I only ever watched a couple of episodes, for some reason I just couldn't get into it. But I reckon you're right about the planning, it's a problem with the business model used to make US television series.

They never know whether a next season will happen or not until the studio executives have looked over the viewer figures and decided if they'll green-light the next series or cancel it. There have been so many promising series that have been cut short for all kinds of reasons - sometimes financial, other times to do with internal politics and personalities at a studio. Firefly, Space Above & Beyond and Crusade are the three that most come to mind.

I can never forgive them for what they did to Caprica, which had the potential to be incredible. But they decided part way through season one to finish it by mashing the last few episodes into a 2-part very unsatisfying finale and show them at a totally stupid time just to trash the series. Just because they didn't understand it would take time to build the background and underlying themes for the whole complex storyline.