After last night's episode of "Last Resort" I do believe that this series would have made a better mini-series or TV movie than episodic TV. From the beginning I wondered how they could take this through more than one season, I mean how long can one submarine crew hold off the entire United States military? Huge suspension of belief there. Then last night's wildly weird episode that jumped back and forth in time until you didn't know what was true and what wasn't. Truth be told, we gave up at the half way mark and it's doubtful that we'll tune back in.
All of this has me thinking about storytelling. Most writers are so hell-bent on writing a novel, or in the case of TV, writing a series that they don't pay attention to what their story should actually be. I've read any number of novels that would have made better short stories or novellas than the overstuffed novel that was produced. Yes, it's tougher to sell the shorter versions, but it can be done.
Which begs the question - Why do so many writers choose to sabotage their story rather than stick to the form that best suits the story?
2 comments:
I felt the same way when I saw this one advertized. It's part of the reason I never even tried to watch it.
We started watching because it was something new, Charles. I thought of it more in terms of a sci-fi show where you can suspend belief easier, but this last episode did them in for us.
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