I was a big fan of the Battlestar Galactica reboot, and watched the first couple of seasons of The Walking Dead, and also liked Babylon 5.
However, all of them suffered from the same issue, in my opinion. They all started out great, with some kind of dread menace threatening the characters, and driving the drama and action. In BSG’s case, it was the unknowable, implacable Cylons showing up and trying to kill them. In The Walking Dead, it was hordes of walkers, and in Babylon 5, it was the Shadows.
Then the shows derailed by de-mystifying the bad guys. BSG had us actually get to know individual Cylons, The Walking Dead had the survivors figure out how to defeat and defend against the walkers, and Babylon 5 was kind of a mix of the two.
Then they devolved into what amounts to soap operas- set in whatever futuristic setting they’re set in, but the initial antagonists aren’t really the point anymore.
Are there any series where the big badness stays around, and doesn’t get defeated, and doesn’t become familiar? I loved the first couple of seasons of BSG, The Walking Dead, and B5 for this reason, and get so disappointed when they turned into soap operas.
Well, there’s The Mentalist’s Red John. It’s lasted more than a couple of seasons and its only been this last season I’m tired of the mystery (though he has narrowed the suspects list to a handful).
Red John is the woman who was kidnapped by Red John. The gal who thinks she is a real psychic. She is so whacko that she has a split personality and Red John is hiding in there. She is in love with Jane, and that is why she hasn’t killed him. She doesn’t know she is Red John.
Jane has been convinced by someone who worked with Red John (and is now dead) that Red John was a man, but it was never confirmed that this woman saw Red John in person.
I think that Jane looking for a man is a real hoot. Only “love” and obsession is a reason that Red John has not killed Jane many times over.
And the only time we have ever seen Red John was when Jane was captured and tied up, Red John appeared in a mask and was too small to be a large man.
And what do you make of the testimony of Red John’s blind lover, Rosalind Harker?
If the woman you’re thinking of is the one I’ve seen, she was institutionalized because Red John had convinced her she had died. Can you find out this woman’s name?
I think the issue in the OP is that creators of shows have an idea, explore it in the first season or two, and then go, “Oh shit! What do we do next?” Clearly that is what happened with Heroes, to add another example.
Babylon 5 was a show written to last five years, and was going along nicely until TPTB decided to end it after 4 (rushing the endgame) and then gave it another anyway (giving us a season with nothing to say).
I came in to say Babylon 5, which only has one downpoint. The early 5th season, but even that finishes strong. However, if you didn’t like seasons 3 and 4, then I don’t have much for you.
I think Supernatural was very strong for 5 seasons. That’s a good record. It’s dipped now, but didn’t its first 5 years.
X-files also made it 5 strong seasons without a dip, though I actually think it made it 7 seasons without a dip in quality. Not bad.
Buffy made it at least 5 seasons, and Angel made it its whole run.
So, bump has made a good point. It’s why the serial killers in Bones only last one or two seasons, only to be replaced by a new serial killer. It’s why the villain-behind-the-scenes on NCIS has changed at least 3 times in 5 season. Even Doctor Who’s beloved Daleks are met with “Not again!” by its fans.
I think your spot on about BSG and other series starting to suck because they become too soap opera-y, but I don’t think the demystification of the big bads had anything to do with it. I put it more to the desire to squeeze a few more seasons out of the original premise than it really deserved. Simply put, the characters are forced into more and more outrageous situations or given more and more different (and sometimes wildly inconsistent) emotions and motives. What there was to like about BSG was the tension, the survivalistic atmosphere, and the conflict, but those aren’t great things to have to draw out for a couple more years of episodes.
Also, by extending the series, it adds more and more pressure on the overlying major issues (Why did the war happen? What are the motivations of the Cylons? What the fuck is going on?) and those issues were horribly “resolved”. It wasn’t demystifying the Cylons that caused the problems. I thought that part of the story could have been fascinating and worthwhile. It was all the other crap the series diverged into that ruined the series.
I think it is simply the fate of shows like BSG (or Heroes or Prison Break or Lost or any of the plethora of shows like them). Shows that have the same characters facing tension every week seem to inevitably run out of gas if they become popular enough for the networks to milk the hell out of them.
I watched BSG all the way through and enjoyed it, but the very best episodes, IMO, were while the Cylons were mysterious, implacable and murderous. Once they got names, faces and motivations, the show went downhill somewhat, and became more soap-operatic.
I couldn’t even watch The Walking Dead after they found the prison and the Governor showed up. It was a soap opera set in a post-zombie apocalypse at that point.
B5’s 5th season was pretty bad, and so were some of the movies as well.
Stargate suffered from the same issue, once the Goauld became not so tough, and same went for Stargate Atlantis, once the Wraith quit being so tough.
I didn’t care much for New Caprica, but BSG didn’t really derail until the 4th season. It got especially bad in the later half. Of course it didn’t help that while the Cylons may have had “a plan” the writers didn’t, and it showed. They couldn’t even keep the Cylon numbering straight.
I personally liked all of Babylon 5 and I didn’t see any huge dip in quality that others seemed to see. It certainly stayed strong and amazing all the way up to the end of season 4, and I thought the series ended on a high note with the series finale. I certainly don’t agree that it turned into too much of a soap opera (which is a quality I absolutely hate in shows and why I mostly stick to silly sitcoms, several of which themselves are doing this to me).
Star Trek TNG and Star Trek Voyager only get better as they progress, I feel like. Though Voyager was pretty mediocre overall, it did have a level of consistency and I wouldn’t say really “dipped”. But neither of those shows have a really strong story arc so probably aren’t what you’re talking about.
My main problem with Voyager wasn’t that it got better or worse, but that the main antagonistic factor was just being stuck in the Delta quadrant. The Borg were never really much of a big threat (despite the ominous music)- ultimately, they gave the show a hot chick with a huge rack… net gain, and hardly murderous and inscrutable.
They came close with Species 8472, but then the Borg and Voyager help each other out, and the Borg quit being a threat.
I thought “Year in Hell” was an awesome episode, because that’s how I kind of though the show should have gone- the ship should have become more and more decrepit, there should have been more Starfleet / Maquis conflict, especially at the beginning, and there should have been hard decisions to keep the lights on, so to speak. Instead, the ship was always clean, in good repair, and nobody was eating low-replicator-energy protein bar rations 3 times a day.
