[user104658]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

The clue is right there. They were trying to make a TV show that could run for years. Not a story that would end in 2 hours.

Yeah "back then" TV was either cancel early, or attempt to run for multiple seasons, leading to a LOT of "filler" in shows. Thankfully these days a lot more shows are put into production knowing from the outset that it's a "limited run" with an end point in mind, whether that's a one-off single season or a set number of seasons with a smaller episode count. Thanks to streaming, really. There used to be TV schedules to fill.

Shows like "Lost" etc. really suffered from that. Great concept that would probably have been much better put together and paced if it was, say, a 5-season, 13-ep-per-season streaming show from the outset. They were running 25-episode seasons