TVSquad

The key to success with a continuing drama is for it to CONTINUE. 24 is having no problem holding an audience with a continuing storyline, and realistic or not, I am never disappointed by spending an hour watching it. I tried The Nine, and as soon as the wife asked the bank manager what happened in there, and he didn't give even a remotely straight answer, I knew it was Lost 2. Life's too short.

Vanished isn't terrible except for the casting. Ming-Na, that FBI agent that got killed, and Rebecca Gayheart, all terrible. I still watch it though.

It's insulting to watch previews for Lost every week that hint at huge events coming, and then nothing. If it is really a character show it's a bad one, and they should have the decency to make previews to that portray it as such.

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sounds like Tru Calling to me.

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I don't think there are many dramas that I even enjoy if they don't have at least a decent amount of continuation from espisode to episode.

Shows in which some court case or murder is solved each week without any broader storyline aren't of much interest to me at all.

It really annoys me when a show fails only because it requires too much of the audience.

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I'm actually looking forward to Daybreak. Before the season started, when I looked at the breakdown of all the new shows, Daybreak jumped out at me as something I would really like to see (not to mention that it has Adam Baldwin in it as well).

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Television programs have become more serial in nature while continuing to exist in a infrastructure geared towards 22-episode seasons. That's positively exhausting, when you think of it. It's asking a lot of the audience to tune into something that may be stretched out to make way for more commercials.

I've watched the first two episodes of the Nine, and that's likely going to be it, because I know there are supposed to be 20 more of them, and that's 20 hours of my life I could spend doing something differently. It didn't hook me, and its early poor ratings will keep me from investing any more time in it.

Also, all of these shows started at the same time. How am I supposed to keep up with Vanished or Kidnapped? Those shows sound like cop shows, or close to cop shows, and there are so many of those on the air.

LOST was successful because it provided a different spin on two shows embedded in the cultural consciousness - Gilligan's Island and Survivor. Heroes is currently a hit because superhero movies have done incredibly well in the marketplace.

I'm much more interested in Daybreak because it takes the premise of Groundhog Day and does something different with it. For that, I imagine it will do somewhat better then crime shows. Daybreak also starts at a time when nothing else is debuting, so it won't have to compete with all of these other shows.

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Hey, anything to break away from the horror that was reality shows.

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I was able to watch 25 minutes from the Daybreak pilot, and those 25 minutes had me eagerly anticipating the season. It has the tension of 24 and a great premise. Hope they can keep it interesting.

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I caught the premiere early as well:

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/07/19/day-break-an-early-look/

And I really liked it. I have no idea how it'll last a season (nevermind beyond), but I'll be watching. Hell, ABC must have faith if they're unloading this in Lost's timespace.

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All I've seen of Daybreak was the preview provided on ABC's website, but it was enough for me to want to at least check out my default six episodes. That is, unless the first one or two are so bad that I just can't face any more.

"Telemimicry" continues to spread, but for my money, and time, having an outbreak involving serials beats the hell out of the past epidemic of reality shows.

BTW Bob, the entire article after the mention of "Daybreak" is a huge-assed link.

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I think Vanished's "demise" and Kidnapped's demise are not quite the same.

So long as Day Break doesn't resort to massive government conspiracies that suck, and alot of seemingly paranormal clues that don't mean anything, I'm set. I imagine by the end of the season, watching him repeatedly save a person might get old. If he saves even one person in the Pilot, he'll have to do it again and again. But it's on my Watch List, so it's up to them to impress me.

Also, Groundhog Day was done best by Stargate SG-1.

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I haven't been able to get into any of the new serials except Heroes because I just don't want to devote myself to any more continuing stories. I watched the first ep of The Nine and while it was great, I thought "there's no way I'm letting myself get sucked into this thing." I also saw Jericho, but it wasn't compelling enough (sorry Skeet). I watch too much TV as it is. That being said, I'll probably still watch Daybreak because it's in the same timeslot as Lost and I don't have to add to my schedule.

Has anyone seen the previews for the Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu? Doesn't it look alot like Daybreak?

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This show looks decent to me, like a good idea. He keeps failing every day, but gets closer to the resolution he wants.

However, it needs to be tied up in one season.
And the next season needs to be completely unconnected to this season outside of the whole keep-doing-one-day-until-it's-right gimmick.

If the plot between the two seasons overlaps, if it's the same conspiracy or a repeat main character or maybe even a conspiracy at all, I'll lose interest. And I don't think the networks have the balls to continue a series in name and theme only, not with the same characters.

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Everybody mentions LOST as a serial... but complete ignores the fact that it wraps it's serial in a complete episodic frame work. And even the stuff on the island usually has some sort of episodic framework. Island = partial serial. Flashbacks = episodic.

This is why it had wild success... it was serial, but episodic enough for someone to watch an episode. When it began at least... now that it's less the case, look what's happening to the ratings.

These shows that think they are cloning LOST... are not even close.

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