TV Tuesday: Disparities

[yourlibrarian]

Which shows seem to you to have had the biggest tonal difference between pilot episode and series finale? Was that a good or a bad thing?

Comments

[jo]

I'd have to go with M*A*S*H. It started out very slap-sticky, lots of really sexist humour, and rather apolitical. The characters were quite two-dimensional (some more than others). By the time it ended, it had taken on a more dramatic and overtly anti-war political tone, and all of the characters had evolved to be more emotionally complex. There was still some more slap stick type humour, but like everything else about the show, the humour had evolved as well.

I'd also toss out Star Trek: Next Generation for consideration. I've always found the 2-part pilot episode, Encounter at Farpoint, one of the worse Trek pilots (save for maybe Discovery's, but that for entirely different reasons). More than any of the other Trek spin-offs, I always found it obvious that the actors were still trying to find their way, there was no sense of cohesion with the cast, and the writers were still figuring out what this new series was going to be. Contrast that with the series finale, All Good Things, and how all of those issues had been sorted. The cast knew their characters, the emotions were real, etc.

I don't know if it's fair for me to mention this one because I've never seen the finale -- ditched the show in its third season, but I've read about it. Riverdale. It started off just fine -- pilot was fine, lived up to the Archie Comics meets Twin Peaks billing, but then just went so far off the rails.

[yourlibrarian]

Good examples! I never watched MASH regularly but was still aware of this transition. I also tried out Riverdale but never went back after the first season, though I do remember hearing about the increasing wildness of the plots.

[executrix]

I wouldn't say that Blakes7 was ever cheerful (although there's plenty of gallows humor) but let's just say the last episode surprised the hell out of most of the viewers.

I actually liked "The Deuce" (about Times Square before it was cleaned up) but not only did I loathe the last episode introduction of supernatural woo-woo in an extremely realistic series, I retrospectively dinged the showrunner for saying that the loved the last episode and the whole show led up to it.

[yourlibrarian]

I have managed to stay unspoiled about its ending! Still hoping to watch the whole thing.

I never watched The Deuce but there was another series, Sugar, that did the same thing, which I was not keen on given the complete switch from noir mystery.