Jump to content

Questions regarding episode allotments


Recommended Posts

  • Members

I am curious about preferences regarding the end of an arc which has 70-80 episodes. If you watched a telenovela type show that was given a certain number of episodes with no guarantee of an additional season, would you want there to be some sort of resolution at the end or would you be okay with the main story ending in a cliffhanger?

If it ended on a happy note and you liked the show overall, do you think you would watch a second season or do you think another season is only needed if a show ends with some loose ends?

*****I noticed that people have looked at this but no one has responded so I wonder if at least one person would be kind enough to at least tell me if it's because it's a stupid question. A simple "Yes" will survive and thanks in advance for at least taking the time out to do that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 13
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

I'll just answer my own question then it can be like talking to myself.

If a season of any show ends on a happy note it would not influence my decision to watch another season of the same show so it would work the same way for me with a telenovela format. I guess the most important thing is whether or not I feel entertained--even if the show is poorly written because I must confess that I watch a lot of bad television. People then assume that means you cannot appreciate good television and excellent writing and this is simply not true.

I would expect in 70-80 episodes that some sort of resolution would be made to the main story. I think it's a bad idea to waste that many episodes to leave a bunch of loose ends. Even though I don't necessarily think writers should just focus on writing for an audience instead of themselves, I do think when you know an audience might be expecting some sort of storyline pay-off, it's only fair to offer up some sort of reward for the time they've invested in your show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It depends. If the show ends on a good note and ties up all of its loose ends I would watch another season if I really enjoy that show. Sometimes a cliffhanger ending is good sometimes it is not. I like the kind that makes the viewers imagine on what is going to happen. If the show is well written/acted and it ends on a good note and all the ends are tied up I might not always want another season because usually when a great show is renewed the writers do not know what to write then the show becomes stupid. Basically, it is good to end a show while it is still high.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't think any show should end on a huge cliffhanger when it's either officially over, or there's no guarantee of a subsequent season. I just fnd that annoying as a viewer. And should the show in question be lucky enough to get a reunion movie, in most cases, years have passed and the cliffhangers get resolved in exposition. <<Womp Womp>> The new Dallas and one of the reunion movies both ended with J.R. and John Ross doing some "That's my boy" moustache twirling, promising us viewers that there will be more dirty deeds to come. Whether or not we see them is irrelevant, because just the promise of that is a fitting end for J.R. and his boy. Knots had a lovely ending with Abby moving back to the cul-de-sac, Val clutching Gary as they headed inside... "Seems like old times" with Karen giving an "Oh sh!t..." look. Perfect. We can imagine the rest. At the end of Back to the Cul-de-sac, we find out that Karen and Abby will be grandmothers. Again, we can imagine the rest.

I don't mind some semi-dramatic things being left up in the air, but when you don't play your cards right (or you get played by your cards, Prospect Park, we're looking at you!), you can leave your viewers dissatisfied, no matter how great your intentions were.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

AMC tied up all loose ends. Every character got a resolution except JR and well that's a situation I think you can just imagine. To me he either missed and didn't shoot anyone or hit someone non fatally. In either case he was arrested and sentenced to jail. That doesn't take away from any of the other characters endings and preserves that final week

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

If I'm into a show at the end of the first season, I will most definitely watch the second season, no matter what. For me, regardless of what happens on screen, I already have a cliffhanger going on in my head -- "what's gonna happen now?" Assuming we're talking about a soapy/serialized show, the end of the first season will have dynamics which are way different from the beginning of the season, so even if it's just a matter of "how will things be different?," I'm on board for another season. Take "Revenge," for example. That first season could have ended with everything tied up in a nice bow -- hell, it could have ended with everyone knowing Emily's true identity and her "revenge" ploy being destroyed. But I'd still be looking forward to Sept. 30 because now I want to know how things will play out with these new dynamics/changes/factors. That's as good as any cliffhanger for me.

