And so let me mention Caprica. This was a sci-fi TV show made as a prequel to Battlestar Galactica (the reimagined 2000s series). It started with a rather weird feature-length pilot that fancied itself a gangster pop video, and if you were unfortunate enough to see the unrated DVD version it fancied itself more than just that. And then it followed it with a half season of mind-numbingly dull sub-soap opera drama that floated brainlessly in a void of anti-story, before suddenly concluding with an actually-interesting episode before taking a long break.

When Caprica returned after the break it slowly became a much better show, and by the final episode of the first season – which I just got round to watching – it was actually showing signs of being a really good show. But of course long before then it was cancelled, and indeed in the US the final 5 episodes weren’t actually shown (until much later, and all at once).

A definite fail option – start off with an awful version of the show, so no one watches. Then bother to fix it, but don’t tell anyone and don’t bother broadcasting them, so it stays with no one watching.  Great plan.

If you want more detail about why the show got better in the second half, then this is a good read.