Nothing Ever Changes

[miniglik]

I tend to like shows that split between the two: some episodic stories-of-the-week, with an occasional two- or three-parter and season long Big Bad arcs which are resolved in the finale.

I don't have any problem with that, as a formula, as long as the characters are consistant and developed, the plots are fun, and the dialogue is interesting

The only problem I have with SGA as far as the formulaic style of this show is that I don't believe enough attention is given to developing the characters and giving them continuous arcs outside of the journey they travel inside an episode. A little bit more attention to the episode-to-episode emotional and psychological connectivity, and I think this show would fabulous. I like it already, but I do think it's missing that.

But I think there are plenty of decent shows that mostly follow the same formulas week in and week out that are critically acclaimed, and deserving of it. Quality is definitely subjective, of course, but I think it's possible to be an Adventure of the Week show and still be high quality.

[Mitchell82]

The only problem I have with SGA as far as the formulaic style of this show is that I don't believe enough attention is given to developing the characters and giving them continuous arcs outside of the journey they travel inside an episode. A little bit more attention to the episode-to-episode emotionally and psychologically connectivity, and I think this show would fabulous. I like it already, but I do think it's missing that.

Hmmm I agree that some characters get more development than others but I don't think that it is missing connectivity from character to character or lacking character development.

[Ouroboros]

I'm not offering any particular praise for that format, all I'm saying is that as far as quality goes, whether it's formulaic or not has no bearing on quality. The idea that sticking to a formula is somehow inferior to mixing it up a bit more is ridiculous, it's entertainment first and foremost, and you can entertain people with or without a formula, though whether you succeed or not is another matter. You're trying to argue a connection between what you perceive as ease in making TV with a formula, and a lack of quality as a result, but there isn't one.

Well there certainly is for me but I suppose that's to some degree a subjective thing, but not entirely. Taken to it's most extreme the ultimate formulaic show would have every episode literally be exactly the same. Now clearly no one would watch that.

It's really more a question of how much formula can you accept in something and still consider it good which is where subjectivity enters into it. You can simply stand more of it than I can before it starts to impact your impressions on how good something is.

For me creativity and unconventional or unfamiliar story elements is a pretty important element in how interesting something is going to be. A "safe" formulaic show that never strays much from the accepted genre tropes and cliches is pretty much the polar opposite of that. Stargate used to be a pretty unconventional Sci-fi show, which is why I started watching it in the first place. Lately though it's begun to slide to the exact opposite end of the spectrum.

And some of the best. On the other hand, some TV shows that do mix up the way they tell their stories do so and fail miserably, like I said, no connection.

The point I was making here is that a lot of crap survives out to past a decade based on following a stale repetitive formula so holding longevity up and saying "because it works" doesn't really prove much in relation to how good something might actually be.

[Alan Wake]

Saif Blade, I definitely see what you're getting at. I might get lynched for this, but it seems to me that after 10+ years, the writers have simply
- run out of ideas
- got lazy
- maybe both.

I agree on each of those. I like atlantis a lot...But i Don't see it making it's way up to ten seasons like SG1. Here's hoping for atleast another two.

This is a show with and about a team... you probably are going to be able to predict alot of the shows endings of most time... They are not going to be killing off team members every episode.