TV shows, as a super-long form of narrative art, are very sensitive to pacing and structure with shows that might otherwise work extremely well in certain seasons or certain episodes still overall getting messed up due to structural or pacing issues that would not be a problem for a single move or book.

This is less of an issue for purely or mostly episodic shows where viewing the show as a complete work is not as important, but for a show with a continuing plot, dragged out seasons filled solely with story arc episodes that don't have any self-contained plot in themselves can at times, if not done right, just feel like an interminable movie.

Of all the tv shows I've ever seen, for me personally, the one that most most nailed structure and pacing was "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and there are two main reasons for this:

1. It had a perfect mix of story arc episodes, true "monster if the week" standalone episodes, and "monster of the week" episodes that gave more context on the story arc in each season such that one got the best of both worlds in terms of long-form storytelling and payoff, along with short-form episodic adventures that could be watched again standalone. Too many shows now have abandoned the art of the self-contained episode in favor of just massive long-form storytelling that risks dragging and does not provide as much as syndicated rewatch value.
2. It did not have one long villain / story arc throughout the show but rather had a new villain and story arc each season. I can only think of a few other shows that went with this type structure where each season was almost a long-form story unto itself that resolved neatly. I much prefer this to meandering plots / conflicts dragged out over multiple seasons, since it can be very hard to perfectly nail an extended narrative that long without screwing something up at some point or making audience lose interest (though it has been

done successfully).

Anyway, the above is just my opinion. Does anyone have any other examples or thoughts as to shows that best handled structure and pacing, as well as standalone versus story arc balance? Points go of course to longer multi-season shows that can remain good throughout, since a show that's only a season or two long is easier to resolve.

I’m a big fan of comedies, so for me it’s mainly old sitcoms or variety shows.

I just started watching Miami Vice television series for the first time and I gotta admit, this soundtrack is blowing me away. I find myself just grooving to the music and not paying attention to the dialog a lot of times. Phil Collins playing while they drive to a sting in the middle of the night was just perfect.

Can’t believe it’s been 25 years since Smallville premiered. I remember watching the first season at 10 years old during its original run and was hooked, the show is on my list of Top 10 Favorite shows of all time. Did anyone watch the first episode the night it premiered?

If you are a Tom Snyder fan, you may remember talk some years ago of a proposed documentary about him, courtesy of Snyder's daughter and I think some business partner she had. But...years have gone by, and if it ever got made I'm not aware of it. Does anyone know if Ann Marie Snyder is still trying to make that doc?

For some reason this show popped into my head. So I was reading up on it to jog my memory when I came across this trivia.

Apparently this was at the behest of executive producer Fred Silverman. He was a former executive at ABC, NBC & CBS. His production company: The Fred Silverman Company was also involved in the making of the program.

None of the spin-offs attempts were organic in nature. Meaning they didn't try to take popular established characters & give them their own show. They were all backdoor pilots with the main cast being window dressing while they tried out new characters.

They don't seem particularly interesting so it's not surprising they didn't make it:

Season one:

"Sister Michael Wants You" – Delta Burke appears as Sister Michael, a glamorous former actress turned crime‑solving nun. The proposed spin-off (sometimes referred to as Heavensent) would have followed Sister Michael using her background as a police officer's daughter to assist investigations, with occasional help from Dr. Sloan.

Season two:

"Georgia on My Mind" – A backdoor pilot about a secretary-turned-amateur private investigator, Georgia (Daphne Ashbrook), who becomes involved in a murder case while repeatedly insisting she is "just a secretary."

"How to Murder Your Lawyer" – Mitchell Whitfield and Leah Remini star as lawyer Arnold Baskin and paralegal Agnes Benedetto, respectively, in a legal‑procedural‑style backdoor pilot built around their crime‑solving partnership.

Season four:

"An Explosive Murder" – Stars Tracey Gold as undercover police officer Amy Dawson, infiltrating a domestic terrorist group known as the Scorpions, led by a character played by Eric McCormack.

"Hard-Boiled Murder" – A reunion/backdoor pilot for a possible revival of the CBS detective series Mannix, with Mike Connors reprising his role as private investigator Joe Mannix. The story revisits an unsolved case from the original series, with Mannix now treated by Dr. Sloan.

Season five:

"Murder Blues" – A stunt‑cast episode that reunited several actors known for playing television police officers, including Fred Dryer as Los Angeles Police Chief Masters.

"A Mime Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" – An unsold backdoor pilot for an untitled series built around Randy Wolfe (Rachel York), a polymath who would take on a different job each week and inevitably become involved in a murder investigation.

"Retribution" (Parts One and Two) – A two‑part episode that doubled as a backdoor pilot for a proposed series titled The Chief, centered on Police Chief Masters (Fred Dryer) and his off‑the‑books special investigations unit, including characters played by Neal McDonough and Susan Gibney

Season six:

"Blood Ties" – Features vice unit detectives Amy Devlin (Kathy Evison) and Taylor Lucas (Zoë McLellan) and served as a backdoor pilot for a proposed series titled Whistlers, conceived as a Lethal Weapon‑style action‑comedy with a mismatched female detective duo.

