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Attention television producers: I'd like to see a clever, scary, complex show

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XemaSab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-27-07 04:41 PM
Original message
Attention television producers: I'd like to see a clever, scary, complex show
that's only written to go two or three seasons WITH THE UNDERSTANDING that the network will agree to air it in its entirety.

The whole thing will be written out before the show starts.

It will have a continuous plot with many characters and complex character development.

Then it will have an ending that ties up all the loose ends.

See: Twin Peaks, X-Files, Millenium, American Gothic, and many, many others to get a clue of what I'm talking about. :P
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-27-07 07:55 PM
Response to Original message
1. I think you lost them at 'clever' and 'complex'.
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petronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:23 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. Actually, I think she lost them at "I'd like..."
TV producers don't care most of us want or like - they only care about the wants of a vapid, fat-walleted, and short-attention-spanned 'target demographic' (which may be just a figment of their imaginations)..
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-29-07 02:50 AM
Response to Reply #5
27. If only we could get people to turn off their TVs when crap comes on instead of just sitting there
and accepting said crap.
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Clintonista2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-27-07 07:57 PM
Response to Original message
2. Watch "Lost"
It is all things mentioned above, and there are only 3 seasons left.
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XemaSab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 11:47 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Yeah, but are they going to wrap it all up neatly at the end?
:shrug:
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LSK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. no, the mothership will return them to their beds
It was all a dream, or was it?
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ghostsofgiants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #3
11. They do have an intended story endpoint, if that's what you mean.
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SacredCow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:05 PM
Response to Original message
4. At the very beginning, Twin Peaks....
supposedly wasn't working towards any resolution.

I read something years back where Lynch said that even after production started, he had no earthly idea who killed Laura Palmer- He was only interested in developing the characters and never really thought much about the "ending" until the viewers started clamoring for it.

I'll have to see if I can find some documentation on this....
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XemaSab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:43 PM
Response to Reply #4
19. I know
The show didn't really have anywhere to go after Leland died.

I liked a lot of elements of the show, but it needed a resolution that had been planned from the beginning.
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SacredCow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 02:12 PM
Response to Reply #19
22. Or no planning of a resolution.....
Personally, as long as I'm being entertained- I really don't care if things get tied up neatly in the end. Series finales are almost always a disappointment to me, so I rarely watch them.
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redqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:25 PM
Response to Original message
6. I'm sure the producers would like that too!
Do writers ever finish anything before the absolutely frickin have to, though?


This is making me wonder if Firefly is out on dvd... my mom is nuts about that show... I think that's the name, anyway... she said to watch it before I watch the movie. Sorry, babbling... :P
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texas1928 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. Firefly is out on DVD...
And it is in the correct order. Fox fucked up and showed the shows out of order and it screwed up the story line. Watch the TV series before you watch Serenity.
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redqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:31 PM
Response to Reply #8
10. Serenity! Yes...
Thanks! :hi:
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DS1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
9. P.S. Please cancel that joke of a show called LOST
FAIL
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ghostsofgiants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #9
12. You're officially dead to me.
x(
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DS1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:34 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. haa!
primate bait

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ghostsofgiants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. I'm actually going through Lost withdrawal right now.
Makes me a little high strung.
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irish.lambchop Donating Member (877 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:33 PM
Response to Original message
13. I'll see if I can sell the rights
to my life right now - many complex characters (unfortunately of arrested development)!
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Mythsaje Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:39 PM
Response to Original message
16. Twin Peaks went to pieces, Millenium devolved into weird nonsense
American Gothic didn't draw a large enough audience.

People will watch anything--look at the popularity of "reality" television. The more complex and intelligent something proves to be, the more people it loses. Only weirdos like us LIKE well-crafted television.

Of course, there's plenty of good stuff on, if you know where to look. Of course, you lose me at "scary."

None of it's "scary." Can't be.

Supernatural had some genuinely creepy episodes in its first season, however.
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XemaSab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:41 PM
Response to Reply #16
18. That's sort of my point...
each one of these shows had a fatal flaw.... somewhere along the line a really cool show went to crap, and I think it's for the reasons given above.
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Mythsaje Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:47 PM
Original message
self delete
Edited on Fri Sep-28-07 12:47 PM by Mythsaje
dupe
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Mythsaje Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. No considered plan?
Yeah...that would help. Even if they were multiple-season story arcs with definitive endings, it would help. Of course, some of that comes from the fact that the TV folks aren't willing to make a solid committment for more than a season at a time. So the producer and writers have NO idea how long they're going to get.
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XemaSab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 04:27 PM
Response to Reply #21
25. That's my further argument
The show would go for two seasons, maybe three, so if it sucks they can move it to Friday night or wherever. :P
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ghostsofgiants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:40 PM
Response to Original message
17. I agree with Lirwin2, Lost is your friend.
And in your examples, you forgot Carnivàle. How I miss that show.♠
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Initech Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 12:46 PM
Response to Original message
20. Check out Heroes. That may fit the criteria.
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WildEyedLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 05:10 PM
Response to Reply #20
26. Yep, ditto on Heroes
I just rented the DVD of Season 1 and have watched the first six episodes because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about - holy shit am I hooked. Now I'm trying to watch all the rest of Season 1 before it comes on again Monday night.
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AllegroRondo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 03:26 PM
Response to Original message
23. Check out the new Doctor Who
on Sci Fi and BBCA.

youll be impressed.
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Left Is Write Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-28-07 03:27 PM
Response to Original message
24. Have you seen Eureka?
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Hugin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-29-07 07:19 AM
Response to Original message
28. *gasp* Heresy! Scandal!
These shows serve the sole purpose of SELLING SOAP! :eyes:














(I learned my lesson the hard way... Two words; "Max Headroom".)
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jpgray Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-29-07 07:27 AM
Response to Original message
29. X-Files was neat and campy, up until Scully's baby/cancer killed the show
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