Tv Series: The Game

Over a year ago, I wrote about the gamechanger. It was the first part of a series of posts of me explaining my views on tv series theory, which I came up with without any prior knowledge of existing theory. Today, I'm finally writing the second part of that series. To recap the previous installment, a gamechanger is when something happens in a tv series that changes it entirely. A good example would be how in the beginning of Voyager's season 4, Kes left and was replaced by Seven of Nine. Today, I am going to discuss another piece of theory I came up with.

The very existence of a gamechanger suggests that there is a game. The game is what I am going to talk about today. I should add that I don't completely know what the game looks like. However, I would like to share my current view of things.

Basically, the game is a collection of properties that hold for the entire series (or at least part of it, as we know that gamechangers may change the game). It is, in a way, the context in which episodes are written. It's the things we know about a series.

I don't exactly know what the game consists of just yet, but there will be a number of things. Examples of things that will likely be part of the game are the goal or drive and the obstacle. The goal of a show is what the characters are trying to achieve and thus what keeps the show moving. The obstacle is the thing that makes sure the characters don't simply achieve their goal and end the series.

One thing I am pretty sure of is part of the game is the group of characters, from recurring upwards. I'll call them the "Family" and I'll leave the discussion of the family for my next topic on tv series theory.

It is an important thing to be noted that the game can change without a gamechanger. As mentioned in the gamechanger piece, there are also gradual changes. However, a change that is in fact minor, isn't a gamechanger either, even when it is sudden. An example would be when a recurring is introduced, which changes the family and thus the game, but may have so little influence on the show that it can't be called a gamechanger.

That's it for today. See you around!

Tv Series: The Gamechanger

I have been thinking about tv series theory a lot lately and I am sort of setting up my own theories doing so. Things are still shaping up and they just need time. However, I decided that I would start of with sharing some of the terminology I have been coming that has already shaped up.

One of the most important things that has been wandering in my mind is the gamechanger. It is about something that changes the premise, goal or the means to the goal the series is taking. Perhaps I will be able to make this into something more quantifiable later on, but for now it's a rather abstract and it requires a lot of feeling. However, let me get into some examples.

Star Trek: Enterprise has a Gamechanger at the end of season 2, when a ship of exploration goes to war. The actual game changer is the event in which the Xindi attack.

Chuck has a Gamechanger when the events leading to the Intersect 2.0 (I find this one hard to pin down, though. I think there's more going on than just a game changer as well).

Battlestar Gallactica had a gamechanger just about every midseason finale and every season finale.

Other series, don't have a gamechanger.

The Gamechanger is the event that leads to changes in the series. However, the event itself is not what makes it a gamechanger. The fact that after that things do change, is what makes it a gamechangers. It can also be hard to say whether something will be a gamechanger until the events following it are shown.
A good example would be the death of a character. For one show, this might mean that the whole dynamic of the show changes, while in another little might change at all. In the latter case, it isn't a gamechanger while in the first case it is.

Also, while a gamechanger is usually planned, it can also just happen. The loss of a cast member (for any reason) can be an unplanned gamechanger (think 8 Simple Rules). It is hard to think of a different way a gamechanger can be unplanned, but I am pretty sure that there is one out there.

There are multiple reasons that the gamechanger focuses on the event causing the change rather than the changes themselves. One reason is that this is not at all about a gradual change. Instead, it's about a sudden change in the series, which is caused by something. Another is that gamechanger itself is usually a big event in the series and already drops its hints even before you can be sure it is going to be a gamechanger. Of course the way in which I started thinking about it also plays its role.

So, this was tv series theory installment one. I hope you liked it. For me, thinking about certain events as gamechangers really changed the way I looked at some finales.