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As I recall, the main point of contention was that this was one of the first big "there's a big mystery and the whole series is one big story to unravel it and we totally have it all planned out, honest" series. And then it turned out that no, they didn't totally have it planned out, and they were just making crap up as they went and most of the profound "clues" people were trying to cobble together were basically meaningless.
Maybe the show runners managed to cobble something together out of them that was satisfying regardless, but still, it felt like quite the betrayal. History repeated itself with Battlestar Galactica, where the show kept insisting "they have a plan!" When no, they really did not.
There was a big mystery from the beginning, they all died in the plane crash, and they were building an afterlife where they were all together. They did reveal it gradually, with a mounting number of conflicting facts.
Battlestar Galactica also had an overarching plan, that they would end up on Earth and restart the cycle.
BSG is an interesting example. I'm in the middle of a rewatch. Yes on the Earth aspect.
But the opening credits always mention that the cylons have a plan. After the show was over Ronald D. Moore, the show runner, admitted they made up that line because it sounded cool. There was no cylon plan. Disappointing as that part of the show's mythology was teased and I would have liked to know more.
This is all true but I think it was still a good show especially compared to what else was on non-cable TV at the time. There wasn't any show that actually prompted conversation about it in my family the way Lost did. That they built its appeal on reckless overprinting of plot threads they could never satisfyingly resolve was a dirty trick, but everyone fell for it, so to me they still get credit.
One big issue, is even if they have a "plan" it goes out the window if the show is too successful(or unsuccessful). A 5 season arc now needs to last 6 or 7..
I know Buffy for example had been planned for 8-9 seasons. And then producers were like nope the 7th is it. So they had to try and wrap everything up in one season.
Something similar happened to Babylon 5, it was designed as a 5-season series and then they were told season 4 would be the end. So they hurriedly wrapped everything up for the season 4 finale.
And then they were told they were getting a fifth season after all once that was all locked in, so they had to create a whole season of filler for season 5.
Imagine if the 5th season was just a sitcom about the daily lives of the characters after the conflicts were resolved.
That explains a lot, Season 5 never felt like it fit the series
Twice, technically. Once when it was canceled with season 5, then again with 7.
You mean the Bob Dylan-ex machina didn't do it for you?