3 ms·

It's only canceled too soon if the main plot arc isn't resolved, which does happen with some regularity. I am very annoyed with shows dragging on endlessly tho

It's only canceled too soon if the main plot arc isn't resolved, which does happen with some regularity. I am very annoyed with shows dragging on endlessly though. I very much like Babylon 5 for precisely this reason: it told the story it intended to, and when the audience asked for more content they spun it off into other shows/movies. In general, I would say that 5 seasons is a good maximum, and that you better have a good reason for going longer (e.g. adapting a book series to TV, where each book is a season).

cgriswald 6y ago
Babylon 5 is a bit of an oddball. They were originally told they'd have a fifth season. Then they were told they wouldn't, so they wrapped it up in season 4 (and season 4 is quite compressed as a result, which might be what you like). Then they ended up getting that fifth season. They used it to do all kinds of fun 'post show' things. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine went 7 seasons. They could have done it in 3-4; especially if they could have had modern 50-60 HBO-style shows, rather than 35-40 minute network television shows. I'd like to see creators target 3-4 seasons and contracts be written for them to create all those seasons. The really good, fan-centric ones could then do the Babylon 5 style post-seasons or a contract could be written for additional seasons to cover the next story arc. (I'm sure this is impossible for some reason, but I can dream.) As things stand, I generally don't watch any new show that doesn't already have a few seasons under its belt. I really dislike watching a season of a show, falling in love with it, and then finding out its already gotten the axe.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  Babylon 5 is also a useful oddball because so much of its plan versus reality was documented on USENET or in interviews as they happened. As they say "no plan survives contact with the enemy" and in this case the enemies of any 5 year TV plan are numerous, and included among other things network notes, network switches, cast contract negotiation problems, cast health problems, and more. JMS made it very clear he had to have a ton of contingencies in his five year plan and the show had to carry out a number of them. It's also an oddball because even JMS hasn't been able to replicate it with nearly the same degree of success. B5 follow-up Crusade was pitched with a 3-5 year plan and barely survived a half season. (Supposedly B5: Legend of the Rangers was pitched as a 5 year plan including cleaning up Crusade plot-lines at least "sideways" and that barely got a pilot movie.) Sense8 was pitched to Netflix (appropriate to consider for this overall thread) as a 5 year plan and got 2 seasons and wrap-up movie (though seemingly had a lot fewer contingency problems than B5's early seasons in the 2 seasons and a movie that it did get).
parineum 6y ago
> It's only canceled too soon if the main plot arc isn't resolved, which does happen with some regularity. When shows become popular, the arc suddenly becomes longer until it loses popularity and they cancel it. There are a ton of shows that have this pattern of having a really interesting premise followed by a pretty fast paced plot moving first season. Then they get renewed for 3 more season and the show slows to a crawl and gets cancelled after season 2.

cgriswald 6y ago

Babylon 5 is a bit of an oddball. They were originally told they'd have a fifth season. Then they were told they wouldn't, so they wrapped it up in season 4 (and season 4 is quite compressed as a result, which might be what you like). Then they ended up getting that fifth season. They used it to do all kinds of fun 'post show' things. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine went 7 seasons. They could have done it in 3-4; especially if they could have had modern 50-60 HBO-style shows, rather than 35-40 minute network television shows. I'd like to see creators target 3-4 seasons and contracts be written for them to create all those seasons. The really good, fan-centric ones could then do the Babylon 5 style post-seasons or a contract could be written for additional seasons to cover the next story arc. (I'm sure this is impossible for some reason, but I can dream.) As things stand, I generally don't watch any new show that doesn't already have a few seasons under its belt. I really dislike watching a season of a show, falling in love with it, and then finding out its already gotten the axe.

WorldMaker 6y ago
Babylon 5 is also a useful oddball because so much of its plan versus reality was documented on USENET or in interviews as they happened. As they say "no plan survives contact with the enemy" and in this case the enemies of any 5 year TV plan are numerous, and included among other things network notes, network switches, cast contract negotiation problems, cast health problems, and more. JMS made it very clear he had to have a ton of contingencies in his five year plan and the show had to carry out a number of them. It's also an oddball because even JMS hasn't been able to replicate it with nearly the same degree of success. B5 follow-up Crusade was pitched with a 3-5 year plan and barely survived a half season. (Supposedly B5: Legend of the Rangers was pitched as a 5 year plan including cleaning up Crusade plot-lines at least "sideways" and that barely got a pilot movie.) Sense8 was pitched to Netflix (appropriate to consider for this overall thread) as a 5 year plan and got 2 seasons and wrap-up movie (though seemingly had a lot fewer contingency problems than B5's early seasons in the 2 seasons and a movie that it did get).

parineum 6y ago

> It's only canceled too soon if the main plot arc isn't resolved, which does happen with some regularity. When shows become popular, the arc suddenly becomes longer until it loses popularity and they cancel it. There are a ton of shows that have this pattern of having a really interesting premise followed by a pretty fast paced plot moving first season. Then they get renewed for 3 more season and the show slows to a crawl and gets cancelled after season 2.