Season length related to quality?

Date: 03/05/1999
From: Blinker

Consider the following:

Season One - 10 episodes
Generally considered the best, though a few brave dissenters favour Season Two.

Season Two - 13 episodes
Generally considered a slight comedown from Season One. Note the slight increase in season length.

Season Three - 25 episodes
Pretty much unanimously considered the worst, BY FAR. And it just happens to be longer than the first two seasons combined.

Season Four - 22 episodes
Definitely an improvement over the third season, but a far cry from the old glory days.

Starting to see a pattern?

Well, by this measure, Season Five (18 eps) will be another improvement, and the proposed 13-ep Season Six [rumour courtesy of earthprime.com] will finally match Season Two.

Blinker 7:-)

That has nothing to do with it...

Date: 03/05/1999
From: SliderNum5

The reason is that we lost the good writers and the good acting. I love half the season of the 3rd one as much as I do the others, because the actors made an effort to make a show good, no matter what the script was. For example: "The Rules of the Game". It wasn't a good story...but, by the way it was made, it was a great character driven show with action.

This season, we have freelance writers that can not be detailed. and actors that are there because they knew TPTB and the rest...are not trying.

~SliderNum5

SN5, I may be wrong...

Date: 03/05/1999
From: Grim_Reaper

and often am, but I get the feeling that his tongue was firmly planted in cheek while he wrote this.

This always happens to me...

Date: 03/05/1999
From: Blinker

I thought of putting a disclaimer on this post saying it was 'for entertainment purposes only', etc. but thought it could speak for itself. Oh well.

Yes, I was joking - as usual. 7:-) But if you really want me to labour the point, SN5, I could say that you're helping to prove me right. See, the first 10 to 13 eps of Season Three were of a higher calibre, with 4 or 5 *really* good ones. Then the 'Season Length Factor' started to kick in and we got "Stoker", "The Breeder", "This Slide of Paradise" et al.

Backing away slowly so as to not ignite a flame war,
Blinker 7:-)

Actually, there might be something to it

Date: 03/05/1999
From: ThomasMalthus

Think about it. More episodes means more chances that some episodes will be bad. And also think about this: if Season Three had had only ten episodes, and they had been:

1. Rules of the Game
2. Doublecross
3. The Guardian
4. The Fire Within
5. The Prince of Slides
6. Dead Man Sliding
7. Season's Greedings
8. Murder Most Foul
9. The Exodus (Part 1)
10. The Exodus (Part 2)

...it wouldn't have been nearly as bad as it was. Am I wrong?

ThomasMalthus

You're mostly right, Tom, except for

Date: 03/05/1999
From: Executive

"Murder Most Foul" ---a semi-ripoff of Sherlock Holmes, but I never liked the Holmes-mystery genre anyway.

"Season's Greedings" had some nice scenes, like Arturo reading Christmas poems to the kids and Wade meeting the sister she never knew, Kelly. But those weren't quite enough for it to count among my 3rd season favorites.

"The Prince of Slides" I definately wouldn't count because the pregnant man idea had been done before -- and much better by Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Junior" (which in itself was a remake of two 1970s movie comedies, one of which was the totally inept low budget "Rabbit Test" starring Billy Crystal and directed by Joan Rivers).

You didn't like "Stoker"? It was a change of pace to have the guys off on vacation in a foreign locale, and when they are almost late when it's nearing the time to slide, the ladies charter a small plane to search for them in the jungle! The genetically-enhanced snakes were a return to the sci-fi elements that were missing from all of the other post-Exodus 3rd season Maggie episodes and Mags and Wade got along better than usual in that story. Plus the What-If aspect was brought back because tobacco was illegal on that world (thank goodness)!

By the way, Tom, did you check out the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer board yet? I haven't seen any posts by B. Stoker yet!

THE EXECUTIVE

Executive,

Date: 03/05/1999
From: Slider_Sarah

the episode you were thinking of was not "Stoker" it was "Slither" I preferred the former to the latter. "Stoker" was the one with the vampires and the rock scenes. I think there was some rock band member it in who i can't quite remember and Wade got to sing which actually turned out quite well. In case you haven't guessed I am a rock music fan.

"We're here. Then again, maybe we're not."

Slider_Sarah
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dreamworld/7247/slidindex.html

Yep, I meant "Slither" (typo)...END

Date: 03/05/1999
From: Executive

.

Exec:

Date: 03/05/1999
From: ThomasMalthus

I've checked in there, I think I made one post the day it was first put up. I've been kinda busy lately, so there hasn't been much time to check message boards. I'm definitely not giving up on discussing Buffy, though. Thanks for extinguishing (at least temporarily) the rumor of SMG and JOC. I intended my post under that thread to be mostly humorous but I was genuinely curious as to what might happen if the two were to tie the knot. Anyway, thanks for making sure I knew about the new board.

ThomasMalthus

Just in case...

Date: 09/16/1999
From: Blinker

...Exec tries to deny raving about "Slither" as one of the best of the year, we've got this to hold against him...

- Blinker 7:-/

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Nominated by Blinker