Opinion Piece - The Tension That Makes TV Work

Over the last couple of months, I haven't watched loads of TV, but I've still been chipping away at a couple of favourites and in seeing many of them end, I've come to a realisation as to why and how this medium works so well. That realisation was that TV works because of the tension that, for the whole time a show is airing, there is always the threat that it could all of a sudden go bad. Sure, it could get better but if it's already good, it could go downhill quick. Going into a show once it's ended takes away this tension a bit, like how I saw Dexter, but man oh man, it sucks when you get into a show early, stick around for years, only to see it go down the trash. I'll attest to that as someone who rocked up to House of Cards at season 2 and stayed in until the (very) bitter end. Conversely though, that feeling when you get in on a show early on and it ends on a high? There's little better. So let's analyse this phenomenon. We'll talk shows that got out in time, shows that stay on top and then break apart a little case study. Don't worry though, there will be minimal spoilers throughout. Obviously, I'm going to talk about whether a show has a great or crap ending which some might regard as a spoiler, but otherwise, a spoiler free zone.

So which shows ended on top? The classic example and the one that I have at the top of this article is Breaking Bad. If you haven't seen Breaking Bad yet then what the hell are you doing? Those of us who have seen it though, know that it was a show that only got better as it went along. I got in just before the show ended and so had no idea if it was going to nail the landing or not. That meant that not only did I have the riveting tension of the show (God, I need to rewatch this as soon as humanly possible) but there was also the tension of whether the saga of Walter White would have a satisfying ending. Truly, there have been few shows as immensely satisfying, not least because it just built and built. An even better example of this tension would be Bojack Horseman. I've talked about this show before but the short story is that I got into it when there was only one season. With each season that released, I had a twinge of fear that finally, this season would be the one that let me down but no, each season satisfied completely, building up to a completely beautiful ending that the show earned wholeheartedly. I feel honoured that I got to be on the ride with this film but the constant tension over whether it would disappoint me likely helped fan my adoration.

To the flipside then, what about when shows don't nail the landing? The example de jour is of course, Game of Thrones. I confess, the show didn't do much for me, I stopped watching at season 2, but it's undeniable that for a long time, it was hugely popular. For the last few years, it wouldn't be a controversial statement to say it was the biggest show on TV and some would argue it was the best. Then suddenly, critical opinion started a downturn. The show wasn't quite as good as it was but hey, people still liked it and at least they'd nail the ending, right? Yeah, not really. Again, I didn't watch the show but it's widely agreed that the show ended on a low note, with an ending that let many down. The result is that now, not even one year on from the finale, no one talks about Game of Thrones anymore. The tension kept the show alive but with that tension deflated in the worst way possible, the legacy of the show dissapated. Had it ended a few seasons earlier, it could still be regarded as an all time great. The thing is, I argue often that it's much safer when shows have shorter runs, but my theory is dispelled by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. For the first few seasons, the show was good, but it only grew and grew. The show pushing on into further seasons allowed them to explore the weirder, darker elements of their characters and have wild experiments with the form of the show. Currently, we're on season 14 and each season I expect the show to finally be crap. But no, this season had a film noir parody, a meditation on our role in global warming and an impressive homage to Waiting for Godot. The fact that the show hasn't let me down yet only makes these new seasons sweeter. Are these episodes all the best the show has done? Not really, but they're great and 14 seasons in, that surprise is often enough to sustain me.

Time for a little case study now, through the work of Mike Schur, showrunner extraordinaire. Partway during its run, Schur was brought on to The Office US and since then, he's created many brilliant shows, most notably The Good Place. Both these shows offered very different perspectives on how to end and wrap up shows, so let's discuss. The Office ran for nine seasons on NBC and honestly, I'd say only about two thirds are genuinely great. That middle stretch is great, superb comedy, but it starts to drop off at the end. Season 7 has a tension because the show is still good, season 8 sags because the show is starting to drop off, season 9 is really rough. The final episode itself is great too, a perfect ending, but it loses all the joy and tension because the air has long since been let out of the balloon. By comparison, The Good Place runs a lean four seasons, each building on the reveals and dynamics of the last. By the time it wraps up, it feels ready to go, a feeling that ties into the themes of the show perfectly. The tension didn't go as long because the show was so much shorter, but there was still that fear that the landing could be messed up and thankfully, we were not let down. If you drag a show out and it's still good, it makes the great bits that bit greater, but as soon as you start losing the quality, the way people remember your show is going to take a hit.

I hope this has all made sense. It's an idea I had in a kind of haze while watching TV and I thought it might make a nice idea for a post. In the next couple of weeks I'll try and get some reviews out of some newer movies but still, the next time you're watching a TV show and you can't believe it's still great, maybe have a think about my theory. It might be a bit bullshit, but why not humour me a little?