Cinefantastique Online

Back in “Sci-Fi Soap Opera Hell,” I was complaining that modern science fiction TV series tend to avoid self-contained stories, in order to hook viewers into coming back for answers to questions that have been raised but left open. One of the great purveyors of this kind of entertainment is J. J. Abrams, whose latest series, FRINGE, made some token effort toward making stand-alone episodes but still could not avoid the temptation to present an over-arching story. Needless to say, I was amused by this post at the Reporter-Times, which recycles some information from a Sci Fi Wire with the show’s co-creators Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman:

It’s been on a hiatus for a while, but the first season of “Fringe” will resume at 9 p.m. Tuesday on Fox.

In a “Sci Fi Wire” interview, co-creators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said show will begin to answer a lot of its own questions as it wraps its first season.

“We are about to shoot our final two episodes of the season,” Orci said. And things will be tied together.

“The question is how fast,” Orci said. “This is something we discussed very much with the network.

“Sometimes they want answers, and then we’ll actually write a show in which everything is answered, and they’re like, ‘No, that’s too fast!’ So how slowly to dole things out is always the key question. But we definitely have answers that we’re dying to give, and it’s a matter of how quickly we get to them.”

So you see, it’s not that Orci and Kurtzman are deliberately withholding information in order to lure viewers back; they’re dying to tell us, but the nefarious network just won’t let them. They’re just following orders!

I think this approach stems from insecurity, a fear that one can’t make an episode so enjoyable  on its own  that viewers will come back for the next one just in the hope of being entertained again. Whoever the real culprit is in this case, it provides confirmation that withholding information is a carefully calculated decision. As I said in my previous article, “…the strategy now is to hook the hard-core fans with byzantine plot threads…” Satisfying viewers, by providing dramatic closure and catharsis on a weekly basis, is not the primary concerns. It is better to make episodes that are intentionally unsatisfying, thus keeping the audience frustrated so that they will return each week, seeking answers they have not been given.

It’s like we’re all junkies and the networks don’t want to give us a good fix for fear we’ll kick the habit. Think about that the next time you hear someone trying to argue that the elliptical nature of these shows serves a higher artistic purpose.