3. Structure
Oh,
Lost. Was ever a show so aptly named? After a killer introduction by J.J Abrams,
Lost managed to craft some exceptional stories, all the while meandering around a desert island with no real objective in sight. The ending came, and many of the fascinating mysteries raised by the show remain unsolved. In
The Adventure of the Empty House, Sherlock Holmes returns from his faked death to solve a mystery in which a man is found shot in a room with a locked door and no gun inside. The conclusion of the story would have been considerably less satisfying if it were Holmes shrugging, taking a drag on his pipe and telling Watson that theyd probably never really get to the bottom of it. Of course, its not only shows that set up mysteries theyre unable to solve what about the sitcoms which throw together two characters romantically in a later season as an easy way to generate a plot, even when theyve never displayed any interest in each other.
How to Fix It: Know the ending when you write the start. Otherwise, its like setting out on a journey without knowing the destination: how do you know what to pack?