Is Originality Dead in Prime Time Television?

Raven West ♦ February 2, 2014 ♦ Leave a comment

Either I’m watching way too much television, or there really is a severe lack of creativity and originality in the writing world.

In one week, there were not one, not two, but three prime time series which had the identical plot. Castle on ABC, Hawaii 5-0 on CBS and Psyche on USA Network all involved an antagonist taking hostages in order to prove their innocence of a murder.

The subsequent stories which followed the opening copy-cat scenarios did involve a somewhat interesting variety that revealed who was the actual killer was, their motive and the effect this all had on the major characters, but the basic premise was exactly the same. Three of them in one week!

I suppose with so many crime dramas currently being aired on so many channels, there are just not enough original stories left to write about. Of course the audience that watches Psych might not be the same as those who watch Castle, or Hawaii 5-0 so maybe the need for creativity or originality isn’t as important as it once was. I sure hope not.