On the other hand, if a show is not coming back, then I pretty much echo what SFK and Cheap say (which I so often do anyway :lol:). I like open-ended cliffhangers, where you know life will go on. It's been almost a year since AMC left us, but what's happened in Pine Valley throughout the year? Brooke and Adam were engaged -- did they get married or are they still planning a big wedding or did they break up? Why did they break up? When Jack left Erica, did she end up back in Adam's orbit, and did a big quadrangle play out between the four vets? Frankie and Randi were expecting a baby -- hopefully that baby survived, but how has pregnancy and new motherhood affected Randi? How is working a full-time job at the hospital and being a young father working for Frankie? All of these are cliffhangers that we, the viewers, can take into our own hands, so we don't need a conclusion from the writers to satisfy us. We know the characters and the show well enough to come up with our endings. Prospect Park or no Prospect Park, that would have been a solid ending. JR pulling the trigger, not so much. Given the circumstances of the finale, I can take it and come up with my own conclusion (no one was shot, he was carted off to Oakhaven and given a full evaluation), but if the finale was a true finale that was meant to be the final chapter of the whole show, then no, I wouldn't have something like that be part of the ending.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Personally I'm to the point where I want a story to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Just because a story "ends" doesn't mean that there isn't more to tell. For example, just because there's a wedding at the end of series that doesn't mean that you can't pick up with that couple six months or a year later and start a whole new round of story.

I can't tell you how much I want someone to try an American telenovela. It's my white whale. The thing I keep hoping I'll see on the horizon one day and IMO, it's the only hope for the genre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Erica's was perfect. Would hit have been neater had she married Jack and accepted her place as his domesticated wife? Maybe, but that wouldnt be true to Erica's character. I thought ending those two with her becoming a movie star in Hollywood was a better way to proceed with her. I like that she ended the show as Erica Kane and not Erica Montgomery. She had the love of her family and friends and aspirations for new chapter in her life. She didnt have Jack but then again her love life has never been stable

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I agree. Erica was on her way to Hollywood & Vine and Jack pulled his balls out of her purse. Perfect ending for both characters but that doesn't mean that we couldn't pick them up again if we wanted to. One year later, Erica's getting ready for the film premiere and Jack is just about to propose to new girlfriend, Cassandra Hubbard. laugh.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

But I think Erica's, "This isn't the ending that I wanted" shows

I disagree because Erica still got a "promise of Prospect Park" ending, imo, not a "real" ending. There was the definite impression that the loose ends of her relationship with Jack and her new career in Hollywood would be addressed in the online series. Her, "This isn't the ending that I wanted" speaks to that. It was great to stick it to spoiled, "My way or the highway" Erica, and yet we knew (thought!) this wasn't really the end at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'm in a phase where I no longer have the patience for a long drawn out soap story. By the time my patience is restored soaps may all be gone. An ideal ending to Y&R for me would probably include David Hasselhoff. GH's would include Demi Moore, John Stamos, Jack Wagner, Tristan Rogers, a bunch of other people and Richard Dean Anderson.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah. I've reached the point where stuff in the genre that used to be tolerable to me no longer is. I'm no longer in the mood for writers who retcon history, especially huge pieces of history that were the result of a year of storytelling, things like the unabortion or Dani on OLTL being older than Jack. If I want science-fiction I know where to get it. Also with soaps there's always the issue of a new HW coming on board and completely changing the stories and tone of a show. Although to be fair that happens in primetime too but it doesn't seem quite as jarring. Telenovelas make it possible to do a story in depth but does away with the desperation that results from trying to keep a show going for decades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I wholeheartedly agree with you about retcon history. I had this on and off viewing relationship with GH that hit some major snags beginning in 2001 with the defrosted Stavros Cassadine story. They went on to give Alexis a never before mentioned sister Kristina whose pairing with Ned I found gross beyond words. They also played out some shippers' fantasy of a very forgettable night with Alexis and Sonny that's only high point was Carly's walk up the stairs to see them

together coupled with the background music. In 2007 they tested what little bit of patience I had left. I can watch clips here and there but talking about GH is much more preferable to actually watching it.

Basic cable has seasons short enough to force the writers into being concise. It keeps certain shows from just dragging a story into infinity.

I guess this would be true when done correctly. I've been watching Jill Faren Phelps' crack at an adaptation of one and with 16 episodes to go they back loaded the drama in such a way as to either lead to a sloppy haphazard resolution by the finale or a write your own ending because the pieces may be such that would lead to a resolution but time will have run out. I think her team must've figured that as long as the shippers get their ILY by series end that the rest will be forgiven or overlooked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy