What Nashville Could Have Done Better

[TVFANATICA2000]

I've watched Nashville since the beginning.  I'm a big country music fan so I was excited about the show.  But essentially, I think they crammed 4 seasons worth of storylines into 1.  I was rewatching some episodes from season 1 the other day and Scarlett and Gunnar already had a publishing deal by episode 4!  In the first season alone, all the newbies broke into the business, Rayna split with Teddy and then got with Liam and then Deacon, Scarlett and Avery broke up and she then proceeded to date Gunnar who proposed, etc.  They should have really fleshed out these storylines.  Avery, Scarlett, Will, and Gunnar should have struggled to make it.  I think that would have been more interesting and realistic.  I would have like to have seen more of Rayna and Teddy's marriage in the good times as well as drunk Deacon.  I just think it would have made for more interesting and multi dimensional characters.  I think that is why we get these recycled storylines - they did everything the first two seasons!  They also tend to make characters either all good or all bad - i.e. Deacon good, Zack bad, Rayna good, Tandy bad.  And now the writers this season are rewriting history with Gunnar/Scarlet and others.

I do miss the focus on the music from the 1st couple of seasons.  I remember watching and thinking "oh, that's interesting" and learning things about the music industry that I didn't know.  Like getting major stores to give you shelf space for you CD's and 360 deals.  The songs were really good and I saw the tour a couple of times.  I've also been to Nashville and it was nice to see all the filming locations.  From season 4 on, music took a backseat and it's almost like make this about another music genre and these stories could be happening in any city.

I think Connie Britton left because of the decline in the quality of the show.  She won't say it- she just says it was for personal and creative reasons.

[CrystalMoon]

I agree somewhat with your take. However, instead of slowing things down, I think they should've had shorter seasons. The cable and Netflix models now are to have 10-13 episodes per seasons. Or even fewer. And I think that makes for tighter storytelling. It also prevents repetition. And the writers don't always have to go for bigger and more shocking plot twists. I know I stopped watching Scandal because it had to have a shocking twist at the end of every episode, and I just found them to be more and more ridiculous. If there had only been 13 eps in Season 4, we wouldn't have gotten the Vita storyline or the guy who was a sex addict (forgot his name). Juliette might have left Avery and started drinking and taking drugs, but it wouldn't have stretched out for so many eps, and maybe not gotten so eye-rollingly over the top.

I do think it was ridiculous the way Scarlet was signed so fast. She went from never singing to having a major record deal. I actually sympathized with Avery about this, believe it or not. And while the younger crowd all sort of made it in Season 1, I liked how they were still struggling and learning and dealing with being new artists in Season 2. I loved when Gunnar went on the road with Luke as a mentee and had to write a song in Luke's brand.

Like you, I miss the focus on the music this season. Sure, it's still there somewhat, but not nearly like it was in earlier seasons. They were always, always playing music or writing music or figuring out how to distribut music or how to get critics to write favorably about them, etc. Now, that seems all secondary. Remember when Will was trying so hard to write songs in Season 4? What happened to that guy? And remember when they talked about how in country music, you write about your messy life? Avery has so much material to write about, and yet, we never see him write a single song. They just appear out of nowhere and don't seem connected to his own life at all. I could go on and on.

And this season, I think it's a mistake to focus so much on a few characters each episode. So often the focus is on non-music-related stuff. If the writers kept it as an ensemble as in previous seasons then we could still have a lot of music mixed in with the personal stories.

[piratewench]

27 minutes ago, CrystalMoon said:

And this season, I think it's a mistake to focus so much on a few characters each episode. So often the focus is on non-music-related stuff. If the writers kept it as an ensemble as in previous seasons then we could still have a lot of music mixed in with the personal stories.

I'm going to disagree with you on this one point.  One of the things that actually drove me crazy was the insistence on cramming everyone into every episode, as the seasons went on.  It led to me feeling a sense of whiplash by the time each episode was over.  I actually wanted to spend more time on a storyline in each episode, rather than having 3 minutes - or less - in each episode so that every single story moved along.  I was exhausted at the end of each season.  I still remember the Vulture recap of the season 1 finale, where the recapper basically outlined the first seven minutes of the show before the first break and said "there's the whole episode!"  Only it wasn't.

I'm a fan of how they've spread things out this season.  I'm disappointed by the fact that several characters don't have good, meaty stories, but I also attribute some of that to front-loading the first half of the season with Connie and now dealing on the back end with the fallout from Rayna's death.  Which, admittedly, doesn't affect every character.  I see this as a transition season and look forward to more balance in season 6.  Having said that, I'm not as disappointed with this season as some are, and I'm not alone there.