Obviously there's been a lot of shows that had huge success when it comes to spin-offs: Star Trek, NCIS, The Walking Dead & others. I don't know if there's ever been a series that's tried this much without making it.

I'm just curious- I feel like it's super common to hear people say "oh the first few seasons were great, then it kinda drops in quality."

Some examples of that are Game of Thrones, Heroes, Westworld, the Walking Dead, etc. etc. etc.

What are the opposites?

Shows that were pretty below average for their first couple seasons, but somehow really stuck the landing/tied it all together in the tail end of their series.

Smallville premiered 25 years ago

For about a decade, I have been wracking my brain and trying to figure out what this one show was called.

I recalled it from my youth. It was a show that had three girls and three guys living together. The three guys were a sort of lothario, a quippy everyman, and nerd. The girls had similar variety.

Whenever I described this show to people, they always of course said it was “Friends”. But, I remembered that this was before Friends and that when Friends came out, even as a teenager, I thought it was a rip off of this show.

Just yesterday I had the idea to ask ChatGPT about the show and describe it. After some back and forth, it produced the show I’ve been looking for forever: Down the Shore, produced by Phil Rosenthal of all people! I am so happy to have finally figured out this mystery.

Does anyone else recall this show, or have similar lost shows they looked for forever before finding them again?

I learned recently that the Shining was at least partly filmed on the same studio lot as the Muppet Show (see the linked photo for Danny hanging out with Kermit the Frog), which made me wonder if there are an other stories people have heard of actors interacting on breaks between shoots. Surely hanging out on opposing sets is pretty common, right? I swear I've seen things like that before but it's frustratingly hard to google.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS8lWr9kL0bCMyIGPThtUBfl_JakNdMDDKhBgJ7-FHARh9H1X8VdkY3UPKZ&s=10

My top 3

1) Dexter

2) Prison Break

3) True detective

We really were in a golden era during the 00s as well as the 2010’s (CW shows!) and like ESPECIALLY the 2010’s. I was a teen during those years so it was like truly the prime years. Yes, now i’m in my late 20s but I still find myself missing these type of shows.

It’s crazy bc Netflix delivered some shows like that a few years ago but they ALL got canceled after one season and now they don’t do these shows anymore. I’m particularly still mourning Half Bad: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. THIS SHOW WAS SO FUCKING GOOD. IT HAD EVERYTHING I WANTED. It was witchy and DARK despite still being a YA-Show.

Other streaming services don’t really deliver in that genre either. And like I don’t need it to be YA. In fact I would more adult shows in that genre. But point still stands. They’re rarely done these days. I can barely mention any off the top of my head. And it’s weird bc shows like the Vampire Diaries and Supernatural genuinely were SO huge and successful. You’d think they’d have another attempt at that genre (doesn’t have to be Vampires!!) and I know there’s IWTV, which I still need to watch.

Anyway, anybody else feel that way? Just felt like venting.

Spoilers ahead for Arcane, The Boys, and Adventure time.

First off, I mean this in a good way.

There are some moments where show puts together things so beautifully that the viewer will go "we were so close" or "COME ON!" or "if only ___ hadn't happened", but thats the POINT.

I am not talking about poor writing, or the moment a bad show becomes a bad show. I'm talking about fundamentally integral and intentional parts/ singular moments of a show, that are completely necessary but will always make the watcher have a visceral reaction of "I don't want it to go this way" or "I wish I could've seen it the other way" (even it would've been boring).

They have to be a moment that would've changed the entire storyline if they gone the other way.

The moments I can think of (and feel free to disagree and explain) are the following:

The Boys:

The scene where they ALMOST nuke Homelanders powers. Every time I watch this, I'm screaming at the screen it feels just SO CLOSE. Ridiculously close, like they had him right there, one more second

Adventure Time:

Martin (Finn's Father) loved Finn and his wife Minerva, but his past came back to get him. He tries to save Finn from danger, and tries to send a text to Minerva about what's happening but the Guardian appears right before he can hit send, and he get brain damaged as a result. Minerva thinks for nearly the next two decades of Finn's life and the sequence of adventure time that her husband ran away with their kid, and never truly loved her. Martin goes crazy and never gets a chance to vindicate himself.

Arcane:

Jinx goes to help the others. It was always inevitable this would happen, but the moment when Mylo is about to open Vanders last cuff, and then Jinx's monkey bomb goes off is brutal. It feels so ridiculously close, and that one moment changes the entire direction of the show.

Crystal Lake

Premise: The prequel series to the Friday the 13th franchise centers on Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini) as two strangers' arrival in Crystal Lake forces her troubled past back into the spotlight.

Subreddit: r/CrystalLakeTV

Platform: Peacock.

Metacritic: 60/100.

Links:

• IMDB
• Trailer
• Wikipedia)