How long should a series go on?

[Carlston]

Oddly classic series like MASH pop into my mind when I think of a timeless series you can jump in anywhere in the story and have a good show.

Some series are written from start to finish like Babylon 5. A beginning, a end, and no murdering everyone and having Q or a god bring them back to life to keep ratings.

And now I find the series, strangely a anime up in the 400's, One Piece (jap only as the US slaughtered it with 4kids). It's been on for ten years now and they say it's only half way done...yet it's still intresting to me and the writing has kept this alive at least in a way to make up for the goofy light hearted filler it adds in.

But when I think about the Simpsons. This show died eight years ago...the new episodes I couldn't tell from the old. How is it still kicking when every other TV series dies one or two season in?

We have 600 channels and nothing intresting on anymore...and when someone makes something creative they can it for reality TV, yet Buffy had what Six season of mind numbing fluff.

Curious what series you think is dead but they won't bury...

Or should have lived on...

One comes to mind, Space Above and Beyond. Was good till the budget got yanked and turned into Lost in a cave in space.

 

[NiceGurl_14]

A good show can run for as long as it can without getting dull. For most anime's the magic no. seems to be around 50. For regular show's (eg sitcoms, soaps, drama shows) will generally run for about 3 to 7 seasons. it really all depends on the writers and the audience that it's targeted towards.

 

[Pimppeter2]

2280 hours, 25000 minuets, and 8005069 seconds.



[sub]No, I have no idea how I came to that conclusion either, but it is the right one[/sub]

 

[Colour Scientist]

I wish Black Books had gone on for more than three series but then again sometimes too many series can just kill shows.

 

[Zukonub]

eh MASH lost it around season 8... 9-11 are downright painful. Early seasons, though, I agree with you that they are easy to jump into.

But how long? For anything I'd do, it would be 3 seasons, books, or whatever. That way, you're able to introduce many plot elements and plan out your plotlines, while also able to ensure the story doesn't grow stale.

 

[rockingnic]

It depends on the quality. If it's like the Simpsons, should last as long as they want it. If it's Lost, it should die before they show the pilot.

 

[Carlston]

Depends.
If they start repeating themselves then they should stop.

Anime does that a lot. Bleach, Dragonball Z, Naruto, etc. They start repeating themselves endlessly. They should have just ended while they were ahead.

I recall reading the creator of Dragonball Z wanted the series to end when Gohan when supersaian, but the money was so good the studio made more. The creator walked, and they pumped out making a cat a super saian at one point...

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I tend not to like series or particular episodes of series where you can just "jump in in the middle" and not having to know anything of the previous story arch, and still get it all.

It tends to make each individual episode pretty bad in a "monster of the week" kind of way.

The thing I tend to hate about series is that they aren't produced with the entirety in mind. They are so extremely based on ratings and a lot of other bullshit aspects, which makes it highly unpredictable if they are really going to have a satisfying conclusion.

I'd like to see series where the contracts of production spans several seasons at once, instead of one season at a time. So the writers don't constantly have to think that the series might get pulled.

 

[Julianking93]

Until it starts to suck.

/thread.

 

[Flight]

As long as writers keep having decent ideas, the series can go on forever. When it doesn't, that's when it's time to go (the last few seasons of That 70s Show and RoseAnne come to mind).

If it's a non-sequitur series of sorts (i.e. Family Guy, The Simpsons), it can keep going as long as it's funny.

 

[Angerwing]

I think Scrubs should have canned seasons 6 and 7, and left 8 (which would be 6) as the end.

 

[madcap2112]

As long as it can go without getting stale. I love British shows like Life on Mars and Spaced that only went two seasons. They got the storyline across and made you fall in love with show before the honeymoon ended and got repetitive or stupid. I love shows like Supernatural and Scrubs, but both have gone on way too long. The Office is risking the same fate.

 

[Koganesaga]

I have no idea what some good numbers should be, but Higurashi No Naku Ni could have used more of season one, my god I enjoyed those senseless slaughters so much.

Also Death Note, they gave you so much to expect, and yet ended it far too early. Yeah there's a chance it could have sucked, but they had a set up that could have easily worked for 75 episodes, and I wanted to see more of the fucking shinigami world! I mean cmon' you don't even find out all their names, and there's this king who is apparently important, and he gets maybe two lines of dialog.

 

[spikespiegel]

ANime:
One piece is THE only massive shonen show that is still propperly alive and kicking.
*The reason is that not only does it have a writer that has worked out an extreme amount of plot lines and allready tighed them together into a finaly short time into the actually series start (easily seen with all of the countless times one is referd back to little hints troughout the series),
* but also because of its mix of characters, all with their own amazingly likeable/unlikeable features, and all actually being focused on at a nice balance
(contradictory to showns often compared to it, IE Naruto and Bleach where most of the time you are following the one person and everyone ells is sort of "add-ons")
*Its has a clear feeling of an epic journey.
*It is set in a extremely wacky but beliveable (in its own way) very original world with plenty of variety in people, story themes and general apearance.
*There is allways a feeling of a goal
*There is allways a feeling of the heroes allways having a great challenge ahead of them
*The plot twists are at time very VERY unpredictable.
*It can be very hard hitting, and some times extremely funny.
*it takes allot if not all of the shonen stereotypical points and somehow mostly make them all work.

The writer has also become more and more unforgiving which has come to build up perfectly to really show the realisation of the characters that the stakes are building with the journey.

It also has some of the most memmorable fights and character in ANY anime(/manga) show

One Piece will end when Odas (writer)is done with it. (which he has said is gonna be atleast another 6 years) The way it is looking right now is that we have absolutly no idea of whats gonna happen, which is amazing at this point in a 10 year old show. It still makes the fans long for more.

Most shows though should just generaly end right after the peak so to speak. Or when there is a natural end. Family guy ect stops when they stop being funny, and become too predictable...

 

[SimuLord]

If a show still works, there's no reason why it couldn't go on indefinitely. But if the story arc has concluded, the show has jumped the shark, or the viewership has moved on, it's time to pull the plug.