“There’s a sense of reward if you figure it out, but there’s also a sense of reward if you don’t,” he said. Can your imagination “outrun” screenwriters?
Carmen Mugnolo had never seen an episode of “Grey’s,” now in its 20th season, until her friend Kelcey Werner told her about a plotline in Season 2 in which an unexploded bazooka shell went into a man’s chest.
That story alone is enough material for a podcast, he said. Now two friends talk about every episode together on the podcast “Grey’s Academy.” So far they’ve overcome a ferry crash, medical malpractice, a runaway groom and the surprise death of a beloved character who was hit by a bus.
Soap operas, “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” equal or higher episode is important, but the twists and turns of a prime-time drama can be hypnotic. The plot structure, Kidd says, is similar to that of children’s chapter books, where each chapter has a beginning, middle and end within a larger story.
“You don’t have to finish the book right away to be satisfied,” he said.
These shows create scenarios people hope never to experience — crime, assault, rare medical issues — but they’re essentially workplace dramas, says Kidd, who there are characters struggling with careers, love, friendship and their sense of right and wrong.
Plotlines are often inspired by reality, including, for example, the entire 17th season of “Grey’s,” which centered on the coronavirus pandemic. The two-part Season 6 finale is about a mass shooting at a hospital. And on “SVU,” many episodes take cues from the news, including the Jeffrey Epstein case in Season 21 and the Eliot Spitzer scandal in Season 11.
