I recently had finished the Saga compendium, and when I was reflecting on the whole of it towards the end, I came to realize that the writer was just making things up as they went along. The first third or half has clear, deliberate plot points, and one can tell that the story was planned out. The back half though.. not so much. It's probably a bit more glaring as I am currently reading the 4/4 book of the first part of the "A Dream of Eagles" series, which seems to have been written with a beginning and ending in mind. The Witcher series is mostly like that with its overarching narrative, although there are seemingly many inventive digressions. When I think of a TV series, Breaking Bad comes to mind as a great example of plotting. The worst example that Saga reminded me of (I still really enjoyed Saga) is The Walking Dead. It has seemed very much zombie-like for the last several books. It's just the same stuff, over and over, in different settings with different villains. The show Shameless also just kept going on and on, directionless until it ended earlier this year. I only made it through season 8. This post is starting to feel a bit directionless; my apologies. What are the best and worst examples of plotting that comes to your mind with regards to series in any medium?
Lost was truly lost in its direction. How I met your mother spends most of its time talking about everything other than the mother. House of cards had the unfortunate case of life being stranger than fiction. The newsroom just sort of died. Actually you could probably include 90% of serials in existance for being quite bad at this.
Maximum Ride series. I LOVED the books as a kid. Middle school to early high school, i wrote fanfictions of it. I'd gotten the second book at a used book sale and didnt know it was a series, but when i finished it, i had to read more. The first 3 books, you could tell were planned. In fact, it was SUPPOSED to be a trilogy. The 4th book was "ok". The rest? I couldnt read anymore. It just got so stupid! It was like he was reaching for things that would be "cool" and relevant. Climate change? Clones? Mutants? Magic powers that make no sense? It strayed so far away from the "kids who were grown in a lab and experimented on, escapes from said lab, and stives to find their bio parents and take down the lab" plot and into the "love triangle with my clone and my best friend" . Havent touch a book since. But working at a library, i know that there is a spinoff series.... Apparently at the characters have a daughter and this new series is about her. Ugh. Im starting to fill this way about the Mercy Thompson series. The first few books made sense... She asked the vampires for help in the first book, and then they called in the favor in the next book so she asks the fairies for help and the next book they call in their favor. It makes sense. I help you, you help me. But then it strayed away from that. Kidnappings, Mercy inserting herself into drama or causing drama instead of fixing it. Its starting to repeat. I think shes on book 13? I still need to read the last 2 books
This is the way most successful franchises go, including in the movies. If something is hugely successful (usually because it was well written with a good strong plot and strong character arc etc) then it becomes a cash cow that the studio will milk until the cows come home. And the way to milk those cash cows is to crank out cheap, derivative versions that have lots of references and 'callbacks' to the original (or original trilogy if that was well designed and executed). It's costly to keep making excellent movies, in terms of time as well as money, and there's no way to guarantee excellence, especially in an ongoing way. Occasionally you'll get a really excellent sequel like the early ones made by James Cameron—T2 and Aliens—but most sequels are money grabs. And writers often succumb to the same temptation after completing the arc they put so much work and planning and excitement into. The same way so many (just about all?) of the great rock bands of the 70's started cranking out pop rock in the 80's. I eventually realized they started off headstrong and supremely dedicated to rock and roll, but after a decade or so of the hard grind with little financial reward they were aging and mostly had families and children now, and the studios were telling them "We don't want hard rock anymore, we want pop hits, it's gotta be under 3 minutes and have a beat the kids can dance to". The ones who were able to do that and still make decent music were big successes through the 80s, often while being called sellouts by their original fans.
Lost is a good example; I think I finished the third season or stopped somewhere in the middle. I can't remember the exact "jumped the shark" moment. I never watched the last season of House of Cards. That should have ended when he became president. Unfortunate. Music generally is a good example of the money machine as mentioned. Establish a brand, often through excellence, and then use it to sell anything else you want, of any quality. A sitcom phenomenon just came to me which I truly despise. It's when the original premise is abandoned, and the main characters start pairing off, getting married, and having children. This is when you know the show is finished. I liked that Seinfeld episode where they roasted the idea of Jerry and Elaine getting together. Larry was right in that this would just ruin the show.
