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Why the HBO model might be hurting TV

CDeacMan

CDeacMan

Ishmael Smith
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Just read this very well written and interesting piece about how (starting with The Sopranos) TV shows on HBO have become essentially televised novels that are presented in installments rather than by episodes, and how episodic storytelling elements have become somewhat lost while TV writers often seem to be more interested in a season or series payoffs told in long arcs.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-the-sopranos-do-more-harm-than-good-hbo-and-th,69596/
 
My film prof at Wake, Peter Brunette, used to say the Sopranos should not be viewed as television programming, but rather as an 80-hour film. I tend to agree, that it is less so episodic than it is cinematic. I'm not sure that's ultimately such a bad thing. The miniseries hasn't destroyed television. I will have to read the article to get the finer points tho.
 
Don't you dare talk trash about "The Wire"!!!
 
The Wire was an 80 hour movie as well.
 
TownieDeac said:
My film prof at Wake, Peter Brunette, used to say the Sopranos should not be viewed as television programming, but rather as an 80-hour film. I tend to agree, that it is less so episodic than it is cinematic. I'm not sure that's ultimately such a bad thing. The miniseries hasn't destroyed television. I will have to read the article to get the finer points tho.
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Great man. RIP.

As for this article, I guess I see what this guy is saying, but I personally like the novelistic approach. It's interesting that he never mentioned how he thought "Lost" fit into all this. By his standards of living in the moment, "Lost" would be the epitome of perfection, though I think it's fairly common opinion that "Lost" kinda spun out of control at the end due to a lack of foresight.

Game of Thrones is perfect. Period.

Also, lol at "Flash Forward" already writing 5 seasons. I honestly thought that show died purely because it took a 4 month hiatus in the middle of the first season. I was tuned in up until that, and just could never get back into it afterwards.

Edited to say: I guess I can't really debate with this guy, since I haven't seen Justified, so i'm not sure what his ideal show looks like. It's pretty audacious to be saying that The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Wire, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad are bad for television though.
 
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his is correct, though, that these shows are more enjoyable when you can watch them on DVD/netflix in large episode blocs.
 
That show died because it couldn't figure out how to tell a story effectively. It was a solid premise, but they never figured out how to make it interesting.
 
I think they may be overstating the chopped up 80 hour novel thing. If I remember correctly, David Chase set out to make every individual episode it's own film. What the author is describing doesn't fit a show where one episode could center around 2 core characters and then the next week, you don't see those two characters and the story is never mentioned again.
 
That's funny, because before reading that article, just going on the first 3-4 posts on this thread, my thought was that Justified is the one show that has figured out how to tell a contained story in a single episode, while at the same moving the larger season arc forward. I'm glad the author recognized how well Justified does this, though it is notable that it took the show about 2/3 of the first season before it figured out how to do it effectively.
 
I enjoyed this article because I watch waaay too much TV and have seen some or all of nearly every show he mentions.
 
I believe that Flash Forward also suffered from writer turnover.

I think you have to choose your shows very carefully based on the long arc storylines. I watched a few episodes of Alcatraz, realized that they could drag it out for ten years with no resolution if they chose and just stopped watching.

How I Met Your Mother is a comedy that kind of straddles the line. I know that some of you bitch about how the story doesn't move forward fast enough, but I think that's less important than it being an episodic sitcom. I think the bigger problem here is that we want it to be over so we don't have to see Ted anymore.
 
Alcatraz is supposedly on the bubble to get canceled.
 
PhDeac said:
Alcatraz is supposedly on the bubble to get canceled.
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Which is another problem with getting involved with these shows.

I really wanted to find out what happened on John From Cincinnati as well. I figured HBO would give it more time than they did.
 
HeavyPetter said:
Which is another problem with getting involved with these shows.

I really wanted to find out what happened on John From Cincinnati as well. I figured HBO would give it more time than they did.
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what a truly awful show. i kept waiting for it to get good but i never really enjoyed it.
 
HeavyPetter said:
I think you have to choose your shows very carefully based on the long arc storylines.
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These days, I primarily stick to cable dramas for that reason. Even if the ratings suck, you know they'll finish off the season and you'll at least get some sort of resolution (e.g., Terriers and Lights Out, both on FX in 2011). Network dramas, even those that got mostly positive reviews like The River and Awake -- there's no guarantee you won't get 4 episodes in before the network decides to pull it off the air.

[Note: Despite my general philosophy, I did watch the pilot of Awake. That said, I'm not investing in it and do not really expect it to survive for very long.]
 
TV is better IMO because it is more episode driven. I do like shows on both ends though (episodic and long arcing storylines). I think Boston Legal was well done.
 
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