# What series most wasted a promising premise? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-series-most-wasted-a-promising-premise/489752 "2009-03-17T14:43:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-series-most-wasted-a-promising-premise/489752/81 "2009-03-21T22:23:20Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Vertizontal, it’s funny you should mention ‘Joey’ because I was just discussing that show with a friend this week. I so agree with you, it could have been an interesting look into an actor’s journey. Instead, it was just another lame sitcom with lots of big boobs, one-liners, and wacky neighbors. “Joey” never appeared to be struggling much at all; as for wanting to be an actor, he might as well have been wanting to be an insurance salesmen. (My friend feels the REAL life of an actor involves using/delivering/selling huge quantities of drugs, and leaving that reality out gave “Joey” way too much free time, hence the dating, etc.) But Friends already established that Joey was a moderately successful actor. He had a few small parts in movies, he had the Days of Our Lives run, the second Days of Our Lives run, a few bit parts in TV shows and a bunch of plays. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-series-most-wasted-a-promising-premise/489752/82 "2009-03-22T06:20:46Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > I gotta say, though, that neither 24 nor Prison Break belong in this thread. Those shows did, at least for their first season or two, stick with their premise and lived up to their promise. That later seasons got worse doesn’t put them in the same category with Voyager, about which I totally agree with the OP: the writers never even tried to live up to the premise. To be clear, I stated that Prison Break **ALMOST** belonged in here. If the show stopped after Season 2, we wouldnt even begin to be talking about it now. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-series-most-wasted-a-promising-premise/489752/83 "2009-03-22T11:21:08Z")
I read this whole thread and realized that I’ve not seen a full episode of any of the shows mentioned. Except the Brady Bunch. I used to love tv, I don’t know what happened. These days I only watch Ghost Hunters, 'cause Jason’s hot. I nominate Rescue Me. I watched most of the first season and enjoyed it - the characters were friends, the situations were interesting without being contrived, I didn’t have a problem with the whole “I see dead people!” thing Leary had going on - but at some point all the characters turned into repulsive assholes. I deal with enough repulsive assholes at work, I don’t want to watch them on my tv. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-series-most-wasted-a-promising-premise/489752/84 "2009-03-22T14:12:32Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Definitely agree with that. There’s only so many times you can go “We’re hungry.” “Oh no.” “We found food.” “Yay.” Are you kidding? A fantastic show could be made of a Wire-level gritty show depicting 46 survivors on a deserted tropical island. It would have to be written by people who really get character interaction (obviously not the Lost writers), but it’s really a goldmine of material. As for plotlines, there’s the initial searches for food, water, shelter, etc. Foraging for food is an adventure, esp. if nobody knows what’s edible. There could be great scenes of people deciding on how to go about figuring it out. Or how about suburbanites trying to figure out how to hunt? That could be a long ongoing thread. Then slightly longer-term issues like trying to set up a functional infirmary, more durable places to live, and a replenishable supply of food. Something as trivial as toothaches could end up being big challenges. And people getting sick with no doctor or antibiotics present. Or people trying to figure out how to build a cabin. This all requires a focus on details, which takes a lot of research on the part of the writers, but this could be gripping stuff. Then, the main long-term issue would be getting off the island. Maintaining a continuous signal fire is a start, and even something as mundane as that can have dramatic possibilities; should they waste a limited supply of wood on this? The building of a ship and testing it could be a long multi-seasonal arc. All of these situations can be played as drama or comedy, but the important thing is for the writers to create believable characters with real tension and chemistry between them. People will have very different ideas of how to do things, which, in survival situations, can add up to great, entertaining drama. You can still do the who-sleeps-with-who rigamarole, but I for one would love to see it with increasingly ragged people with no access to razors, toothbrushes, combs, showers, etc. Hell, making a razor or a toothbrush can be an episode in itself. And some people’s psychology will start to break down; there will eventually be genuinely crazy people. The question of what to do with them can be another long ongoing thread, especially if one of them harms another. What type of punishment should be used? Should they be put down, like dogs? Exiled? I think Lost is a fine crazy sci-fi show, but I would love to see an attempt at a genuine survival drama or comedy. If done right, with smart writers and good actors, it could be one of the most popular shows ever (and yes, we’ll get perfectly groomed, hot characters, but I don’t mind that if the other aspects are up to par). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-series-most-wasted-a-promising-premise/489752.md?page=4)