In the 1980s, shows like Hill Street Blues extended story arcs beyond an episode. In the 1990s, Buffy the Vampire Slayer used a Big Bad * each season. At the turn, The Sopranos plotted a thirteen episode, season long story that had a clear beginning, middle and end, and launched the new paradigm that would become prevalent among cable drama. Various models are used but by and large cable drama** tells a thirteen episode story each season. David Simon*** has spoke about constructing his seasons like a novel, and each episode like a chapter.
* “I’m not the new Big Bad everybody needs to be afraid of.” said a villain on True Blood who was recently introduced at the top of the new season
** One network example (when it was exclusive to NBC) was Friday Night Lights which would take viewers through the naturally occurring timeframe of a football season and the milestones throughout. Due to the writers strike and a half renewal and custody sharing with DirecTV, only Season One had the classic 22 episodes. It speaks to the advantage of plotting the new standard 13 episodes compared to old model of 22.
*** What we were asking was, “What should we spend 12 hours of television saying?”
What was once cutting edge is almost a prerequisite for (cable) drama these days. Viewers expect a cohesive story. What was new and exciting in 1999 on The Sopranos is almost conventional by now. A season may depend on a theme, an idea, the introduction and defeat of a new villain or any number of things. Even getting a character from point A in episode 1 to point Z in episode 13 is a large change from former drama models. Before The Sopranos, you'd see a character move from place to place from season to season, but rarely was it a meticulously plotted season long journey. More often you'd see a three episode arc that happens to coincide with the end of season/sweeps. The only long term plot line one was likely to see was a pregnancy in the fall meaning a birth in May sweeps.
The new, hyper serialized television demands viewers' attention, and thus rewards them.
At the same time, these meticulously plotted shows can suffer from slower, table setting episodes that are necessary but less attention grabbing. Case in point, watch episodes in the 5-8 range for the first three seasons of Game of Thrones. If you are someone who watches a show for the season long story, you are not as likely to be bothered by slow moments as someone who is amazingly able to still be viscerally upset by the end of the Sopranos while simultaneously breathing through their mouth. However, even knowing there is a payoff, the middling episodes cause an evenness in the season.
Breaking Bad has been a great example of a show that has beginning and end points in mind for the series, as well as clear progress each season*. The end point for each season accumulates everything that has happened thus far and contributes to the ultimate goal of Walt becoming Scarface. They are like landings on a staircase until you reach the roof.
* Group Season One and Two together due to the writers strike, and consider two halves of Season Five as separate seasons, a la Sopranos.
While The Sopranos often introduced a new foil to Tony each season* , a show doesn't necessarily need to schlep in new villains or a whole host of characters each year to plot out that season's novel though. Justified** spent Season Four (possibly its best) on a mystery. Finding it's way midway through the first season, introducing the baddest of the big bads Mags in Season Two, piling on two new guys in Season Three.
* Again, formerly cutting edge, now conventional.
** Something that Justified and Breaking Bad have in common is the relatively slow passage of time on the show. Debuting in 2010, only about a year has passed in Justified's Harlan County (including about 10 days in Season Four), and debuting in 2008, Breaking Bad's ABQ has only seen two years pass from the pilot to the (still not seen in a real time context) flash forward of bearded Walt on the run, purchasing a BFG.*
* Footnoting for the explanation of that term because the text isn't hidden when hyperlinked.
Coming in Part 2 is the innovative approach Justified took in Season Four, which was originally the whole point of this post.
No comments:
Post a Comment