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The Crowded Effect--A Destructive Tool in Writing and Viewership

     So I sat watching tv a bit in my free time this weekend, taking in the very few currently airing shows that I like, as well as indulging in ones I have loved in the past. In doing so, I have come to see a shift in storytelling that I'm not fond of--and the more I see of it the less I understand it. There may be a proper term for it floating out there that I haven't seen or heard of yet, but in my little writer world, I'm calling it The Crowded Effect.
     I know you have seen it.
     I've even heard some of you complaining about it.
     I just haven't seen the destructiveness of it until now.
     Let's take your favorite show all the way back to season one. You remember that, don't you? The awesome intro to the world of characters A+B+C+whoever else that is the core of the show? The people who will be with us in the beginning, and though not all may make it, the one at the very least who will be with us when it all sadly comes to and end?
     We loved that season!
     It wasn't just solid writing.
     It was an absolute necessity!
     Because this is the ground the writers are standing on when they begin their tale, and it is the ground they should return to after the flights of fancy--no matter the direction they take and those we encounter along the way.
     That's just how stories are suppose to be, how they are suppose to work.
     But after season one?
     Well, our favorite handful of characters seem to get swept up into a tornado and by season 4 or 5 we've found ourselves saying goodbye to some who at least had integral ground to land on, while having to introduce ourselves to new arrivals all within the chaos--never knowing if they are coming, going, important or just debris floating around to clutter things. At some point, it all becomes a cluster-fuck and in the noise we lose the story-line.
     And those new characters?
     We love them--some of them--and we think to ourselves 'hey, there is great potential here for X+Y=Z' if the creators choose to go in direction D or E or a combo of G & H. But suddenly most of them are gone as fast as they have arrived, or worse, they are filled up with so much empty air to take up space without any substance we have no clue what they hell is the point of them being there. Their backgrounds are abridged (and most not effectively so), their singled out story-lines don't have the stepping stones necessary to give them a solid foothold with the original characters, and the talents behind them feel wasted which is hard to accept when it isn't easy to find such solid talent in the first place.
     And why?
     WHY?
     Because I don't need a top billed cast of 10+ characters with only 5 who actually fit together and 5 others who are shoved into place like piss poor puzzle pieces to keep my interest. Each episode doesn't need to be a fast paced action sequence from the Fast and the Furious to keep me coming back each week. I'm not empty or shallow or suffer from such a massively short attention span you have to keep tossing reminders into the dialog about why said characters are around.
     I'm a viewer who likes to watch things build up.
     I want the slow burn.
     I need my characters to not feel like a Lernaean Hydra (unless they are said mythological creature) with a new random head sprouting each season.
     I don't want to be drawn up on a hype only to fall flat because there are too many people and not enough time or editing in the world to bring back the screen minutes wasted on drivel.
     I don't want to jump into a massive pool of book pages and try to weave some bullshit together with washed out words just so I can say I've been told enough tales in the time given. That's not substance, that's a handful of sparklers that still burn out too quickly no matter how little you wave them about.
     I just want characters A thru C to tell me their stories, to bring me into their world without the need for a flow chart and give me a wonderful adventure.
     That's all I need.
     No flash magicians, no Las Vegas show pizzazz, just me and the little story stick being passed around the tiny circle of people all facing a campfire.
     Intimacy, my dear writers, is the way you keep your audience from wandering.
     Keep it simple, keep it neat.
     That is an absolute that is fundamental in storytelling.
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