These shows were all the rage in their era. They typically have a punchy, easily-remembered title with only one or two words, like "Show" or "The Place". They are heavily character-driven, and each episode reveals only a little more of the overall plot. In many respects, they harken back to the style of classic Television Serials like the old Doctor Who, but Darker and Edgier, Hotter and Sexier, and usually with a generous helping of Mind Screw.
Expect a lot of flashbacks and shocking plot-twists, with most characters being connected in a way which they don't initially realize. Fans of these shows will go over each episode with a fine-toothed comb, forming their own outlandish theories and predictions. However, don't expect the creator to clearly resolve the show's Myth Arc — In fact, there's a chance that they're making it all up as they go along, giving these shows a reputation for Kudzu Plots and clumsy endings.
Lost is the Trope Codifier and inspired many imitators, though other shows of its kind came before, including The X-Files, Babylon 5 and Alias.
See also Ontological Mystery.
Examples
- 12 Monkeys
- 24
- The 100: Ostensibly a character-driven sci-fi show about the morality of warfare, this series develops a mysterious myth arc.
- The 4400
- 1899: Mysterious myth arc? Check. Plenty of character flashbacks? Check. Plot-twists aplenty? Check.
- Alcatraz
- Alias
- Arrow: Primarily in its flashbacks, which gradually reveal the protagonist's complicated past while stranded on an island; somewhat de-emphasized by the third season
- Awake (2012): The protagonist juggles two realities, unsure of which one is a dream. Things become increasingly weirder.
- Babylon 5: The Pilot Movie first aired in 1993, and the Myth Arc and its structure was first planned out in 1986.
- Battlestar Galactica (2003)
- Caprica
- Carnivàle
- Charlie Jade
- Continuum
- Dark Angel
- Defying Gravity
- Dollhouse
- Drive (2007)
- The Event: Aliens are virtually indistinguishable from humans. They age very slowly. In the 1940s, something happened in Alaska. None of this is THE EVENT.
- The Flash (2014): A spinoff from Arrow; it's relatively subtle in delivery, but each season mainly focuses on revealing the mystery of the Big Bad's identity, which is gradually revealed over the course of the entire season (typically as a stinger for the current episode).
- FlashForward (2009)
- Fringe
- Grimm
- Haven: This character-driven series has a massive Myth Arc, most of which somehow revolves around the central character. There are characters with powers that suddenly manifest, and there the history of the town is very strange and slowly revealed.
- Helix: While it started out as a straightforward thriller about stopping a plague, it quickly delved into age-old conspiracies and multi-linear plots.
- Heroes: Shortly following Lost, this is the other major Trope Codifier of the genre. It focuses on powered individuals, and it has an increasingly-complex Myth Arc.
- House: An odd case, in that it started as a more or less by-the-numbers mystery show (IN A HOSPITAL!), but eventually began developing slowly dribbled out arcs...that always managed to get sent back to square one at the end of the season (unless reality got in the way).
- Invasion
- Jericho (2006): A small Kansas town tries to rebuild itself in the wake of nuclear attacks, while its residents struggle to learn why it's happening.
- John Doe
- Journeyman
- Kings
- Life on Mars (2008): The American version.
- Lost: Trope Codifier. Several people crash on an island. Things start making much less sense.
- New Amsterdam (2008)
- Once Upon a Time and its spinoff
- The Pretender
- Primeval
- The Prisoner (1967): The Ur-Example might be this show in 1967, which is a confirmed influence on several of the shows listed here, including Battlestar Galactica. It even got its own literal example in the 2009 miniseries version.
- Revolution: The power went out, everywhere on the entire planet. We have to figure out why, and the characters must survive in this new reality.
- Scandal: From what we saw yet.
- Six Feet Under: At least after character became more important than Black Comedy and focus shifted from the quirks of running a funeral home and meditations on death to playing with everyone's love life. An early but self-consciously codifying example.
- Supernatural
- Surface
- Terra Nova: A family escapes from its polluted and overpopulated world by traveling back in time to form a community. There are dinosaurs. Weird things happen.
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
- Threshold
- Touch: A mute boy somehow knows how the entire world is connected, via an incredibly long mathematical formula.
- Twin Peaks
- V (2009): The 2009 remake of V.
- Wayward Pines
- Vanished
- The X-Files: Its own Myth Arc was made up on the fly rather than pre-planned, but it beat Babylon 5 to air and was more popular.
- Zero Hour (2013)
Examples of Similar Works in Other Media
- Rising Stars: Comic book superhero series written by Babylon 5's creator J. Michael Straczynski. It precedes the noughts slightly and has been speculated to have inspired Heroes and The 4400.
- Supreme Power: Another superhero comic by JMS with a similar formula and sense of mood.
- Cloud Atlas: Genre-busting novel with multiple characters, going back into the past and the future, and imbued with a sense of mystery and portent, released in the noughts. It's a sort of high-brow version of the trend seen on television.
