Hacker News Reader

Comment by helpfulclippy | Hacker News Reader

One thing I think B5 still comes in very strong for is maintaining a coherent vision throughout the series. Modern TV storytelling will develop a story arc, but that arc is generally contained to a season. The characters as a whole develop in ways that matter between seasons, but I usually don't get the sense that each season is working in concert to tell a coherent and well-paced story. Some more recent series like Breaking Bad (or Better Call Saul, for that matter) have done a really good job of telling a great story that unfolds over the whole run of the show -- but I feel it remains the exception.

View on HN

Yeah, it's hard for writers to do that without a big upfront commitment from the studio. Typically they only get one season assured, if that. And then if the show catches an audience, suddenly the studio flips and demands the writers string it out into extra seasons.

We all know shows that started out strong then got ruined by this stuff, like Lost or Heros. Or the internet's favorite punching bag, Game of Thrones.

I think The Wire is an interesting exception. They never got more than a single season commitment, but still managed to make something that feels cohesive over 5 seasons. They did it by using an ensemble cast where character's arcs can be extended in later seasons, but with new characters entering the mix as well. They also picked a different theme for each season, looking at the failures of american institutions from different directions, and resolving that theme within each single season. The result is each season feels distinct and can stand alone, but they also form a cohesive whole.

Conversely, I feel like Lost is massively in the opposite category. They did get their massive up-front commitment for 6 seasons while in season 2. The character and thematic arcs are probably some of the best I've seen in TV, while handling a massive ensemble cast.

Heroes, I agree with you, no question.

The Wire was definitely a masterclass in this, as each season has dangling threads that seem so obviously picked up and driven in subsequent seasons, but nothing that's left dangling to an extent you're disappointed.

That said, it's also aided by primarily being a story about characters rather than plot.

I always thought Lost got a bad rap for that. It was actually a story about characters, but its fandom thought it was very much about plot. Hence the hate for the finale (which I thought was wonderful)

Lost SHOULD have been the opposite, but it instead just piled on new mysteries that were never answered except ‘Dallas’ Who Shot JR style- i.e. it’s just a dream (or in this case purgatory.)

I'm pretty sure it was Bobby Ewing who turned out not to be dead at the end of the season, whereas JR was really shot (just not killed). However my memories of 1980s soaps are somewhat hazy, like most people here I was more interested in things like Z80/6502 assembly code than big-haired women catfighting in ludicrous shoulder pads [0].

However, genuine thanks for the Lost finale spoiler, I never wanted to watch beyond season 2 anyway as it already became rather tedious.

[0] https://youtu.be/BbDgPnXX9dQ?si=XecRP5goplpyEtIP

It was a shot of Bobby in the shower after supposedly being dead is my recollection- yep, found it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdOpQE5miP4

Referring to the 'Who Shot JR' part was a mixup on my part- was pretty young at the time and not actively watching weekly so I forgot which was which...

Lucifer did a pretty good job of telling a consistent story across its run, despite (or perhaps aided by) the switch to Netflix.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com