Why Television Shows Fail

Every year there are dozens of new shows that get a chance to air on cable television. And every year it seems like ninety percent of them get shut down before they even have a chance to start. Because of this immense pressure put on show creators, a number of disturbing trends have become apparent in the majority of new shows. Here are a couple of things I hate about television these days:

Forced Drama - The overwhelming sentiment seems to be that audiences are always looking for drama and shocking sequences in television. I don't think this is true. A successful show I will point to is The Shield. While the show has its share of dramatic moments, the majority of the storylines throughout each season are often spent on meaningless chases of minor criminals. In fact, there are many episodes in which nothing big happens. The fact that the creators realize that a show is only as realistic as the plot makes The Shield's dramatic episodes all the better.

Now look at another FX show in Nip/Tuck. Despite having a strong foundation to work with, the creators of the show seemed to get an adrenaline rush by upping the ante on drama in each and every episode. As a result the show has become one of the bigger jokes on television just seasons after being one of the best.

The fact is that forced drama will only work for a little while. After a while people will grow tired of the same old tricks and tune in somewhere else. That is why the O.C. was cancelled after four seasons when initially it looked like anything less than seven would be unrealistic.

Cliffhanger Endings - This works hand in hand with the above point. Cliffhanger endings are a great way to keep people coming back the next season. Every show creator knows this. There are, however, two rules to using cliffhangers that are being frequently ignored:

• The next season's conclusion to the cliffhanger has to be BIG and can't be obvious. Just because the cliffhanger itself was good doesn't mean a show can rest on its laurels and forget about wrapping up the rest of the plot. Nip/Tuck's poorly planned revelation of the identity of the Carver is a great example of a bad cliffhanger.
• The cliffhanger should be resolved within the first couple episodes, if not by the first episode period. A good example I can think of is another teenage drama, One Tree Hill. In the second season one of the main characters was shot and the question all summer was who did it. The creators didn't reveal this until about halfway through the season. When fans finally found out who it was, fans had guessed every possible identity to the point where they were not surprised.

In addition to the above rules, it is important to not overuse cliffhangers. The best shows don't need them in the first place to keep viewers coming. Continuation between seasons is fine but pointless cliffhangers are not.

Unplanned Future - If a show creator thinks he has a good show, he should plan for the future. Not doing so can result in poorly planned future storylines that contradict old episodes and confuse loyal viewers. Tim Kring, creator of the NBC show Heroes, has been stated to have said he has the first five seasons of the show fully planned already. Doing so not only allows him to create a better show, it also allows him to have more control over current episodes.

Going back to the example of the O.C., the show was critically acclaimed for the first season but fell apart the second the next season began. The character of Marissa in particular was such an unrealistic emotional disaster that the show became hard to take seriously. In addition, almost every plotline began to end the same way further emphasizing the poor planning of the creators and writing staff.

Shows don't have to have every script written by day one, but they should have some idea where they are going.

With so many shows striving to achieve success, it is hard to see why some people are so dumb that they overlook what good television shows have in common.