Finishing a Story

I think that the TV series model of storytelling is deeply flawed. I’m a firm believer that a good story should have a beginning, a middle and an end. A good story takes you on a journey, starting with a light hearted, familiar setting, then building up tension and drama, to be released and resolved in a final showdown at the end. A good story offers you some form of catharsis – happy, sad, moving, or hilarious.

Unfortunately most TV series that have long term story arcs are usually open ended. The writers often do not know if they will be picked up for the next season. A series can end in cancellation after few first episodes, or drag on for years until there is no more story to tell, the quality drops along with the ratings.

Its just not a very good medium for telling compelling stories. It lends itself to open-ended, meandering plot lines which either tapper off into obscurity, or culminate in lame, anti-climatic conclusions. Furthermore, the seasonality forces certain patterns on the show. Every season ends in a cliffhanger which is then dramatically resolved in the season premiere. Then each series winds down airing slow moving “filler” episodes, and then gears up for the next cliffhanger. This constant up-and-down may create exciting seasonal story arcs, but the overall story suffers. Instead of buildup and cathartic resolution we have multiple smaller climaxes interleaved with filler content.

There are exceptions here, but most TV shows end up disappointing fans with the big series finale. In most cases when you look back on n seasons of a given show, you won’t see a cohesive story leading up to the conclusion revealed in the finale. Instead you will see a confusing, meandering jumble of plot lines pulling the characters in different directions.

The best way to write a TV show is to map out the story ahead of time, dice it up into episode length chunks and then sell it as a complete package. A miniseries, a single season show, or a 2-3 season epic. Unfortunately most networks out there have a different model in mind. They will buy a pilot, then pick you up for few episodes before they agree to give you a whole season. And if the series is a hit, they will want you to drag it for more seasons than you intended. This is a wrong approach, and the primary reason why most shows go sour after few years.

You simply can’t write a compelling, moving story in weekly increments if you have no idea where you are going with it, or how long will it take you to get there.

It seems that Battlestar Galactica writers are fully aware of this. Their show always had an ending – finding Earth and final confrontation with the Cylon threat. They knew where they are going, and now they know exactly how long will it take them to get there. All the pieces for a good story are in place, and we just have to hope they won’t screw it up in the final season.

Lost writers also claim they have an ending, and also set a deadline for themselves. And I hope to God that they are not lying about this, an that they will end it with an actual, satisfying conclusion. If they pull a Sopranos on us I will be mighty pissed.

What can I say. Building up tension for 5 minutes and then suddenly cutting to black making people wonder if their cable went out, or if they accidentally hit the wrong button on the remote is not catharsis. It’s being an asshole to your viewers. It’s a pseudo-nihilistic middle finger salute at the loyal fans. Silly trick endings like this might work on a random episode of the Twilight Zone – but are a piss poor way of ending a long, critically acclaimed series.

But then again, with no direction, no goal, no message to convey what do you expect? Every story will eventually be remembered for how it ended, and how it wrapped up the whole storyline. Some people opt for a happy ending, some like to finish strong with an exciting, nail biting conclusion. Some opt for a tear jerker, and some people piss you off by revealing some deeply guarded secret. Some people go with a tragic, controversial ending, and some leave you with a joke. Sopranos went for:

“Oh shit! Did my cable just went out?”

Hell, they should have went completely Andy Kaufman on this by fucking around with the vertical sync, and adding some fake static to really mess with the viewers.

Scary part is that Rob Monroe actually liked the ending. Rob is amazed that Chase was able to end the series without giving the viewers a definite answer to the burning question: “Will Tony Live!”. From a writers point of view, this is clever, and awesome trick to outwit the fans, fuck with spoiler droppers, and generate final media buzz.

Unfortunately, Mr. Monroe forgets that we all do not make TV shows for living. We watch TV for entertainment – for compelling stories, and awesome characters. Viewers do not want a fucking Schrödinger’s Cat ending. We want catharsis.

I really hope Mr. Monroe won’t pull off a similar pointless shit at the end of BSG.

[tags]series, tv series, storytelling, sopranos, season finale, sopranos season finale, finishing a story[/tags]