Serialized dramas

[dougo]

The New York Times says that there's a glut of serialized dramas on TV (link from a comment on urbaniak's journal). I have to agree—I'm watching 12(!) of them currently: Studio 60, Heroes, What About Brian, The Unit, Lost, Jericho, The Nine, Survivor (yes, I think this counts), Six Degrees, Battlestar Galactica, Kidnapped, and Vanished. I was also watching Smith, but that got cancelled after 3 episodes. I used to watch 24, but I got tired of it in the middle of season 3 (but I've heard it's gotten better since then), and I would like to watch Prison Break but I missed the beginning of the series and haven't gotten around to catching up. These are all good shows (and Smith was not even the weakest), but the problem is that people don't have time to watch all of them, don't want to come in in the middle of the story, and don't want to commit to a show that might get cancelled without finishing the story. It's an embarrassment of riches, in some ways, but the way broadcast television works is just kind of a broken model for this sort of thing. I'm somewhat surprised that there hasn't been a series released direct to DVD (or download) yet, but it's not clear that that model is economically viable either. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, though I'm not optimistic.

Comments

[suspect-device1.livejournal.com]

fascinating

[ahkond.livejournal.com]

Fear of cancellation is exactly why I'm not watching more of these. I'm still bitter about Carnivále, not to mention Deadwood. If HBO can't keep these things going, what are the networks going to do when people start trimming down their TiVo season passes? I'm interested by Heroes and maybe the Nine but I'm not watching them. Of the items you listed, I only watch Lost, and I'm catching up on Galactica on DVD.

[twistjusty.livejournal.com]

I see an opportunity for Netflix or a reasonable facsimile. There's a television show that's unavailable to me, because I don't have cable, and I'm in the wrong country. I rent the Season DVDs from my local video store. In fact, all but one of the television shows I watch are from rented DVDs. The exception is a weekly "Best Of" package from a local comedy show that ran for fifteen years.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

It seems like the general audience is starting to experience what the sf fanbase has been dealing with off and on for quite a while.

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

I was thinking just this week that we might be in a golden age of television. Movies today kindof suck, and TV has gotten much better. Right now, it's profitable to do good shows like House and Battlestar. But if more and more people just download shows like me, they'll need to go for a different model. The end result might be more mini-series: things that are only meant to be 13 episodes or so and never anything more. The quality would probably be great, but I'd miss having something that could span the years.

[pfranzosa.livejournal.com]

That is a pretty obsessive list! So far this season I've managed to only add Heroes (great show!) to my list which includes Lost and Galactica (and 24 when it returns this winter). I'm tempted by the premise of Daybreak if for no other reason than Groundhog Day is one of my favorites :)

On the topic of direct-to-DVD, Henry Jenkins (http://www.henryjenkins.org/) has discussed this topic on occasion and I think right now the economics probably wouldn't work,...here is his take on a highly fan-supported show like Firefly and why this probably wouldn't even work there: http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/06/more_on_firefly_and_the_long_t.html

[dkuznick.livejournal.com]

I was avoiding Heroes because I didn't want to get sucked into another show. So what do I do? Watch The Nine and get sucked into that. I'll catch Heroes on DVD. Yes, agreed about Daybreak WRT Groundhog Day (did you expect to hate that movie like I did?).

[dougo.livejournal.com]

The Nine has been kind of a dud for me, the weakest of the list. (Hm, I take it back, Kidnapped is the weakest. But at least that has urbaniak as an assassin named "The Accountant".) It seems to be going nowhere particularly interesting, and taking its own sweet time to get there. I'm still hoping Egan turns out to be a CIA operative or something, though.

[dkuznick.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen last week's episode yet. I can't explain why I like the show exactly. I don't think it's great, but I enjoy it.

WRT Egan, in the first episode my first impression of him was he was one of the bank robbers, and was hiding a gun in the toilet for them.

[rawrin.livejournal.com]

Would you count iTunes as a release to download? You can buy episodes of various TV shows through it, including Heroes.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

That is nice, but I was mainly thinking of shows that are not even broadcast at all, and thus don't need to get Nielsen ratings to survive, i.e. they can compete purely on quality and not on time slots.

[rawrin.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay, I get what you mean now. Like movies that get made but not shown in theaters, just released on DVD right off.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

I'm watching 12(!) of them currently ... I used to watch 24

Talk about ambiguity. :)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Feh! That's what I get for not using quotation marks for TV show titles like I usually do.