D
on’tyou hateit whena seriesyouhave
enjoyed watchingruinseverythingby
going onfortoolong?A once-brilliant
show starts to dipinqualityasit becomes
impossible to sustainstandards,especially
when creators moveontonewprojectsor
original cast membersleaveandnew,less
enjoyable characterstaketheirplace,and
you can sense thefatigueamongthoseactors
who do stick aroundforthelonghaul.So
to answer the questionI’veposed,often
the perfect numberofseasonsisoneortwo
fewer than thereendupbeing.
Imagine if Friendshadcalledit quitsafter
Season 8. Being sparedtheRachel(Jennifer
Aniston) and Joey(MattLeBlanc)pairingalone
would have madethata goodmove.Thesitcom
just wasn’t as funnyinthoselateryears,when
it felt more like acomfortablepairofslippers–
familiar, but unexciting– thantheshowI raced
home to watch earlierinitsrun.(Remember,
this was the 1990s,andunlessyou’dsetthe
video, you had tobeinfrontoftheTV.)
Or if Offspringhadn’tbeenbroughtback
for two extra seasonsaftersucha satisfying
conclusion to Season5.Sure,it wasnicetosee
the Proudmans backonscreen,andSeasons 6
and 7 had their moments,buttheextension
also felt unnecessary.Butthat’sTVnetworksforyou – too often flogging a concept to death.
And the result is that unsatisfactory later
seasons can tarnish an entire show.
Most great dramas have about five seasons
in them. Maybe six or seven if they can keep
themselves invigorated by ongoing reinvention
(Orange is the New Black) and refocusing
(Wentworth) or by mining a dense mythology
that plays out over multiple years (Game of
Thrones). Anything more than that and things
start to feel stale and repetitive. Stories should
have a start, middle and end, and if there is
no end in sight, the middle loses impact as it
keeps getting stretched out longer and longer.
Crime dramas are the exception to that
rule, since they succeed or fail as much on how
compelling their cases of the week are as they
do on the unresolved sexual tension between
detectives. And there is a large supply of
compelling crimes to depict. Even so, when
a series reaches its 20th season, as Midsomer
Murders (starts Sun., Jul. 21 at 8.40pm; ABC)
now has, you have to wonder if it has anything
new to contribute or is just offering reiterations
of the same episode.
The same can be asked of long-running
animated sitcom The Simpsons, which will
continue at least until Season 32. If the writing
stays at a high standard, great comedies usuallyhave a longer lifespan than dramas, but what
was once a groundbreaking and insightful
series now feels past its best. If you think about
some of the greatest comedy series of all time,
like Fawlty Towers (12 episodes) and the original
version of The Office (15 episodes), there is a lot
to be said for keeping things short and sweet,
rather than being the show everyone wishes
had quit while it was ahead.•OF SEASONS FOR A TV SHOW?
After 20 seasons,
it’s a wonder there
is anyone left to
be murdered
in Midsomer.THE
LIST
Are the best years
of The Simpsons
behind it?Gavin ScottFawlty Towers^
makes the case
that less is more.