I do not understand why these episodes need to be 40 minutes. Why not 75 as the British so often do with their crime series. I like everything about this series but that issue. The stories feel rushed, underdeveloped. A show like MAD MEN is written to conform to that time period, but this tries to cram entire novels into forty minutes and does them no justice. Why can't we spend more time on the crime, their lives, the backstory, the setting. A grave injustice is being done here. What might be a brilliant evocation of an area and people we have seen little is now just another generic crime story.
What do you think?
8 comments:
I agree with you, Patti. These LONGMIRE episodes are like stuffed sausages. Too much plot in too little time. If not two 1-hour episodes, then a 90-minute format might work.
The Beloved Spouse and i were talking about this last night. (We DVR the show to watch over dinner later in the week.) It's a good show, not great, but what makes it as good as it is are the character relationships and the sub-text. Squeezing all of that around what are generally fairly complicated plots gives short shrift to both. It would work as a 90-minute show, or--maybe easier from a budgetary perspective--make each episode a two-parter. Hell they can write each story to be as long as it needs to be and let Walt find the next body with ten minutes left to carry over into next week if they need to. It's cable; stretch the envelope.
Patti - I think it's almost impossible to do justice to a novel in so little time. That's especially true of a well-written series like this one....
I only watched the first 3 or 4 episodes of season one, and that was certainly my impression. I'm a fan of Johnson's books and I think they have a great cast, but the show was a bit disappointing. I still intend on catching back up with it, but I haven't really been that motivated yet to do so.
I've twice now started watching this show, gotten a couple of minutes in and changed the channel. Maybe what you're talking about is part of my issue.
I only watch the show and have not, to date, read any of the books. As such, the episodes feel like typical network cop shows. But I enjoy the characters and, as Dana points out, the subtext.
But I think they have the opportunity with this setting and characters to do so much more. It feels rushed to me. His rival for sheriff has barely had enough time to chop that tree for instance. And the daughter's quest is give a minute or two each show. What's the hurry? Why copy the worst of TV instead of the best when you are on a cable station and not hemmed in by doing hour shows. Why no arcs?
Creatively, you are right, but financially a small cable network such as A&E has limited budget, and the production studio knows ninety minute or two hour format have limited syndication value in resale (where the studios make its profit).
Why no arcs? Syndication again and the fact that the most popular dramas on TV are episodic stand alone.
A&E seems to be traveling the route of USA and TNT and aiming at the mass audience rather than the creative quality of AMC.
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