TV Doesn’t Pay
This disappointed reaction to the season finale of Sons of Anarchy (which thankfully I avoided getting hooked on) got me thinking:
…they just keep reeling you in every episode, with a promise of a payoff, and when you get it, nothing is really done with that payoff.
Seems to me this is a pretty common reaction to a cult-phenomenon TV show. In fact it’s the reaction to every cult TV show. I heard this same sort of complaint about The X-Files (Mulder’s sister, the aliens – um what was the resolution to all that anyway?), Lost (no idea what was going on in Lost but I know everyone complained about it), The Sopranos (nobody liked the anti-resolution of the finale)…in fact this leads to my question:
Has there ever been a TV serial that set up mysteries/hooks/twists/dramas that reeled you in, and then gave you the satisfying payoff you had been waiting for? Answered all the questions, killed all the bad guys, overcame all the obstacles – whatever that payoff might mean (it would have to depend on the show).
Me, I can’t think of a single example.
Babylon 5.
True…
Six Feet Under’s final scene was a cool five-minute montage showing the deaths and death dates of all the main characters, in the style of the show’s opening weekly vignettes, plus a couple relevant weddings. An epilogue – which is exactly what I want at the end of a sweeping, multi-year, multi-plotline story.
Interesting. I have never watched that show.
I was going to mention Six Feet Under. It’s the only one I’ve seen with a satisfying ending.
The arc of the series was about death and in the montage at the end, you see how all the remaining main characters die. Very satisfying.
The Fugitive? That’s an oldie, though. (I’m referring to the tv show from the 60s, not the movie made in the 90s.)
This sounds like a good canonical example. Cult status – pretty much. Overarching story arc – of course. Makes me want to check it out on Netflix..
I like the format Burn Notice uses. Within each episode, there’s a small arc that begins and ends as the main character (a burned spy for hire) solves problems for his clients, with the larger unresolved arcs (who burned him, how does he get back in the CIA’s good graces) playing out over the course of each season. At least the viewer is given some satisfaction each episode as the main character’s clients find resolution.
This sounds like a pretty common format nowadays, but mostly for shows that are less ‘culty’. Person Of Interest is the same way – there is a story-of-the-week, but also a longer arc that usually gets advanced a bit. I don’t feel like such shows suck you in as much though. I.e. you could miss a week or two and not get lost.. these aren’t the sorts of shows people form cult followings around, and (thus) long for the ‘answer/resolution’ to.
The fifth season of supernatural had a finale that tied it all together, right back to the first episode. Sadly the show was kept going and the creator, having told his bit, left. And now the show is stupid. And that is the problem; shows go season to season, continuing so long as they get renewed, presumably to keep everyone employed. A tv show cannot plan properly because they dont know when they will have to tie it all together.
Though, i wonder if how i met your mother will have an ending that ties everything together, since the show is about getting to that resolution
Farscape did a pretty good job, though it had a lot to do with the letters written to the Sci-Fi channel complaining about the crappy way they treated the fans. Management approved a 2 night miniseries to finish off the fourth season cliff-hanger and tie up the loose ends.