Tricia Tanaka Is Dead is the best/my favorite episode of Lost and it's a tragedy that we never got the most emotional episode of Star Trek Discovery about Linus the lizard elevator guy that we would have gotten with 20 episode seasons
I miss the character building filler
I don't miss the "we blew the budget on the two parter have some badly lit curtains instead of set" filler which some great shows did
*cough*Babylon 5*cough*
Biden using the recent "Official Acts" ruling and a broad interpretation of "Stop-Loss" to force the USA network back onto their "Characters Welcome" kick.
A TV show without filler episodes is just a miniseries! There’s nothing wrong with miniseries but you just don’t have the same sort of relationship with them that you have with a television show.
"Lost" is an odd show to say you can skip episodes, bc even the worst episode (we all know its "Stranger in a Strange Land" aka THE ONE WITH JACK'S TATTOOS) has some either good parts or plot parts or both.
The point of the show is to unravel the mystery, and that takes time.
Right?! And what a crime that would be.
“For although we may not be alone in the universe, on this planet, in our own, separate ways, we are all… alone.”
I think X Files perfectly split the difference between serial/episodic story telling. Of the 20-odd episodes a year there were …maybe 4 or 5 devoted to the serial story (though it was always alluded to or very mildly advanced in the self contained ones)
I don't disagree per say, but my desire to rewatch Lost is almost entirely wiped out when I look at the number of episodes that would entail. We are on S5 of watching Sopranos for the first time and the 13 episodes per season length feels like a good middle-ground to the 10 we often see now.
You are 100% correct about Tricia Tanaka. Honestly, half those Lost episodes on the Vulture list are solid episodes.
You're about half right on the DS9 Ferengi episodes. Some are absolutely putrid, but Wallace Shawn as the Nagus is a real 'seeing is believing' thing, and a handful are solid.
Yes! Bring back more character development! I miss getting to know characters and spend time with them. Most of the time I don't even know the names of the characters on the shows I'm watching anymore because it doesn't matter. They're just there to service the plot.
I love this article, it really puts into words what I think is wrong with so much TV these days! Not everything needs to be a 22 episode season, but so many shows could absolutely benefit from this traditional format! Let movies be movies and let tv be tv
Is there an episode of the nearly-perfect Treme that wasn't "filler"? Kinda same is true of all great sit coms. Friends playing a trivia game about each other? At least hour long comedies like, say, Maisel get about as much time in a 9 episode season as a 90s sitcom with 22 episodes on a network
Something like Stargate simply wouldn't have worked with less episodes per season, because the "filler" episodes were what made the universe feel expansive and full.
Were all of them great?
Nope.
Would I want them gone?
Nope.
They also filled out the time scale.
🧵
There were so many times where the team got a piece of technology, then there were 3 or 4 "filler" episodes, and then the technology was workable by them, which makes more sense than them instantly knowing how all alien technology functions.
Downtime is important in story telling.
Last season of Discovery was from a filler TNG episode. What do we have without it, Borg again and again *looks at Picard*
I want weird stuff and character development, even if that means Crusher fucking her grandmothers ghost lover episodes... okay especially that.
Importantly it gives new writers a chance to get a break. With a short season there is no space to really nurture new talent... which is going to become more of a problem.
its funny i love love love filler episodes. those are the best episodes of any long running show. but, now when i see one in a six episode season? i get mad!
My spouse and I recently binged Northern Exposure and the whole show is nothing but filler, but wouldn't have worked without it. It's literally the nature of the show, slowly letting characters change while staying who they are.
I also think it's better for viewers to space out episodes and make the season last, rather than binging the whole series in a week and then forgetting what its about
I like watching an episode or so per week, then you are steeped in that story for longer, like a dense novel
Do you think the US has adapted the UK model of short seasons but a lot of different shows? I just feel like it’s the “Murican Thing” to do all the things, throw it at the wall and see what sticks (i.e. makes the most money).
