On Sep 23, 12:54 am, Duggy wrote:
> B5 is sometimes (rightly or wrongly) praised/blamed for causing
> decompressed arc-based shows with an underlying mystery...
>
> [I think we've covered other shows that came before or since that may
> have had some influence as well and shows that people think are pre-
> planned but don't seem to be...]
>
> When B5 came out it had the problem of no one believing it could be
> done.
>
> I'm actually feeling the same thing today...
>
> If B5 came out today would we believe it could be done?
>
> Or have too many shows been cancelled before giving answered? Too
> many shows promise answers but never give closure? Too many shows
> pretend to be arc driven but are clearly making it up as they go
> along? Too many shows have an "arc" but just use random words that
> they know they're going to use in the season/series final?
>
> Would we today, be too cynical to believe that B5 could work?
I think it really depends more upon how the program's set up and how
the audience receives it than the nature of the program. An
interesting overall story is fine, a well-planned story with a clear
beginning, middle and end is better, but unless you've got good
characters and excellent writing, you aren't going to get much
attention from the audience.
This may be a poor example, but let's consider a recent #1 program -
NCIS. It has story arcs and revelations that were hinted at throughout
several seasons, but it's mostly episodic, and it's the characters
that people are watching it for more than anything else. B5 had fun
characters, and was generally episodic (especially in the first two
seasons). Both shows were made so that you could pick up the big
details without too much difficulty.
B5 could work today, assuming it had the same level of writing and
assuming it was on a network which supported it. If it were a
mainstream, national network, and had the benefit of a strong lead-in
show? Even better.
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