In article <aoIAj.76$tI4.3@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Terry <none@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> "POD {Ò¿Ó}" <DONT.EVEN.TRY.IT@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:Xns9A5B294DAEFC7WeLovePOD@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > And this brings me to my second point... Do these American shows
suffer
> > for making over 20 episodes a series?
>
> I think it oftentimes does. And I think the forced "keep a show on the
air
> for as long as possible, logic be damned" does worse damage. Do we
really
> think that all the Beverly Hills 90210 kids went to the same college?
That
> the Korean War lasted 30 years (Or however long MASH was).
>
> I am watching Jericho. And it started mostly for Skeet Ulrich, to be
honest.
> But I grew to love the little show, despite its logical, emotional,
> geographic and scientific flaws. (Phantom fallout; magical EMPs, the
rolling
> hills of Kansas.) Now, Jericho's been given a new lease on life. But
it's a
> short lease. And the writing is so much better because of it. It's so
much
> tighter, because the staff is trying to tell it story in a much more
limited
> time than most American TV shows.
>
> Now, we all know how I feel about "Buffy." But I think the strongest
season
> is Season 2, when they were writing up against the wall. It had only
been
> picked up for a half season. Every story (ok, almost every one) hit a
> particular note. And then, it got picked up for the back 13. And it was
> another great, tight story.
>
> I'd say the same thing for "Firefly," which was also written up against
the
> wall. Like the premise or not, every episode was written to a specific
> purpose.
>
> So, my point? Oooh, scary.
>
> I agree.
>
>
At least in terms of Babylon 5, I would agree too. Stories with
emotional power side by side with the worst sort of dreck. So it goes.
I wonder if it's more of a problem for shows with continuing story
lines than shows where each episode is a complete, stand- alone story.
With the latter, padding becomes very obvious. But with ongoing
stories, you can't really tell until the whole thing has played out.
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