Thrown off when secrets or answers are revealed... (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

I was watching Carnivale the other night and Lost last night. In both episodes a long held mystery was resolved. Both times I was shocked they did it. What I mean by that is you wait for so long for some big mystery to be answered or revealed and when it happens you are shocked. Not the answer, but that it was revealed. I guess unlike a movie where you know the answer will be at the end of the movie. TV shows you never know. I mean I expected we would see who management looks like. Just was surprised it happened.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

The classic example of this was Twin Peaks. They build up this big mystery around Who Killed Laura Palmer, then the studio tell Lynch and Frost "Everyone's pissed off because they want to know who the killer is". So the show makers are forced to reveal the solution the big mystery much much sooner than planned, and then everyone stopped watching because they had their answer - the fact that the show floundered around and got quite bad for a while before finding a new direction didn't help. And then it was cancelled just as it was getting good again.

Haven't seen Carnivale, but I've seen the first 9 episodes of Lost, and from what I've seen they've got enough mysteries on the show to make revelations about one issue while still retaining interest. I mean, if they never told you anything, interest would probably wane pretty quickly - "Why watch? We'll never find anything out." But now you know that they will make revelations, and right when you don't expect them, so you become a more dedicated viewer.