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Comment by ascorbic | Hacker News Reader

That's what the Lost creators claimed though, and we all know how that went.

One of the greatest gifts Lost gave us is that every showrunner now knows what NOT to do when building a puzzle box show.

Mrs. Davis from Lost creator Damon Lindelhof was a great recent example of that lesson having been learned.

(Shame about Westworld though)

> (Shame about Westworld though)

Oh man, don't remind me.

Remember when "Battlestar Galactica" spent four seasons telling us that the Cylons had a plan, but it turned out that the writers never had any idea what it actually was?

Counterpoint; JMS had the five seasons of Babylon 5 planned out but, fearing cancellation, tried squeezing wrap-up storytelling from the fifth into the tail of the fourth, and the narrative compression is palpable, it feels super rushed. Then they did get renewed and the resulting final season feels disconnected and flabby.

Point of order. They were cancelled.

There was a surge in viewership as they tried to tie up the story prompting the renewal of the show. But way too late. That they were able to pull off season 5 with the scraps and missing major cast members is kind of impressive. Perhaps indicative of what it would have been like had it been produced piecemeal

Also, credit where credit is due that Babylon 5 is almost exclusive in that era in terms of almost every episode having at least something that contributes to the main plot.

So much so that Star Trek had to pivot TNG and DS9 from problem of the week formulaic writing to something similar.

I honestly loved that. Season 4 is so fast-paced and devoid of all the filler that was common back then. I also loved the long good bye of season 5. So many characters get their own epilogue episode.

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