I do have to agree with you, CrystalMoon, about Scandal though.  Ugh.  That used to be my hands down favorite show on TV.  Now I'm just grateful it's almost over.  I'll watch it to the bitter end, but I'm not happy about it.

[woodstock]

On 8/5/2017 at 11:45 AM, piratewench said:

I'm going to disagree with you on this one point.  One of the things that actually drove me crazy was the insistence on cramming everyone into every episode, as the seasons went on.  It led to me feeling a sense of whiplash by the time each episode was over.  I actually wanted to spend more time on a storyline in each episode, rather than having 3 minutes - or less - in each episode so that every single story moved along.

I agree. This is a problem on quite a few shows. IMO trying to fit every character into every episode usually leads to incoherent, rushed storytelling.  I gave up on Grey's Anatomy years ago for this reason (it didn't help that I hated every character).

I've liked certain aspects of this season and it's been better than the trainwreck that was last season. This show has a lot of flaws but one thing they've handled well has been the aftermath or Rayna's death and how it has affected Deacon, Maddie, Daphne - Deacon especially. On most shows a major character dies and people just move on like nothing happened.

This show desperately needs to figure out what to do with Will, revamp Scarlett and Gunnar but not as a couple, and stop creating unnecessary, silly drama between Avery and Juliette.

[zabooky]

On 8/8/2017 at 1:48 PM, woodstock said:

 

This show desperately needs to figure out what to do with Will, revamp Scarlett and Gunnar but not as a couple, and stop creating unnecessary, silly drama between Avery and Juliette.

Thank you! So annoyed with the unnecessary drama, blown out of proportion drama with Avery and Juliette. He knows who he married and she was 1000% worse. Can we move on?

[Bwill3133]

12 hours ago, zabooky said:

Thank you! So annoyed with the unnecessary drama, blown out of proportion drama with Avery and Juliette. He knows who he married and she was 1000% worse. Can we move on?

Amen to that. Newsflash Avery, you married Juliette Barnes who on her good days is a 6 on the difficulty scale to get along with! But you already knew that so them fighting every episode is wearing thin. 

I actually like Avery on tour and Juliette taking care of Cadence on her own  (with a nanny and Emily) but wish they could have made that decision together instead of Avery making it out of anger. 

What could be better is also not forgetting the previous stories that happened. Also some people ( just two for me) in previous seasons can be mentioned if they are not seen. If Highway 65 bought Luke Wheeler out where are all the artists on his label? Can I get an idea of where Teddy is? It's been 3 months and no sign of him contacting his daughters? What about Tandy? In all of the seasons we were shown she adored her nieces and vice versa. So their mother dies and she doesn't talk to them anymore?  I don't need to see a phone call every episode but I wouldn't hate for Daphne to mention her aunt calling her in passing. 

[TVFANATICA2000]

My biggest gripe - the whole rivalry between Rayna and Juliette which was supposed to be the basis of the show barely lasted a season!

[seewillrun]

This is the only place I can complain about things... I try to stay positive in the episode forums.

Three things that I wish we could have seen:

Rayna and Deacon and the girls at the cabin, happy.

Deacon and Rayna performing together in front on an audience.  I think the last time we saw that was "Surrender"at the Bluebird.  But I mean on a big stage with them singing one of their songs  at a large venue.

I'm truly pissed off that we didn't get a scene with Rayna and Deacon performing Postcards from Mexico together. It's the song kicked off their reconciliation in Season 1 and I don't want to have to watch Rayna and Liam singing it on Youtube videos.

[timrabbit]

I tivo'd this season and just got around to finishing it. Lousy, couldn't wait to get through all of it. I would have given up, but the missus wanted to finish it. It was like episode after episode of Groundhog Day. Way, WAY too much of the two girls, too much melodrama with Scarlet and Gunnar. I used to enjoy some of the music industry stuff, and they completely gave up on that. And why didn't we see Teddy with his two girls... and not just as a foil for weepy ole Deacon to either drink or fight. I am so done with this show, but will have to endure it when it comes back.

Edited October 7, 2017 by timrabbit

[piratewench]

23 hours ago, timrabbit said:

I tivo'd this season and just got around to finishing it. Lousy, couldn't wait to get through all of it. I would have given up, but the missus wanted to finish it. It was like episode after episode of Groundhog Day. Way, WAY too much of the two girls, too much melodrama with Scarlet and Gunnar. I used to enjoy some of the music industry stuff, and they completely gave up on that. And why didn't we see Teddy with his two girls... and not just as a foil for weepy ole Deacon to either drink or fight. I am so done with this show, but will have to endure it when it comes back.

Why?  Sounds like you don’t like it. Can your wife not watch it by herself?

sorry you couldn’t find anything redeeming about it. 

