Interesting John August Piece

[BurOak]

Originally Posted by wcmartell

THE FUGITIVE.

There are 2 different kinds of arcs here - the TWIN PEAKS style where there is little or no individual episode story - just the longer story. And shows like NYPD BLUE (etc) where there was a longer story but *also* an episode story that was resolved.

I think the NYPD BLUE (etc) model is the best - because it allows for a longer story to be told but also gives you an episode you can watch individually and not have to know the longer story. A show like THE FUGITIVE would usually have the quest for the one armed man as the B story and the A story was Kimble in some city dealing with some episode conflict that was stand alone. You could watch any single episode of that show and not get lost - it had a begin-mid-end. You could watch them out of order. But the pieces added up to a larger whole as well.

I think what we have now are shows that do one or the other - but they have lost the skill to do both at the same time.

- Bill

Spot on. And television is, I think, the poorer for having lost this ability.

[BurOak]

Originally Posted by roscoegino

True. Sometimes the serial thing seems like an excuse for mediocre writing where the individual parts are neglected for the "good" of the whole. It's a different writing muscle altogether.

Yes, and everything becomes a soap opera, where the entire focus becomes on the romantic/sexual relationships between the characters.