TV shows with well-planned storylines

[Just Samantha]

Since Days seems to make up storylines as they go, which often times gives us episodes/scenes that make no sense, what are some TV shows that had really well planned out storylines?

For example, This Is Us. The producers knew they only wanted to do the show for six years. They had planned out the basic storylines ahead of time, knowing how they wanted to go from Point A on the first episode to Point B on the finale. There weren't really any odd episodes or side stories that didn't make sense. All the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly. (the only thing I would've wanted to see done differently was on the finale, when Rebecca was in the afterlife with Jack, if he had introduced her to Kyle, the triplet who was stillborn on the first episode)

There was a show in 2011 called Ringer where Sarah Michelle Gellar played twins who basically switched places. Practically every episode gave you a jaw-dropping twist. It was cancelled after one season and ended on a cliffhanger. But the entire season was really well-planned ahead of time. The producers were disappointed by the cancellation and said they actually had the basic story planned for how the show would progress for two more seasons.

What are some shows that had excellent storylines you thought were really well done? On the flipside, what are some shows that really went off the rails? I heard Lost started out really strong, then went down the toilet with storylines that made no sense and contradicted what was originally shown. Or Dallas, when Patrick Duffy returned as Bobby Ewing, so they erased the entire previous year by saying it was all Pam's dream.

 

[JasonDíSpeech]

How I Met Your Mother was a really well-planned show, and every time I rewatch it, it strikes me how clever the show was. You can also see when they get more popular and more confident that the show takes bigger strides (planning things out over several seasons) working toward the end goal they set up from the first episode (and filmed during season 2).

Lost is a classic tale of a show that pretended to have a plan, but never really did, because planning doesn't make a lot of sense. You don't know if an actor will leave, get hurt (or worse), what stories will click, or if you'll even get renewed (à la Ringer). Heck, a show can get an order for 26 episodes and get cancelled with only 7 of them having aired.

 

[Muzzaman]

I was going to say the same thing about Lost, Jason. This show started out with a big bang, interest, etc but once the producers realized the massive hit they had, they seemed to have changed direction of the show, added more stories to characters, various other clues about the island that never were followed through on and eventually just became this mish mash of a show that ended up just frustrating viewewrs.