Just to begin: these are my own thoughts, as an avid watcher and inspiring writer of television, and I'm dictating them here in large part to help myself as a writer, and for your own enjoyment and thoughts.
So here are, without further adieu, the key elements for a successful dramatic television show:
Tell Your Audience Where They Are
That is, let them know the premise of the show. Right away. As in, before the first commercial break. Let your viewer know exactly what kind of a show they're getting into, and let them decide if they want to be there.
Don't Tell Them Where They're Going
Once you've told them where they are, under no circumstances let them think they know where they'll be in six months, or a month, or a week. It's a vitally important distinction, and it's incredibly easy to screw up. You want your viewer to feel like they've got a handle on the show right away, yes...but you don't want them to know it so well that they can predict what's coming down the pipe. Because if they know what's coming, they won't bother to see it happen.
Make it Look Good
Sounds obvious, right? Of course you're going to make it look good. What's surprising is that so many shows don't. In fact, a lot look downright godawful...either because of the budget, or because more effort was spent on the story than the look, or because of a bit of both. A skilled director of photography is crucial; the use of color and light and proper sets are crucial. Production design is CRUCIAL. People watch television to escape, more than anything else, and if it looks cheap, if it looks fake, they ain't going nowhere. CSI has succeeded, in large part, because it looks friggin' great, like nothing else on television. 24 got people hooked, in large part, because it looked like a movie. These shows looked like someone spent some serious time and effort to make it look good, and the fact such time and effort was spent indicated to the viewer that this was SOMETHING WORTH WATCHING.
I Repeat: People Watch Television to ESCAPE
The majority of people watching WEST WING or ER aren't politicians or doctors...they're ordinary shmoes who wish and hope that's what politicians and doctors are like. They're optimists, who want to be, however briefly, somewhere that supports their optimism. Who wouldn't want a President like Martin Sheen's Jed Bartlett? Who wouldn't want a doctor like Noah Wiley's John Carter? We want our cops tough but kind, our justice relentless but fair. Television is escapism. Television is wish fulfillment. That's why shows based too closely on current events fail, and why a show like WEST WING, supposedly about current world events, paid only a passing glance to the most world-shaking even in the last fifty years, and why LAX will drop out of sight in less than a couple months unless it becomes a soap opera. You don't want to watch a show about how screwed up the world is. You know that already.
But Make it Look Real
A good fantasy, a good escape, is one where you forget it's a fantasy, and for the viewer to forget it's not real, it's got to look real. It's got to FEEL real. One of the best (and certainly the most neglected) television shows of the last ten years, FIREFLY, was a western set in space, tying in two of the most unrealistic themes out there. But it felt real, and it felt that because of the characters you were watching, because of their reactions to the world around them, and because the world around them made sense, and seemed right. In the pilot, the main character finishes going to the toilet, and because his quarters are on a small, crowded spaceship, he retracts that toilet in to the wall, pulls out the mirror and the sink directly above it, and washes his hands in a serious of gestures that look like they've been done a thousand times. It looked natural, and so it looked real.
Be Consistent
When you get your audience, keep 'em. Build on what you've started, on the themes you've established since day one. Changing things out of left field because you think that's what'll bring you a bigger audience won't, and you'll lose the viewers you've already gained. Bringing on The Hot Chick just for the sake of having The Hot Chick reeks of desperation, and sounds a death knell for the people watching. Never, ever forget that the people watching your show are smarter than you think they are, and when you start grubbing for a bigger market share, they'll see it coming from a mile away, and they'll hate you for it.
Surprise
Being consistent to the themes of your show doesn't mean you can't throw in a zinger. Having a theme doesn't mean always having a logical conclusion, and don't think you're hidebound by everything you did in the pilot. Just have your zingers make sense. And if you're creating a show, give yourself a big enough playground from the start, and you won't have to worry about going out of bounds.
To Sum it Up...
Sum it up. You should be able to summarize not only each episode of your show, but your ENTIRE SHOW, on one side of an index card. Call it the TV Guide listing. If you can't do that, distill the concept down until you can. Don't ever think that by being able to summarize it that you're cheapening it, and don't EVER think that your idea is too precious, too great, too MAJESTIC, to be summed up in a sentence. Get over yourself. And remember, Moby Dick was about a guy and a whale.
That's all for now. I'll write some thoughts about the current crop of television later, when I've got the time.
