The one-season solution

[shivkala]

IN this Age of Reason, Magic Is No Answer.

Sure it is. Maybe not one you like, but there was always an element of supernatural on Lost.

And in my world, Cracked, was a MAD wannabe. So I've never gone there. Note also, external source, the answers were not 'in-show', which is sloppy writing to me.

I understand where you're coming from, but Cracked has moved away from being a MAD wannabe into a full-fledged on-line entity of their own.

As far as having all of the answers given to us in the show, I disagree. I'm not a fan of being spoon-fed and I think there is much to be said for "head-canon," as it were.

Granted, the show has to give you enough for you to draw your own answers, as opposed to requiring the fans to fill in the dots out of laziness.

As far as why Lost is a topic of discussion, yes, it is being used as an example of a show that should have been shorter, with a tighter focus. I think that last part is something that's being left out of the conversation. Making shows shorter is not a magical (pun, intended) solution. They could have been shorter, but not more focused.

 

[Joe Washington]

As I watched others posted their one-season ideas on my thread, I've come up with some one-season examples of my own.

Californication: Think of how much of a headache many would have been saved if the show had just ended with Season 1, with Hank, Karen, and Becca happily driving off into a future left up to our imagination.

Revenge: Watching recent episodes of the show makes me think of how beautiful it would have been if the show had been an one-season miniseries free of any dragged out, contrived storylines.

How I Met Your Mother: This would work if it had been established that Robin is The Mother and Ted tells his children that the story he is telling them is largely about how he and their mother got together which the season would end with.

Elementary: I wasn't a big fan of the second season and the first season ended with a fair amount of closure.

 

[Marc]

There would be another angle to one season shows - the cost of mounting it in the first place. If you have a show that's heavy on pre-production (set construction, CGI etc) multiple seasons do allow you to spread the costs.

On top of that if you just have a show for single season you've then go to develope a new show to replace it the following year and you're going to have all the pre-production costs there.

Or what happens if the first show is a massive hit but what comes along for the next season flops?