Palmer and how an FBI agent’s unconventional methods lead him to who killed her. The tone and atmosphere is heavily borrowed from horror films, but is simultaneously blended with surreal comedy to give an almost bittersweet effect for the show. This successful combination led it to be one of the highest watched shows in American television.
The last big serial drama I can remember was Lost, and the only reason why that was serial was down to the fact the plot was so weird, it kept changing direction every episode which made you have to press select on your sky remote just to make sure you was actually still watching Lost and you hadn’t mistakenly channel changed to some weird spinoff. I know that quite a lot of American dramas try to keep the serial ideology at heart by having a smaller story arc which briefly springs up every few episodes as though it’s a relative poking you while watching a younger sibling's school production just to make sure you’re still awake.
Dallas pioneered the technique of a season finale cliff-hanger with “Who Shot J.R?”
I think one of the main downsides to serialized story telling is it’s very hard to get into if you’re a newcomer to the show. Because the plot is normally quite large and difficult to follow, even missing just one episode will have a dedicated fan confused. A newcomer would have to find a way to re-watch potentially seasons of all the previous episodes to understand just what the heck is going on. I think this leads to a lot of people being put off by the amount of hassle it would take to get into the series and therefore- they just favour a simpler series which they can watch non-chronologically while still understanding and enjoying it.
Another downside is- if we’re going with the pressure from TV executives and ratings argument, this is also a bad thing. If you’ve set out to do a serialized drama you have a very strong idea with what you want but you’re being forced into cutting a few ideas; this could destroy your original vision and may lead to a different plot than intended which is harder to write for. The second side is that if your show keeps getting declining ratings, you may not feel the same security that your show is going to be renewed for another season and may feel pressured into condensing the story in order to prepare for the worst without leaving the fans angry.
This ironically, is what happened to Twin Peaks. After the initial plot was resolved (around half way through the second season) it seemed David Lynch and Mark Frost was pressured into writing more episodes from the executives because of the very high ratings. This however, led to the shows downfall when they began exploring new plot twists and themes but unfortunately, the show’s ratings were on the decline so badly, it forced David and Mark to try and squeeze a lot of the remaining plot into the last few episodes which made the quality of the program suffer and leave a lot of unanswered questions.
House integrates a more subtle story arc to maintain the fan base.
The upside to serialized dramas is that they have the ability to portray a modern masterpiece by giving a complex, non-linear storyline with excellent writing and dialogue. Unfortunately in today’s society there’s not much room for a heavy serialized drama which people gather round each other’s house to watch the latest episode together. This is to make it easier for newcomers but at the same time- is leaving us with wanting more from quality programming. The serialized shows tend to have more of a hardcore fan base as it often alienates casual viewers but it gives room for much more DVD sales and merchandise sold as fans are eager to learn more about the setting and the writers/creators comments with their vision and how it actually turned out.
So overall, there is a lot of room for serialized shows in modern television programming. But, to please executives as well as insuring rating/show security with being more helpful to newcomers: Most TV shows choose to make episodes stand-alone. That’s not to say that stand-alone TV shows are bad, not by any means. But, I just feel as though it’s time to re-introduce a serialized show which is just as gripping as they used to be in the late 80′s/early 90′s. It’s good to see though that in some serious stand-alone shows such as Fox’s medical drama House; they try and inject a story arc in to get a more hardcore fan base going, as well as pleasing casual viewers with an enjoyable viewing experience.
So what’s your opinion on serialized shows? Do you think they belong in the programming schedule or should they be pushed aside in favour of stand-alone programs?