I've started watching Mad Men on Netflix.
I thought the first season was fabulous and hilarious. But now, about halfway into the third season, it's feeling more and more like a freakin' soap opera.
[...]
I'm inclined to agree with that assessment.
It's not uncommon for a tv series with a great first season to lose momentum in latter seasons. This disappointing effect is known as
loss of situational continuity. It is the result of writers taking a long break between brainstorming sessions and/or because of a change in the writing staff.
The reason for the phenomenal success of
The Sopranos series was the producer's insistence that scripting and editing continue with minimal interruption between seasons, the result being each successive season was better than the preceding one. There was no interruption in situational continuity and the essence of individual characters remained constant.
Another example of the
loss of continuity effect is seen in another great series,
The Wire." And an outstanding example of the effect of uninterrupted continuity is seen in what I consider the greatest tv series of all time, the BBC's, Downton Abbey.
I liked Mad Men in spite of the change in scripting tempo. The first season focused on the nuts & bolts of Madison Avenue during the rise of the tv "ad biz," which was relatively interesting and informative. But focus shifted in successive seasons to the personal lives of the principal characters, the result of which was the soap opera effect.
When my late wife received her Ph.D. (Psychology) in the sixties she was recruited by a now-prominent Madison Avenue ad agency. She lasted five months and quit because the competitive pressure was overwhelming. She would really have enjoyed the Mad Men series.
