Do TV shows have too many unnecessary subplots?

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ironpony
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25 Aug 2020, 10:10 pm

My friends try to get me into TV shows more, but I find that they just aren't as focused as movies plot wise, and just have unnecessary subplots, that do not pay of well, or built into the main plot in any way.

For example, I tried watching How to Get Away with Murder, the first two seasons, and when it starts off, so far the murder plot is really promising. But they have these subplots which don't seem to have anything to do with the murder plot. One of the co-conspirators in the murder, for example, has a subplot where she is worried that her fiance might be gay. How is this going to build into the murder plot and have a pay off. I was betting that it was not going to, and be completely forgotten about by the next season... And it was.

Or in the show The Shield for example, the show is about corrupt cops and the honest cops trying to bust them. Pretty good start it was off to. But then when you get more into the subplots, one of them for example, is the police Captain, if I remember his rank correct, has a new gf and they are exploring rape fantasies together. What does this have to do with the main plot of catching the main crooked cop characters? Nothing.

Or in the show Dexter, one of the crime lab characters, has a long lost daughter he finds out about and wants to build a relationship with her. But what does this have to with the main plot about a crime scene specialist who is a serial killer? Absolutely nothing.

Where as movies do not waste time with these kinds of subplots. But maybe there are better shows out there that do not have these types of subplots? Or do they all have them pretty much?

I tried watching Desperate Housewives recently and the show has multiple subplots that go into so many opposite and unrelated directions, that I don't even know what the show is actually suppose to be about.

Unless I am missing something about why shows have to have unrelated subplots?



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25 Aug 2020, 11:02 pm

One season of a TV show has a lot more time to fill than a movie. There's more space for more subplots. But the problem really comes because of the uncertainty about renewal. If the writers know in advance that they're only making 1 season (or 2 or however many), then they can plan the whole thing more carefully. But when they never know in advance how many seasons there will be, they can't be as tidy. Still, there's a lot of inexcusable dropped plots and sloppy writing which frustrates me to no end; how can viewers stand it? I have given up on many TV shows. I currently prefer stand-alone comedic episodes to taking a whole show seriously.


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thewrll
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27 Aug 2020, 1:32 am

Nope.


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ironpony
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31 Aug 2020, 10:57 pm

Oh okay well take Desperate Housewives for example. I'm watching the first season and so far, it bounces back and forth between four different subplots that are unrelated. What is the point to the story if the subplots are unrelated? I mean imagine if you were to take four movies from last year, like say Parasite, The Good Liar, Marriage Story and Clemency, and cut back and forth between all four, and have it be one movie.

Wouldn't you think what is this, and am I watching four stories instead of one?



thewrll
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31 Aug 2020, 11:54 pm

Again nope, without the subplots the show would be boring af.


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ironpony
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01 Sep 2020, 12:00 am

Why would it be boring without?



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01 Sep 2020, 8:34 am

Life itself has many sub-plots, many of which go unresolved.  Why should art not imitate life?


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ironpony
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01 Sep 2020, 4:29 pm

Oh I guess it's because real life stories do not have themes or messages in them per say, and are much more arbitruary. Where as fictional stories, should be crafted to not have that arbitruariness, and have themes and messages in, instead. But that's just my thought on it :).



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01 Sep 2020, 6:35 pm

That would be a very short show.


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ironpony
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01 Sep 2020, 7:11 pm

Not necessarily. Breaking Bad still had subplots but they all built towards the same pay off, and that lasted 62 episodes. Where as other shows, the subplots stay completely seperate which makes them feel a lot more arbitruary. But for some reason Breaking Bad pulled it off, without having any unnecessary subplots accept for one in season 1 which was quickly dropped after a couple of episodes.