Finished Stranger Things last night. A few questions left unanswered/mysteries unsolved, to whet our appetites for season two, which I understand is all but confirmed.

Personally, I think I'd prefer stranger things to be more of an anthology type series, like twilight zone or amazing stories. Each season a different story, cast, tropes and past time periods. For example the next season could pay homage to 30s40s b monster movies. The next, 70s occult. Maybe 50s alien sci fi etc. and of course more 80sbmasj ups. Perhaps characters and storylines could intersect throughout all?

I just watched the first episode of Charlie Brooker's series Black Mirror on Netflix.



Cracking good stuff!

My wife and I finished the third episode last night. My complaint is it just started off too intense and then just dropped off. I get character development and setting the mood and building on what happened to start. But it was like watching Brett get carried off by the Alien if it happened in the first 10 minutes of the movie and then nothing for two hours. I do certainly want to finish the series, but I think it is deviated really far from the impression you get with in the start of the first episode. Almost like it was intended to be a movie, but was too long and broken into episodes. So unlike, say X-Files, there's no resolution in one episode. Even the "alien conspiracy" episodes had some resolution at the end, unless they were two parters or something, even if the viewer is still left with a cliffhanger.

I can see it being that way had I the time. But my wife and I got started late, and it was almost midnight (paying for that today at work) by the time we finished episode three. This is also the first Netflix series I've watched so I guess I was expecting it to be more episodic. But I have high hopes it will deliver. I just hope that with what you said earlier about seeing how it could end at the first season, doesn't mean like many TV shows, it doesn't know when to quit and becomes bland to unwatchable.

Thinking about what you said earlier about the ending of season one had me thinking. TV shows for me (less with sitcoms) have always had a clear ending but with popularity still keep going. Now whether the original creators of the show still had more material intially written, even after "that point", to me, I don't know. But they clearly reached their peek long before they ended.

X-Files was, to me, at it's peak with Fight the Future. At least in the alien conspiracy episodes. The creature feature episodes are about the only thing that saved most of season 6 as still a good season. After that, not so much so. By the time we reached the culmination of the alien conspiracy it seemed tacked on, and only taking advantage of what had surfaced with the general populace with


Fringe had it's peak at the culmination of season 4.


Supernatural had its peak, but it's harder for me to pinpoint. I think it meander really bad, but there's really not a clear point in it. But if I'd say so it would be the end of season 4 or 5. At least in the characters of Sam and Dean. The more they get wrapped up in the Heaven vs Hell storyline, the worse it got. It was great as a Sam & Dean fight random creature/monster/demon each episode, or a two parter here and there. While I really like Castiel's character, it just became more and more of a cluster it became to me, where like a soap opera, it was just everyone out to get everyone else. The quality is obviously still there for it's popularity, but I think it lost it's direction around that time.

Anyway ... I'm rambling .... I think Stranger Things, with again, what you said about the ending of season one, would be cool to keep the setting, but focus on a new group of characters with a different dilemma each season. Like the characters from previous seasons would still live in the town (if they aren't killed) and have the sheriff always there or other officers the focus, and maybe the installation that creature escaped from the focus of the Stranger Things that are happening. But make it more a anthology of different people's stories with the monster/alien/supernatural theme to it. That way the characters don't get old and stale.

I don't why anthology TV shows, at least in Western culture, seemed to have vanished with Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Dark Shadows and the like. It's a good formula to keep an idea or basic premise fresh to me.

Really? I am surprised because my wife and I had exactly the opposite reaction; we really loved the way those characters developed. The kids were brilliant, and both the mom and the sherif turned out to be very different from the stereotypes they seemed to be at first.

I also loved how "the jerk" (type-casting, here!) turned out to be an O.K. guy, how "the misunderstood teen" didn't turn out to be irresistible, and how "the air-head" really kicked ass.

I'm not sure I do want a second season, though. As I said above, I'd love to see those people again, but the story has been told... I'd hate it to artificially stretch the plot.