[methodwriter85]

On 8/12/2017 at 11:48 AM, TVFANATICA2000 said:

My biggest gripe - the whole rivalry between Rayna and Juliette which was supposed to be the basis of the show barely lasted a season!

Honestly, they seemed to realize that Connie really wasn't that comfortable with singing, which is why they seemed to step back from that and why Rayna went off onto developing her own label.

I kind of wish they had gone there with Gunnar and Will. I get Gunnar's straight but a straight person questioning their sexuality when they feel attracted to someone of the same-sex does happen, and it would have been interesting to explore. And honestly, they've had far better chemistry with each other than they've had with any of their actual romantic interests.

I wish the whole emancipation storyline never happened. It really did destroy Maddie as a character, and the show's trying to walk back from that (from what I read- I haven't watched since early in season 5) just feels too little, too late.

Leyla ate up the show way too much. I can at least get the justification of why Maddie has (she's Rayna's daughter, and legacy music acts are always going to be a thing), but Leyla just never made sense. Once her sham marriage to Will ended, she should have been gone.

[Kathemy]

How about, "everything"?

[wendyg]

I wish just once they had gotten Bucky and Glenn together in a bar to vent about their demanding clients.

[piratewench]

8 hours ago, wendyg said:

I wish just once they had gotten Bucky and Glenn together in a bar to vent about their demanding clients.

That would have been fun. 

 

On 11/17/2017 at 2:24 PM, Kathemy said:

How about, "everything"?

Nah, I wouldn’t go along with that. 

[WhosThatGirl]

The Rayna and Juliette was strange the way it tempered off quite quickly. When that really was essentially the shows premise. I get Connie not being comfortable singing so much but still.. 

Also Layla was the worst.

Maddie was bad. Her and Cash and divorcing her parents.

Im always on the fence with the show including Hayden’s real life pregnancy into the show. Sometimes I think it was a good idea and sometimes I don’t.

[SunnyBeBe]

As a former huge fan, I had to walk away from the show, but, came by to see how things are going on this final of the series.  I did happen to catch some bits and pieces lately.  Oh my....not much has changed. 

I thought including a pregnancy for Juliette was a horrible decision and her role never recovered after that.  It just does't work for the type of character they want her to play.  But, there were so many other issues, as well.  This show had SO much potential.  How in the hell they screwed it up........unbelievable really.  There are some awesome actors on that show.  I do hate it  for them, but, suspect that they suffer in misery with the way the show went too. They will likely be relieved.   I wish them much success on perhaps a better show. 

Edited January 23, 2018 by SunnyBeBe

[SlovakPrincess]

Like most soapy dramas, it started out with just the right mix of sex, fun, scandal, family melodrama, and business intrigue.   Then it devolved into nonstop misery and ridiculousness.  In the later seasons, I really started to miss the early days of the music actually being good, Juliette being a sexy bad girl and the scandalousness of her sleeping with Deacon, and the rivalry between her and Rayna.  I liked Will's storyline, but it seemed like once he came out,  the show didn't let him have much fun anymore (admittedly, I didn't watch the last season) ... I mean, of course he was going to have angst but his whole personality seemed to change.      

Kind of like how Grey's Anatomy lost me after a few seasons.  When they ramp up the drama and Big Plot Twists to the point that it crowds out anything fun, I tend to abandon a show.  

 

The real death knell of the show was in the last season on ABC - the Maddie plot wasn't really working and they didn't seem to be able to change course.   

Edited March 25, 2018 by SlovakPrincess

[Soup333]

Not be renewed on CMT. 

[WhosThatGirl]

35 minutes ago, Soup333 said:

Not be renewed on CMT. 

Yup. The only thing that did was at least keep Juliet alive but.. then they decide to give her a cult storyline. For.. reasons.

[WhosThatGirl]

After this latest episode.. what couldn’t Nashville had done better at this point? I care about none of the plots.

[Bostongirl]

Too many subplots and minor characters that don't add anything to the show.

[absolutelyido]

2 hours ago, Bostongirl said:

Too many subplots and minor characters that don't add anything to the show.

Yes. I have never seen a show that brings in so many new characters who are highly featured in a couple episodes and then suddenly they're gone. I can't even remember any names to specifically site because I never cared about any of them. One example was that girl who was homeless or living in her car or something that Rayna got really involved with in a couple of episodes and then she disappeared. What was the point?

I always feel like the writers bring in these characters but have only thought of a story line for them for a few episodes, and then once they get past that initial story they have no idea what to do next, so just drop them. I admit I haven't watched the second half of this last season (from the comments here I haven't missed anything.), but is that Rachel Bilson character still on? She seemed to be a prime example of a character that was brought in but they had no real idea what to do with her.

