So I was thinking. One of those dangerous things I do, but this time, about television. And I was thinking about how a few shows I've enjoyed watching recently have really quite intricate plots. Instead of linear, event A, and then event B, and then event C plots, they start several events in, move a few events on, fll in events from the start, go to a future event and then have past events making sense as plot threads come together. Shows I've seen that exhibit this and do it well would have to be Heroes, Life on Mars, and Jericho.

Heroes without a doubt carries off its complicated plot off exceedingly well. As a viewer, you never feel stupid for not guessing or realising connections for minor details which can suggest the plot before it happens. And the way past events are filled in to make sense of the present is uniquely well done. Life on Mars has a complex plot, but not because of its non-linear uniquity like Heroes.

Life On Mars has its main, very basic but enjoyable Crime/Detective style, and it's very enjoyable as just that. But how many similar genres are set with the lead having been hit by a car, in a coma and in the past, or simply mad. Or maybe he's actually been in a coma since the 70s and has been absorbing information from his surroundings and the plot is the other way round than would seem apparent. But alongside the main genre theme of the show are insights into Sam's life in the future (or present depending how you see it), things he sees on TV, phones he can hear. And this connection to Hyde. It's clever, it's got more than one thing going on, and it works excellently.

Jericho presents a similar contorted nonlinear plot like Heroes, maybe not so efficiently, but its entire premise (the USA has been hit by multiple nuclear bombs on major cities, Jericho, south of Denver which was hit, has survived) is quite clever. Events unfold such that the viewer simply knows nothing until the characters do. You actually feel the natural curiousity. It's very very well handled, and the show itself is great, placing ethical, moral, legal and survival challenges upon the characters. It also makes you situp and think how human civilisation would devolve to such a barbaric nature should something like the events in Jericho ever happen. It can be quite haunting at times.

Which brings me onto a final show that tried and failed. Lost. I believe it's still going strong, but the plot never really have the depth. They overused the same mechanics, and made excessive use of cliffhangers. And it has this feeling like the writers don't quite know where Lost is going either, as if its being made up as they go along. And their effort to weave together multiple character backstories doesn't seem to work too well together. It may just be they're trying too much at once, but the characters seem to lack depth to them despite this.

Anyways, follow the methods Heroes, Life on Mars and Jericho took, and that's how you make a good plot.