What if there was only one season?

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Over the last few weeks, I've been on a hot streak of Korean drama-watching.......and one major uniting factor with prime time kdramas is that they tend to have only a single season which stretches anywhere between 16 to 24 episodes. This usually means two things: that the writers have only that many episodes to tell their story in, and that - very importantly - there's a definite start and end to the story, and they have to wrap it, plot, relationships and all, in that much.

So today's question is pretty simple: if BSG had only got one season (plus the miniseries) from the start, what would you do with it, pilots-wise? Where could you see Kara and Lee's relationship going in 24 episodes if you knew you had only that much time and didn't need to milk the ratings to ensure another season?  

(and how much eyefrakking could you possibly squeeze into those 24 episodes?)





PS: Apologies for missing yesterday's DPP, and yet another reminder that the Meta Monday post is still up and running - if there's any piloty tangent you want to elaborate on, write/link it there anytime during the week and I'll put it in the end-of-week wrap post! (and do read the fantastic thinky-thoughts already posted by callmeonetrack and mserrada in the comments!)

Comments

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about this sort of thing, not in specific to pilots. Not really specific to anything actually. More wondering if people, Americans, would watch shows that were only meant to be one season because there's been a rash of shows lately that seem like a pretty finite format, shows that I don't feel like have a second season in them without major changes in cast or direction. (Ok, that was pretty specific. hee.)

But in relation to pilots... I'll have to think about that. :D

Hopefully I will get a chance to come back and tell you what I thought.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Might this be an American Horror Story reference? (never watched but I've heard of it) do come back and tell us what you think!

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Well, sort of. Actually the show that really got me going on this was Smash because you can only make one musical for so long and you can only sell me on some of the character continuing to work together over and over. And then I remembered that Heroes, from a few years ago, was supposed to have almost a whole new cast for the second season but they backed out. And for me to the determent of the show. So then I was sort of thinking abstractly about the ability to sell American audiences on a show with a finite concept or with radical reinvention with each season. Guess, we'll see how American Horror Story does. :)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I've never watched Smash, the first show I was into that found itself a completely new cast every couple of seasons was, well, Skins. Which I can see the point of, but it does mean variances in quality from one 'generation' to the next.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I actually think the first 20 episodes or so of BSG really do form the most coherent, consistent, high-quality run of the story they had to tell. I've always thought that the story from the miniseries through the "Home" arc was well-structured and had a sense of completion to it. "Home" feels like the end of season one to me. I think it's starting in the second half of season two that the show started to get uneven and not be sure of where it was going or how to get there.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I actually agree, Rachel - we didn't hit a 'bad' episode of BSG until Black Market, and after that there was a mess of shock value and inconsistent characterisation, despite the fact that later episodes were really good too.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

If you count tv hours, the mini series through Home is 22 episodes, which I think is very interesting.

I agree that those first 20 or so episodes are the most coherent. I also find it interesting that the first big plot changes for pilots, making Lee instead of Kara the commander of Pegasus and bringing Sam back. I'm not sure I disagree with making Lee the commander instead but it's an interesting coincidence. ;)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I actually feel like things were structured and consistent pretty much all the way up through the end of the Pegasus arc, actually - I agree that Home feels like the 'true' end of S1 but the show didn't really have its first truly wonky episode until the Pegasus arc was done (and then we have the never-mentioned-before-or-since pregnant girlfriend, the miraculously cured cancer, Kat becoming a better pilot than Kara in a matter of weeks after a pill addiction, not to mention the marriages out of nowhere).

[lanalucy]

Well, not specific to pilots, but we could cut out every last minute of Gauis' romps with his imaginary girlfriend. BSG spent entirely too much time in GB's head, and frankly, some of what they showed on screen was just gratuitous. ymmv

[winegums.livejournal.com]

oh goodness, yes. The entirety of Baltar's harem/crazy prophet bullshitter phase could be cut with absolutely no loss to the story (especially if it made way for a few extra pilots scenes)