[WhosThatGirl]

No Rachel Bilson left after last seasons finale when she randomly kissed deacon.. the hell was that? And yeah they did seem to build up her character for.. reasons? They even had the sing.. for reasons?

A big issue I have is that we are on the last episodes and focusing on random things with secondary characters we just met to. Scarlett and the ex solider singer, deacon and jessie(which was promising but now with the ex and the custody battle, ew), avery and gunner redoing their story from season one, only this time the pink haired girl is taking the place of Scarlett. It’s just.. boring.

[deSchenke]

I watched a YouTube video titled, "Nashville 6 Seasons in 5 Minutes" - talk about random tangents that went nowhere!  I don't think they even covered the homeless girl, so I'm sure there were other plotlines I've forgotten they didn't cover either.

Here it is: 

[deacondahling]

Rewatching season 1 for the umpteenth time and I have come to the realization that I may be one of the few who actually liked Deacon and Juliette sleeping together. They have chemistry, and it's much better than the co-dependent doormat he was with Rayna, and the mental counselor he is with Jessie. I liked him with Megan too.

[WhosThatGirl]

10 minutes ago, deacondahling said:

Rewatching season 1 for the umpteenth time and I have come to the realization that I may be one of the few who actually liked Deacon and Juliette sleeping together. They have chemistry, and it's much better than the co-dependent doormat he was with Rayna, and the mental counselor he is with Jessie. I liked him with Megan too.

Megan was the vet rought? If so I liked her too. The show hardly remembers deacon and Juliette having hooked up, it’s why last season when Juliette “stole” Maddie’s song and she ran away from him in high heels I rolled my eyes like “how did we get here?”

[piratewench]

Megan was the lawyer.  Stacey was the vet.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, deacondahling said:

Rewatching season 1 for the umpteenth time and I have come to the realization that I may be one of the few who actually liked Deacon and Juliette sleeping together. They have chemistry, and it's much better than the co-dependent doormat he was with Rayna, and the mental counselor he is with Jessie. I liked him with Megan too.

Deacon and Juliette is probably my favorite relationship on the show.  I liked them as fuck buddies and I liked their scenes as friends.  It's a shame the show has moved away from the two of them having scenes together because I felt they worked as screen partners.

[WhosThatGirl]

5 hours ago, piratewench said:

Megan was the lawyer.  Stacey was the vet.

Ah. Okay, I liked her as well. Honestly I never got the big Rayna and Deacon love affair. Both of them were incredibly selfish and awful to other people. Seriously.. what Rayna did to Luke was beyond awful and Deacon was awful to all the women he dated or hooked up on this show who weren’t Rayna.

[MBayGal]

What is this stupid plot with Gideon?  He shows up randomly, pisses all over Deacon's authority over his daughters, dismisses Deacon's recollections of his abusive treatment of him and his mother.  But good old gotta-fix-everybody Scarlett drags him to the Bluebird, and now unicorns and fairy dust are dancing around dad and son.  

Instead of this idiotic twist, I'd rather they had let Rhiannon Giddens sing a whole song every episode.  She's the only reason I didn't drop the show.

[SlovakPrincess]

On 7/12/2018 at 5:48 PM, deacondahling said:

Rewatching season 1 for the umpteenth time and I have come to the realization that I may be one of the few who actually liked Deacon and Juliette sleeping together. They have chemistry, and it's much better than the co-dependent doormat he was with Rayna, and the mental counselor he is with Jessie. I liked him with Megan too.

 

The whole first season arc of Deacon and Juliette - with them casually sleeping together, but him appreciating her songwriting and working with her on creating more meaningful music - was just great.  

Edited August 4, 2018 by SlovakPrincess

[WhosThatGirl]

Just now, SlovakPrincess said:

 

The whole arc of Deacon and Juliette - with them casually sleeping together, but him appreciating her songwriting and working with her on creating more meaningful music - was just great.  

It’s so odd how close they were in this series because you wouldn’t know it if you had watched the last half of this season. Because they were really close. Even after booking up, they were still great friends. Juliette brought him on her tour when he was slipping off the wagon in the first season, he helped out with her mom, and even the seasons after that, Juliette was one of the few people who found out early on in season 2 about Maddie being Deacons daughter, and then the move to cmt kind of destroyed the friendship. 

[deacondahling]

And the writers totally disposed of that relationship. Of course, Hayden barely interacted with any of the cast in season 6, which was a real shame. I'd love to know if there was some kind of drama amongst the cast, with both Hayden and Clare pretty much off doing their own things all season.

Edited August 7, 2018 by deacondahling