Wednesday, May 09, 2007

When TV Shows Must End   [Jonah Goldberg]

Ross Douthat makes a fine point about how the best TV shows probably benefit from having a date certain for termination. He writes:

...if there was ever a show whose creators needed an end-date to shoot for, it's Lost. But there's a larger lesson here, and one that I wish some other great TV shows had taken to heart: Imagine how much better The Sopranos would be if David Chase had been kept to four or five seasons, or The X-Files if Chris Carter had stopped churning out episodes in 1998 or so. I know Deadwood fans were sorry to see David Milch's revisionist Western cut off after three seasons, but maybe they should consider themselves lucky that there will never be a season four, or seven, or twelve (Al Swearengen faces off against William Jennings Bryan for control of the Populist Party! Hijinks ensue!). The same goes for The Wire, which seems poised to leave on a high note after this year's final season with its "best show on TV" halo still untarnished.

As a general rule of thumb, I think the better the show, the more it needs a cut-off date. Three's Company could have run forever; Seinfeld should have ended a season or two earlier than it did.

Me: I agree. But I don't think length of run matters as much as having an end to the story in mind, from the beginning. I think The Sopranos has gotten itself into a little trouble in its final season because there's a rushed feeling to it. It's as if at the end of the Part A of this season David Chase said "Holy #%^@ we don't know how to close out this story arc." If you know where you're going it's pretty easy to develop your characters. If you don't know where you're going until the last minute, Tony Soprano suddenly develops a gambling problem. NYPD Blue, despite some problems, had a nice multi-season story arc for Sipowicz as an urban Job. Buffy was allowed to run its course nicely as well. Indeed, I think Joss Whedon has a particular gift for conceiving story lines and character development (boy that Wesley changed!) across long periods.

Similarly, the real tragedy is when shows that do have a story arc in mind aren't allowed to see it through to a convincing conclusion. Rome was a great show, but it ended in a rush. Angel, had to drop any number of threads in order to race unsatisfactorily to the finish. Hill Street Blues came to way to abrupt an end. It's too soon to say the same about The Sopranos, but that was definitely the worry many of us had (including Ross) about that gambling-addiction episode.

05/09 08:51 AMShare