Have there been any TV series with overarching plot lines that were satisfying? It seems that everybody wants to keep milking a show long after it stops making sense.
I’ve lost interest in X-files, Battlestar Galactica and Heroes. I haven’t watched it, but I hear a lot of complaints about Lost. Does anyone have a TV series they could point to and say that the overall plot was well-written, well-paced, and ultimately satisfying?
Are we only going to get this type of thing on a mini-series? I loved “The Lost Room” It told the story it was trying to tell very well – and then ended.
Under the sub-heading of “Satisfying but flawed” I’d place Babylon 5. JMS had to cram a 5 year arc into 4 years, and was then left hanging without anyplace to go when the show was renewed for Season 5. As for Crusade and the movies…let it go, please.
You want “The Wire”. There wasn’t a single plot in that five year show that wasn’t well done. Some seasons were weaker than others, but all were excellent.
Does anyone else remember the show “Wiseguy”? It had some really good overarching plot lines. As did “Hill Street Blues” (in its first couople seasons).
This week, TNT is in the middle of Angel season 4, which is among the most satisfying plot arcs I’ve seen; the biggest problem I had with watching it on first airing was that that once it started moving–around the fifth episode or so, every episode ended with a more nail-biting cliffhanger than the last.
Lost has gotten much, much better in the last two seasons. Time will tell for sure, but I’m optimistic that it will pay off in the end, unlike, say, the X-Files.
The Wire’s my favorite show of all time, but I’d have to object, noting the fifth season plotlines as being very heavy-handed and sometimes downright silly.
Desperate Housewives first, third and fifth (current) seasons have pretty good overarching mystery plots. The second and fourth seasons’ ones were a bit lackluster, IMHO.
Farscape manages pretty well; while there were a few bumps in the road, you never got the feeling that it was being made up as it went along, that plot threads were constantly being dropped without any further explanation or followup, or that character or subplot X was inserted into the plotline just to fuck with you (all of the preceding applies to the X-Files, BTW). The miniseries/movie wrapped up everything pretty neatly with a minimum/near absence of “gotcha!” moments (with the exception of the fate of a main protagonist, which worked anyway).
I enjoyed In Plain Sight, which seems to be designed around the “arc per season” concept. The last episodes of the first season set up at least two possible arcs for the second season: the possibility that Marshall Shannon’s fugitive bank robber father might reappear after years in hiding; or that the FBI agent investigating Shannon’s sister will go on a crusade to prove Shannon covered up her sister’s complicity in a drug deal.
“Well he’s back” mentioned Wiseguy. Boy that was a great show with great story arcs. It’s too bad Ken Wahl went off the deep end. It should be remembered.