Bullets 'n' Babes

All this talk about 5 star TV made me go and re watch SPACED Series 1 yesterday (its only 7 Episodes, 3 hours long) still 5 stars bloody superb TV.

Five Star Television

Are You Being Served?
Beadle's About
Big Brother
The Black and White Minstrels Show
Blind Date
Crossroads
Dad's Army
Davina
Eldorado
Emmerdale
George and Mildred
The Jeremy Kyle Show
Noel's House Party
Supermarket Sweep
Terry and June

Classics all..................

Yup all of them I would watch any time, if I was being punished in HELL!

But Beadle's About did have some bloody classic moments, like the Alien Landing

Markgway wrote:Five Star Television
blah blah blah
Classics all..................

Nah, all those shows pale in comparison to Hollyoaks, Footballer's Wives, Bad Girls and Bombshell. Now those are 5-star worthy shows.

Dad's Army is okay.

I loved Beadle's About. I wish they'd bring that back.

bradavon wrote:Dad's Army is okay. I loved Beadle's About. I wish they'd bring that back.

It's way better than the dross that replaced it. That candid camera crap. They used to really see how far they could push it, way more than Punk'd ever has.

It ran for 9 years, before ending for some reason in 96.

Lost is meandering and tedious. I don't see why anyone would consider it 5/5 television, let alone 4/5. The plot is all over the place and the garbage to good episode ratio is far too high.

I bet the whole "multiple season story arc plan" is bollocks, it feels like they just make it up as they go along. Oh there's a massive plothole/logic gap in story? Just use the excuse that it's just another one of the "mysteries of the island".

What plothole? They're not making it up as they go along at all, they've had it plotted out since halfway through season 1.

Please use spoiler tags. I know you've not mentioned any but just in case. It's a show I actually want to see.

gasteropod wrote:What plothole? They're not making it up as they go along at all, they've had it plotted out since halfway through season 1.

I think the point Eva is making is that he doesn't believe that.

Well he's a damn fool, then!

I haven't seen LOST, but they never plan out storylines for more than one season at a time, due to the ruthless way network TV is run.

Markgway wrote:I haven't seen LOST, but they never plan out storylines for more than one season at a time, due to the ruthless way network TV is run.

Obviously it shows you have not seen the show many shows have 5 year plans, many stick to them plans, some get shut down before they finish the way they are suposed to. Lost obvioulsy has one thats for sure.

Firefly,Lost, Prison Break, Babylon 5, Heroes, Farscape, Deadwood (and many moire) all have had 5 or so year plans.

As you say, If shows keep pulling in the punters they close them the way they suposed to, but some get canned before the end! and leave the story a mess but loads of series have plans set in stone, even if they never get to play out the way they suposed to.

Markgway wrote:I haven't seen LOST, but they never plan out storylines for more than one season at a time, due to the ruthless way network TV is run.

Well I don't know about any other series, but LOST is different. And they have its end-point set out with the studio, so it shouldn't get cancelled either.

Many shows had the end point set out, and still got a bad time

Babylon 5 is probibly the biggest example of that off hand, they were suposed to do this epic ending, what we got was pants as everyone was sacked

Why would any producer create a five-season plan for something that could get cancelled after one or two shows (it happens...)?

Story arcs are usually wrapped up within a season, with the odd cliffhanger kept in case the show gets picked up again next year.

I don't know much about LOST, so am not gonna argue the point, but I find it hard to believe most shows work this way.

They keep churning them out as long as they're wanted... or until they run out of ideas.

Look at how much BUFFY suffered after the initial high school era ended. I can't see much of what came after being a part of any grand plan.

Markgway wrote:Why would any producer create a five-season plan for something that could get cancelled after one or two shows (it happens...)?

I already said, they plotted it out about halfway through season 1! It was already going incredibly strong by then, not being cancelled after 1 or 2 shows!

I don't believe anyone said they created it Mark, it was said the ideas were planned. That's common practise, it even happened in Dawson's Creek

OK, I just got the impression you guys thought the scripts were written years in advance.

My 5 star shows are...

Sci-fi/fantasy

Babylon 5
Farscape
Space above and Beyond
Firefly
Buffy
Daybreak
Blade

Drama

Rescue me
The Shield
The wire
Dexter
Band of Brothers

Comedy

Titus
Time Gentlemen Please
Game on
Family guy (although this has been slipping in recent years)



I thought the new Battlestar Galactica might become a five-star show but some pretty poor writing during the third season knocked it out of contention. I'm not even sure if they made 20 perfect episodes whether that would make up for the last 22.


By the way Lost never had a five-year plan. They were planning and making up each season as they went along but expected the story to be told in three or four seasons. Of course it's now going to be about seven seasons long.

Prison break was only meant to be a mid-season stop gap before 24 and was only meant to last that long. I also doubt Firefly had a five-year plan as well. Farscape definitely didn't have a plan they made it up it season by season although nearer the end they knew where they were going.

To be honest I think the only show to really have a true five year plan from the get go was Babylon 5. As Markgway said most shows don't plan that far ahead due to the ruthless nature of networke/cable television. I'm not saying they don't have a rough idea but you can tell much shows don't really plan that much and follow the popularity of certain storylines or characters and in just tack on an ending

sky75 wrote:By the way Lost never had a five-year plan. They were planning and making up each season as they went along but expected the story to be told in three or four seasons. Of course it's now going to be about seven seasons long.

Basically your whole post is wrong.

romerojpg wrote:Firefly,Lost, Prison Break, Babylon 5, Heroes, Farscape, Deadwood (and many moire) all have had 5 or so year plans.

Not so for Prison Break... It was planned for a 2 season story arc. The whole SONA story was brought in fairly late into the second season because the studio wanted another season due to the show's popularity.

gasteropod wrote:

sky75 wrote:By the way Lost never had a five-year plan. They were planning and making up each season as they went along but expected the story to be told in three or four seasons. Of course it's now going to be about seven seasons long.

Basically your whole post is wrong.

I don't think it is. I think you'll find that they didn't even know what they were doing for the first season after making the pilot let alone even longer term plans. I'm also sure that I read that JJ Abrams had said (or another producer/writer) that about Lost being three or four seasons long.

Actually meant to say it's going to be six seasons long now.

Anyway it's definitely true that they were planning and making up each season as they went along initially. It's only recently in the last six months to a year that they have stated their intentions to have a firm end date *after* hashing out all the story. They couldn't exactly do that before because they didn't have the story completed.

I thought that the fourth & fifth seasons of Lost were 16 episodes each & then that was it?