Mm. Dead Zone. Smart Writing.
If a show has an incredible pilot, it can only go downhill. If the pilot is shaky, the show can find its legs as it progresses.
The Dead Zone television series had a really great pilot and though there are a few "okay" episodes, most are quite good, and some episodes will hit that same high as the initial pilot.
And yes, I am aware the television show is based on the book, which also had a movie made, but it is definitely its own entity.
What strikes me is the quality of the acting (in which the main character is playing a role that is every other actor's dream: becoming multiple characters who are all entirely different people, not just facets of the same individual), and the writing. I find myself hyperaware of the writing involved in different media outlets and too often, linear episodic storytelling shows signs of short-sightedness in the writing room. Beginning season three of The Dead Zone, and I couldn't help but admire the things set up in season one which were then teased in season two, and will quite possibly come to a head in season three (or four or more if they stretch it out). I like to see that kind of foresight as well as faith(or hope?) that the show would be renewed to continue that kind of longform storytelling hidden beneath episodic arcs.
A twist was revealed and I started clapping, saying, "wow...the writing is really smart." (referring to the unfurling of plot, not to cerebral writing, like say, Inception or Eternal Sunshine is) My sisters were very confused by my observation. Or more that I had made the observation at all. They watch a show and don't pay much attention to what makes it happen, but I can't watch something and just be in it. I am constantly thinking, "wow, that shot must have taken 50 takes" or "the line sucks, but the delivery makes it good" or "good script, wrong delivery" or "bad timing, the actor's fault or the editing?" or "the person in charge of wardrobe is good."
Okay, bedtime. Trying to get more in the habit of writing my thoughts down. I used to be really good about it. I admire good writing in others.