10 ms·

I agree. I have recently been watching a lot of Star Trek and Mission Impossible. Two shows where you can watch one episode and be done with it until the next t

I agree. I have recently been watching a lot of Star Trek and Mission Impossible. Two shows where you can watch one episode and be done with it until the next time. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one getting really annoyed with the style with which most shows are made these days. I understand that there are good things about having a continuous storyline, and the last season of DS9 shows that it does work. But all shows don't have to be that way.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
The key is that your long-form stuff needs to take a back seat to a plot that starts and ends in with each episode. In my personal opinion, Stargate SG-1 is a master class in this. Shows these days are written for streaming, they are clearly meant to be binged a season at a time. You'll have 4 plots an episode and not a one of them starts and ends in the same one, with several episodes having resolution of anything at all. It's maddening. Like, there are memorable episodes of some shows, like SG-1's Ergo, that you can sit down and re-watch and enjoy yourself, but this made-for-streaming format just doesn't have that quality. What episode did that cool thing happen in? They all blur together.
- throw0101a 5y ago
  The short-ish lived Veronica Mars was quite good a having both a season long story arc, but having self-contained mysteries as well. Some episodes leaning more one way or another, but there was usually some mix of both.
  - HideousKojima 5y ago
    The X-Files did a goodish job alternating between standalone episodes and overarching plot. Roughly 2/3rds of episodes were standalone monster of the week episodes, while every third episode or so was about the conspiracy to help aliens colonize Earth. Also occasionally stuff in the standalone episodes had effects in later episodes (for example Scully's dog is from a person who died in a standalone episode)
  - at_a_remove 5y ago
    Yes, that's one of the things that impressed me most about the show before it went off the rails. You had your season-long mystery, some multi-episode questions, and then your single episode mysteries. It also has one of the best father-daughter relationships I've seen on screen. I have noticed that quite a lot of how Veronica Mars "worked" got shifted over into iZombie.
- db48x 5y ago
  SG–1 was good but B5 was better.
  - selimthegrim 5y ago
    Even with the deus ex machina aliens?
    - db48x 5y ago
      Which aliens did you think of as a Deus Ex Machina?
    - mixmastamyk 5y ago
      The plot wasn't resolved thru magic—the first ones realized they were doing more harm than good and decided to finally take their leave. This characterization has some merit but is stretched to fit. Also, the thread was discussing how a show could best weave short and long term story lines together, not their absolute quality.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
    I started rewatching it a couple months ago, but had to abandon it almost immediately. The alien race to historical nation stereotyping is so forced and gross :(
    - db48x 5y ago
      I’m not even sure that you are talking about the same show. Which alien race did you think was stereotypical of which real human nation? The Centauri have a Senate and an Emperor, which I suppose humans have done. The writer and producer stated that he deliberately modeled them on the Roman Empire, but their story reminds me more of the transition from the Wiemar Republic to the Third Reich. The Minbari have castes, which humans have done, but the three castes are completely equal and share all responsibilities and decision–making authority, which humans have never done. The Narn have some kind of legislative body made of “many equal voices”, though we never learn many details. That government gets dissolved and replaced with a government appointed by the Centauri (spoiler!). Among the League of Non–Aligned Worlds, there is also a Gerontocracy (which humans have never done), a Corportocracy (which I would argue humans have never done, though I know some would disagree), and one alien race draws lots and gets into fist fights, which is hilarious (“You do the same, for flag.”). The Vorlons have no discernible government, but no human society has ever been that inscrutable. But you won’t have seen any of those, since you gave up early. But I can’t see how any of that is gross. Most fantasy and science fiction examines humanity and the human condition by creating alternate races which are just distorted reflections of our selves. Dwarves and Elves and Hobbits and even Orcs are just aspects of humanity that have been separated out for story–telling purposes, and it’s no different in B5. How can it possibly be gross?

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

The key is that your long-form stuff needs to take a back seat to a plot that starts and ends in with each episode. In my personal opinion, Stargate SG-1 is a master class in this. Shows these days are written for streaming, they are clearly meant to be binged a season at a time. You'll have 4 plots an episode and not a one of them starts and ends in the same one, with several episodes having resolution of anything at all. It's maddening. Like, there are memorable episodes of some shows, like SG-1's Ergo, that you can sit down and re-watch and enjoy yourself, but this made-for-streaming format just doesn't have that quality. What episode did that cool thing happen in? They all blur together.

throw0101a 5y ago
The short-ish lived Veronica Mars was quite good a having both a season long story arc, but having self-contained mysteries as well. Some episodes leaning more one way or another, but there was usually some mix of both.
- HideousKojima 5y ago
  The X-Files did a goodish job alternating between standalone episodes and overarching plot. Roughly 2/3rds of episodes were standalone monster of the week episodes, while every third episode or so was about the conspiracy to help aliens colonize Earth. Also occasionally stuff in the standalone episodes had effects in later episodes (for example Scully's dog is from a person who died in a standalone episode)
- at_a_remove 5y ago
  Yes, that's one of the things that impressed me most about the show before it went off the rails. You had your season-long mystery, some multi-episode questions, and then your single episode mysteries. It also has one of the best father-daughter relationships I've seen on screen. I have noticed that quite a lot of how Veronica Mars "worked" got shifted over into iZombie.
db48x 5y ago
SG–1 was good but B5 was better.
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  Even with the deus ex machina aliens?
  - db48x 5y ago
    Which aliens did you think of as a Deus Ex Machina?
  - mixmastamyk 5y ago
    The plot wasn't resolved thru magic—the first ones realized they were doing more harm than good and decided to finally take their leave. This characterization has some merit but is stretched to fit. Also, the thread was discussing how a show could best weave short and long term story lines together, not their absolute quality.
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
  I started rewatching it a couple months ago, but had to abandon it almost immediately. The alien race to historical nation stereotyping is so forced and gross :(
  - db48x 5y ago
    I’m not even sure that you are talking about the same show. Which alien race did you think was stereotypical of which real human nation? The Centauri have a Senate and an Emperor, which I suppose humans have done. The writer and producer stated that he deliberately modeled them on the Roman Empire, but their story reminds me more of the transition from the Wiemar Republic to the Third Reich. The Minbari have castes, which humans have done, but the three castes are completely equal and share all responsibilities and decision–making authority, which humans have never done. The Narn have some kind of legislative body made of “many equal voices”, though we never learn many details. That government gets dissolved and replaced with a government appointed by the Centauri (spoiler!). Among the League of Non–Aligned Worlds, there is also a Gerontocracy (which humans have never done), a Corportocracy (which I would argue humans have never done, though I know some would disagree), and one alien race draws lots and gets into fist fights, which is hilarious (“You do the same, for flag.”). The Vorlons have no discernible government, but no human society has ever been that inscrutable. But you won’t have seen any of those, since you gave up early. But I can’t see how any of that is gross. Most fantasy and science fiction examines humanity and the human condition by creating alternate races which are just distorted reflections of our selves. Dwarves and Elves and Hobbits and even Orcs are just aspects of humanity that have been separated out for story–telling purposes, and it’s no different in B5. How can it possibly be gross?