andrewducker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
andrewducker) wrote2020-07-30 01:33 pm
andrewducker) wrote2020-07-30 01:33 pm
What multi season TV series had a good arc?
I'm primarily looking for series that had an arc plot which started at the beginning, crossed between seasons, and came to an ending which took in the whole run of the show and brought it to a coherent close, intended since the beginning, which made narrative sense and was emotionally satisfying.
I'm not asking for perfection here. Happy to include something like Babylon 5 (had an intended arc plot from the beginning, was derailed by the studio, and half of season 5 was a mess, but still worked overall, and had the ending it started out towards).
I'm just curious what other examples there are. Far more TV seems to consist of lots of exciting set-up, but with the writers later admitting they didn't actually know where they were going. I still enjoyed Battlestar Galactica, but it definitely suffered from this. Lost was the epitome of this, and nobody at all seems to have enjoyed its ending.
A better model for most TV seems to be a season arc. Where you've dealt with your Big Bad at the end of the season, but left things open for future ones. Buffy excelled at that.
In any case, the only things I can think of recently that fit this mould are the She-Ra reboot and Steven Universe. And going back fifteen years there's Avatar: The Last Airbender. All of which were animated kid's shows.
I hear Breaking Bad did pay off at the end, with what the creators had been aiming for since the beginning. What else did?
I'm not asking for perfection here. Happy to include something like Babylon 5 (had an intended arc plot from the beginning, was derailed by the studio, and half of season 5 was a mess, but still worked overall, and had the ending it started out towards).
I'm just curious what other examples there are. Far more TV seems to consist of lots of exciting set-up, but with the writers later admitting they didn't actually know where they were going. I still enjoyed Battlestar Galactica, but it definitely suffered from this. Lost was the epitome of this, and nobody at all seems to have enjoyed its ending.
A better model for most TV seems to be a season arc. Where you've dealt with your Big Bad at the end of the season, but left things open for future ones. Buffy excelled at that.
In any case, the only things I can think of recently that fit this mould are the She-Ra reboot and Steven Universe. And going back fifteen years there's Avatar: The Last Airbender. All of which were animated kid's shows.
I hear Breaking Bad did pay off at the end, with what the creators had been aiming for since the beginning. What else did?
no subject
I mean there's definitely a beginning and an end, but is the middle more than a bunch of fun moments with no structure to them?
no subject
I don't think each episode was planned in advance from the begining but I think the general scope and theme of the story in the middle was understood. Ted will have a series of relationships that develop him in to being ready and able to be in a relationship with the Mother. We will constrast this with Marshall and Lily and with Barney and the whole of New York's female population.
None of the specific incidents in the middle are necessary for the story to make sense. It doesn't really matter if Lily goes off to Italy or goes off to Australia or doesn't go off at all so long as she and Marshall have some tension about how to balance their own vocations with a family.
So I don't know.
no subject
(Also, did Ted actually develop at all???)
no subject
I'd need to watch it back or crib off someone who wrote about to remind myself how much.
But he definately worked out a) he could not have it all, b) what things were important to him c) what things he would compromise about. Also, how to be actual friends with Robyn.
no subject
But it's worth watching with the idea that Ted is actually the villain of the piece...