“I know, we blew it…”

There’s a formula to television shows.

Sometimes the formula is all about the story; boy meets girls, boy woos girl, boy and girl have kids. Sometimes the formula is all about characters; boy gets super powers, boy deals with super humanity. Sometime the formula is about figuring things out; boy has questions, boy finds answers. And sometimes the formula is a combination of things like setting, characters and story. Whatever the formula for a certain show is, a show’s success is utterly dependent on figuring out it’s own formula and going with what works.
Some shows get this (Chuck, Bones, House) and take their formula and run with it. It’s only been a season and half but Chuck’s gone from Nerd Herder to a government weapon all while dealing what that means to his life. The FBI agents and scientists on Bones playfully banter with one another while solving case after case. And House just solves mysterious while being a dick. 24 is milking season after season with the same premise for years now of one man fighting to keep his country safe. These shows are using their own formulas be it witty banter, endearing characters, asshole characters or balls to the wall action and finding ways to repackage them. Aside from Chuck (too new) you never really get tired of seeing whats’ going on even though you generally know the flow of the story. It’s like watching a sports game, you know the rules, you know the quarters/periods/innings but you just don’t know how it all ends.

Now some show don’t figure out what’s working(Life on Mars, Heroes, Lost) and they suffer for it. Heroes and Lost have been hit hard with bad reviews because of the decisions to stray from the winning formulas of what worked with the first few seasons. Life on Mars suffered cancellation by not being to figure out what was most important to it’s story (it’s own premise) before being canceled. It sucks, I liked the show but that’s the price you pay. While each of those shows has suffered to a degree with viewers you can’t fault them with experimenting.  If you don’t know what’s working you have to changes things to figure them out right?  While ratings and cancellation are possible, so is a stronger understanding of what’s working. Take Friday Night lights for example,  I doubt you’ll ever see that show stray again from it’s roots as a homegrown drama about small town life  ever again. The first season of the show was a strong look at life in a small community centered around football. People loved it. The second season lost it’s focused and was almost universally panned for straying from the homegrown world of character is had created in the first season. The second season was highlighted by a murder that not only felt out of place but rather odd considering the previous stories.  The third season was a return to form and return to praise for the show.

It’s a little frustrating to me to see networks carting out half baked ideas (Kath and Kim) based on winning formulas rather than going out on a limb and see what’s possible. I mean honestly, how many more police-oriented shows are possible (The Unusuals being next)?

The television formula is a tricky double edged sword.  On one hand, you get killed if you’re too original (Pushing Daises)  and on the other get killed if you’re almost like something else  (Castles). The important part of the television formula though is that success isn’t dependent on one person, on any one premise or any one story. What it is dependent on is sharp writers who know how to work within the confines and when to break them. A lot of what’s missing from good television today is the lack of the sharp minds to write them that way.

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