How TV shows are sticking the landing better than ever
It is no secret that a lot of TV networks have an ongoing formula for their TV shows. Especially when it comes to a network sitcom. However, as TV as expanded over recent years branching out to cable TV stations and moving onto streaming platforms these formulas seem to be breaking down. Now we have shows that take twists where we didn’t expect or comedies that follow a story we haven’t seen before. I have taken notice of a few TV shows over recent years that have one major thing in common that definitely differentiates them from typical network shows. The creators knew, from the very beginning, how the show would end.
Until just a few years ago network TV shows would squeeze every lit bit out of their show that they could. Usually in a bad way. The stories would become nonsensical, the audience feels like they don’t even know these characters anymore, and the show goes on for about more five more seasons than it should have. However, recently more and more show creators are bucking this norm and ending their stories when the audience still wants more and in a lot of cases the creators have known from the start how the show would end and how long it would take to get there.
One major example of a great show that already at its ending from the start is Mr. Robot. The show’s creator Sam Esmail originally wrote Mr. Robot as a feature-length film. So, when he decided the story would be better told through a show he already had the ending. Esmail alluded to the fact that he always expects the show to only be four to five seasons. It ended up ending after four seasons after the writers of the show saw the ending on the storyboard and realized it would only take a few episodes to get there.
Two other major shows in recent years, Mad Men and Breaking Bad, also already had their endings mapped out before starting. Matthew Weiner the creator of Mad Men told The Hollywood Reporter, “the idea that he [Don Draper] would end up at an ashram, or something like that, was with me from when I pitched AMC the first season.---I always imagined it would be him [Don Draper] on a bluff somewhere, sitting in the lotus position with a smile on his face”. Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, said he pitched the show with just one line “this is a story of a man who transforms from Mr. Chips into Scarface”.
Other shows, such as The Good Place (an unconventional network show) may not have known exactly how it would end from the start, but it did buck the network norm by only lasting four seasons. As Ted Danson, one of the show’s stars told Entertainment Weekly, “Mike Schur [the creator] knew he would have told the story by the end of the [fourth] season”. Mike Schur didn’t want to milk the show for everything it had, even though the show had become extremely popular by its last season. He wanted it to end on his terms.
Personally, I think this is the best thing a show creator can do for themselves and their creation. A show should always end while it’s still on top before people have merely begun tolerating it. It is no coincidence that the shows I mentioned above have all become major parts of our pop culture and are widely known as great TV shows and they all only lasted between four and seven seasons, with most of the seasons only being a few episodes each. Every show should know how it’s going to end, or at least have a good idea of when to stop. Thankfully, I think more and more shows are moving in this direction. We will hold the classic network shows close to our hearts, but I look forward to more inventive shows heading our way.
You can watch Mr. Robot and Mad Men on Prime Video and Breaking Bad and The Good Place on Netflix. Happy Watching!