5 ms·

Good riddance. Some of the absolute best television shows I have ever seen have all been planned and executed by a single script writer with a vision and an id

Good riddance. Some of the absolute best television shows I have ever seen have all been planned and executed by a single script writer with a vision and an idea for a single story spanning over X seasons. And the absolute best tv series I have ever seen didn't even bother with standard length episodes, they vary between 15 and 45 minutes depending on the content that needs to go into the episode that week. Turns out that if you get rid of filler B-plots or C-plots, the entire series becomes much better.

hluska 8y ago
Would you mind naming the 'absolute best tv series'? I'm not a big fan of television, but that sounds interesting.
- pilif 8y ago
  Babylon 5 for example. It’s still some of the best Sci-Fi and I regularly rewatch it every few years.
  - Izkata 8y ago
    Dark Matter was a recent one that was definitely up there, except it was canceled at the end of 3 of its planned 5 seasons...
    - hluska 8y ago
      I looked up Dark Matter - it sounds interesting! Thanks for the tip.
      - Izkata 8y ago
        Once you reach the end, the creator has a couple blog posts outlining how seasons 4 and 5 would have gone if it wasn't canceled.
  - walshemj 8y ago
    Even JMS said that trying to write to many scripts him self was not a good idea.
  - mrec 8y ago
    I'm a big B5 fan, but you have to admit there's an awful lot of filler in there. (Also, it definitely wasn't what GP was referring to, since B5 didn't vary its runtime appreciably.)
    - henrikschroder 8y ago
      B5 was definitely in the first larger group I was thinking about, because it had a single writer with a vision. I agree that there's an awful lot of filler in there. Imagine what B5 would have been like without the stifling fixed-length episodes and need for filler B-plot and C-plot? One show I was also thinking about was of course Game of Thrones. It has varying length episodes though, but they're all still pretty close at the one-hour mark. It's interesting that no other show on Netflix or HBO, that wouldn't need to be bound by fixed-length, still isn't. There should be room to experiment more there.
      - mrec 8y ago
        I'm not sure there was a need for filler B-plot and C-plot. There's no particular reason it needed to be planned as 5 seasons if there wasn't enough A-plot to fill 5 seasons. Hell, Severed Dreams felt like a season's worth of plot all on its own, and all the better for it.
- henrikschroder 8y ago
  #1 for me all time is this: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5288312/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5288312/ What, a teen drama? Yeah, hear me out. It's a teen drama that avoids every single thing that make teen dramas crap. Single writer and director, storylines and characters are based on research of current issues, dialogue is accurate and not out-of-date, an extensive casting process found a bunch of fantastic age-appropriate actors, and the editing, the soundtrack, and the cinematography is off-the-charts good. If you liked the UK series Skins, you will love this. The reason for the variable-length episodes is that the show aired in "real-time", so you would get clips throughout the week that are released on the website at the exact time the clip is supposed to be happening. So if it's a scene at the lockers on Monday morning at 11:03, the clip is viewable that Monday morning at 11:03, if it's a Friday night party, the clip becomes viewable that Friday evening, etc. Every week is then rolled up into that week's episode, so you can watch it like that as well. And this structure then automatically makes it so that some weeks have more drama than others, so that week's episode is therefore longer. The show is currently the darling of the TV world with four remakes already started, two more remakes are filming, and a bunch more in the works. Because the show was an enormous success in Norway, and they managed to rope in teenagers, which is the exact demographic that the networks are bleeding like crazy. (I liked it so much I spent months perfecting the English subtitles for it, because I got so angry at the fansubs that were floating around)
  - hluska 8y ago
    That's an amazing review - thanks for taking the time to write it! I'm going to check it out, and Skins as well, as I had never heard of it before your write up. You should consider starting up a review website - I'd subscribe...
    - henrikschroder 8y ago
      You can view the entire original series with English subtitles here: https://www.dailymotion.com/skamenglishsubs https://www.dailymotion.com/skamenglishsubs The American remake, which isn't shit - as American remakes usually are - can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/SKAMaustin https://www.facebook.com/SKAMaustin
fipple 8y ago
It’s not just TV, almost all of the best art is the vision of a single person. The Beatles are the biggest exception.
- CM30 8y ago
  Eh, not sure it's all art. Some mediums (like hollywood blockbuster movies and video games) lend themselves to more of a team effort than a solo artist one, and there are classics in those mediums/artforms too. There are also quite a few British TV shows made by duos and small teams rather than a single creator, including some of the best in the medium. Like Fawlty Towers, Dad's Army and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

hluska 8y ago

Would you mind naming the 'absolute best tv series'? I'm not a big fan of television, but that sounds interesting.

pilif 8y ago
Babylon 5 for example. It’s still some of the best Sci-Fi and I regularly rewatch it every few years.
- Izkata 8y ago
  Dark Matter was a recent one that was definitely up there, except it was canceled at the end of 3 of its planned 5 seasons...
  - hluska 8y ago
    I looked up Dark Matter - it sounds interesting! Thanks for the tip.
    - Izkata 8y ago
      Once you reach the end, the creator has a couple blog posts outlining how seasons 4 and 5 would have gone if it wasn't canceled.
- walshemj 8y ago
  Even JMS said that trying to write to many scripts him self was not a good idea.
- mrec 8y ago
  I'm a big B5 fan, but you have to admit there's an awful lot of filler in there. (Also, it definitely wasn't what GP was referring to, since B5 didn't vary its runtime appreciably.)
  - henrikschroder 8y ago
    B5 was definitely in the first larger group I was thinking about, because it had a single writer with a vision. I agree that there's an awful lot of filler in there. Imagine what B5 would have been like without the stifling fixed-length episodes and need for filler B-plot and C-plot? One show I was also thinking about was of course Game of Thrones. It has varying length episodes though, but they're all still pretty close at the one-hour mark. It's interesting that no other show on Netflix or HBO, that wouldn't need to be bound by fixed-length, still isn't. There should be room to experiment more there.
    - mrec 8y ago
      I'm not sure there was a need for filler B-plot and C-plot. There's no particular reason it needed to be planned as 5 seasons if there wasn't enough A-plot to fill 5 seasons. Hell, Severed Dreams felt like a season's worth of plot all on its own, and all the better for it.
henrikschroder 8y ago
#1 for me all time is this: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5288312/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5288312/ What, a teen drama? Yeah, hear me out. It's a teen drama that avoids every single thing that make teen dramas crap. Single writer and director, storylines and characters are based on research of current issues, dialogue is accurate and not out-of-date, an extensive casting process found a bunch of fantastic age-appropriate actors, and the editing, the soundtrack, and the cinematography is off-the-charts good. If you liked the UK series Skins, you will love this. The reason for the variable-length episodes is that the show aired in "real-time", so you would get clips throughout the week that are released on the website at the exact time the clip is supposed to be happening. So if it's a scene at the lockers on Monday morning at 11:03, the clip is viewable that Monday morning at 11:03, if it's a Friday night party, the clip becomes viewable that Friday evening, etc. Every week is then rolled up into that week's episode, so you can watch it like that as well. And this structure then automatically makes it so that some weeks have more drama than others, so that week's episode is therefore longer. The show is currently the darling of the TV world with four remakes already started, two more remakes are filming, and a bunch more in the works. Because the show was an enormous success in Norway, and they managed to rope in teenagers, which is the exact demographic that the networks are bleeding like crazy. (I liked it so much I spent months perfecting the English subtitles for it, because I got so angry at the fansubs that were floating around)
- hluska 8y ago
  That's an amazing review - thanks for taking the time to write it! I'm going to check it out, and Skins as well, as I had never heard of it before your write up. You should consider starting up a review website - I'd subscribe...
  - henrikschroder 8y ago
    You can view the entire original series with English subtitles here: https://www.dailymotion.com/skamenglishsubs https://www.dailymotion.com/skamenglishsubs The American remake, which isn't shit - as American remakes usually are - can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/SKAMaustin https://www.facebook.com/SKAMaustin

fipple 8y ago

It’s not just TV, almost all of the best art is the vision of a single person. The Beatles are the biggest exception.

CM30 8y ago
Eh, not sure it's all art. Some mediums (like hollywood blockbuster movies and video games) lend themselves to more of a team effort than a solo artist one, and there are classics in those mediums/artforms too. There are also quite a few British TV shows made by duos and small teams rather than a single creator, including some of the best in the medium. Like Fawlty Towers, Dad's Army and Monty Python's Flying Circus.