There are other advantages that I see to the five season structure as well. I called it the “Garmin Hypothesis” in the jump from the last page because basically it boils down to the show knowing where it’s going. (Get it? Garmin? It’s this clever word play that you tune in for, right?) Part of my theory is that by limiting a show to a set season structure, you get better results. The writers/runners are able to plan their arcs accordingly, and there is less floundering. (I admit that this would work for any number of set seasons, two, four, nine, but obviously, for the aforementioned reasons, I think five is best.)
For this hypothesis, I want to look at The Wire and Friday Night Lights. Both David Simon, the showrunner of The Wire and Jason Katims, the creator of Friday Night Lights knew at the beginning of the fourth season that they would wrap their shows up in season five. And because of this, the shows have more focus in their final two seasons, avoiding the slump that I discussed with Angel. I would hate to spoil The Wire for anyone, so let’s dissect Friday Night Lights.
This show is a bit of a special case because it went from being a network show to a satellite show. As many of you probably remember, Friday Night Lights was almost cancelled after season three. However, partly because the writers’ strike had prevented a satisfying end to the show, NBC brokered a deal with Direct TV to air the show first on satellite and then on NBC. Part of this deal was also that the show would get not one, but two seasons with the satellite provider. Therefore, Jason Katims and his writers went into season four knowing that they had two season to wrap everything up. They used it as an opportunity to reinvent itself, to reinvigorate the show, and to tell as story which, I believe, is really two seasons long.
At the end of season three on the show, Coach Taylor finds out that he has been moved to coach the East Dillon Lions, a team formed when the town is redistricted. Inherent in this idea is the fact the show is starting from scratch, just like Coach. It’s a new school, a new team, and a new set of players. We are introduced to Vince, the talented kid with a checkered past, Luke, the guy who tries to do his best despite problems at home, and Tinker, the heavyset tackle with a sense of humor. We also get two new girls, Jess and Becky, one a tomboy obsessed with football, the other a pageant queen obsessed with Tim Riggins.
It’s a bold move for any show, to completely restart with new characters and new problems. And it would have been crazy if we only had one season to get to know them. But because there were two seasons guaranteed for the show, the writers were able to give the new kids time to grow naturally, to develop in their own time. This is especially true with Vince, who takes the greatest journey on the show from criminal hooligan to successful quarterback. Without the two year time period, this arc would have felt forced, rushed, and kind of impossible to do well. The same is true for Billy Riggins, who changes from a screw-up who turns his work into a chop-shop in the fourth season to a well-adjusted coach and father in the fifth season. Could you imagine all that happening in one season? Neither could I.
The same idea is true on The Wire, whose fourth and fifth seasons are even more intertwined than those of Friday NIght Lights. It clearly helps for a show to know where it’s going, and the five season structure aids in that. These two shows were able to plan their finales while they were still at the height of their creativity, and the results are better for it. And unlike other shows, such as Gilmore Girls or Scrubs, these shows never have to make up for a series of bad seasons. They don’t meander, introducing story lines just to fill air time. These shows are taut, well-planned and direct. They are, I believe, better because of their five season structure.
Last but not least: Beating a dead horse.
Mary the TV Maven 
I really enjoyed this post.
I think an interesting side point to this topic would be Dollhouse, as it was intended to go for five seasons but was condensed into two. It suffers because of that.
Thanks for commenting. I didn’t know that Dollhouse was planned as a five season show. But that’s fascinating to know. And I agree, it did suffer from being shoehorned into two seasons. (I still love those seasons, though) I think Joss Whedon shows really are some of the best examples I could ask for when defending the five season theory. They just fit so perfectly.
Well at least that’s what I heard – It was certainly sketched out for a longer run than it had.
You can sort of see it in the show itself. If you remember in season 2 there is a section where Echo is working outside of the dollhouse. They more or less just skip over it because they literally didn’t have time to tell that story proprerly.
If it was to be a major season arc (which I feel it could well have been) then it would fit nicely with what you were saying about the third season breaking the established rules and taking more risks.
I still think the show would have ended in roughly the same way that it did, only they would have peered into a few more corners along the way. [That’s why I think it suffered, I quite like peering into corners 🙂 ]
Excellent article, and spot on regarding the quality benefits of a five season run. I would however have loved a season six of Angel, as there was some genuinely brilliant character development and interactions coming, in regards to Illyria, Wesley, Angel and Spike, and even Gunn, who I felt often lacked in good character development. Though, I feel that “Angel” season five is so fondly looked upon perhaps mostly because of the new dynamics explored, and that last six-episode range from “A Hole In The World” til’ “Not Fade Away”, which was among the best I’ve seen in television. There were some holes in the season, especially in the first half, but that was mostly negated by the inclusion of Spike into the cast. I actually wasn’t particular fond of him on Buffy, but his rapport with Angel was wonderful in all its pettiness, history, and emotional depth.
Basically though, the reason “Angel” was a good show was because it constantly changed, embraced the fleeting nature of human life and interaction, while maintaining its emotional charge. That “Angel” constantly reinventing itself was the drive and subtle matter of the show, as it was a show with an existential core, creating its own meaning and purpose, and then recreating them in different clothing and situations. This could be interestingly examined in contrast to the five season run limit you proposed, as it meant that the structure it built up wasn’t leading to any particular climax, just that the climax was fairly easily created out of it. Was “Angel” a show that by accident fit into the five show success mold, or was its wonderful ending and run due to its existential and constantly reinventing nature? The grand finale, where Angel the character chooses something he desperately wanted in favour of doing the right thing, would perhaps point to the latter, but the question would be up for debate.
Kathiravan Isak Arulampalam.