Is My Show Canceled

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I still say The Finder was better. Stupid fox...

Agreed on that one. Well both actually, I thought Finder was good, and Fox is DEFINITELY stupid!

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I often find that movies as well as tv shows have crappy endings. No matter how good the writing during the rest of the show is, the ending usually suffers. It's like they don't know what to do.

Examples: House, Lost, That 70's show, The Sopranos, lots of movies..

I'm sure some of it is just the difficulty of living up to expectations and build-up. I remember the end of "Seinfeld"... there was absolutely NO WAY the show could have been ended successfully. Radio and TV (and still fairly young with respect to media coverage internet) were talking about the last show for a solid week or more. There were watching parties everywhere, etc., etc. I went to a bar to watch it with some friends (not even advertised as a "watching party") and they had every TV on it, with the volume up, jukebox turned off, and people being quiet enough that you could hear it. It was a HUGE deal. So how could they have possible satisfied everyone?

I can only think of two long-running sitcoms where the final episode lived up to the level of the show: Cheers (which took the sentimental angle rather than straight humor) and Newhart (which was brilliantly clever and completely unexpected). There are probably a few more I am forgetting, but those stick pop to mind - but the point it, there are way more bad endings than good.

[tmiranda]

M*A*S*H had a pretty good final episode.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

I'm sure some of it is just the difficulty of living up to expectations and build-up. I remember the end of "Seinfeld"... there was absolutely NO WAY the show could have been ended successfully. Radio and TV (and still fairly young with respect to media coverage internet) were talking about the last show for a solid week or more. There were watching parties everywhere, etc., etc. I went to a bar to watch it with some friends (not even advertised as a "watching party") and they had every TV on it, with the volume up, jukebox turned off, and people being quiet enough that you could hear it. It was a HUGE deal. So how could they have possible satisfied everyone?

I can only think of two long-running sitcoms where the final episode lived up to the level of the show: Cheers (which took the sentimental angle rather than straight humor) and Newhart (which was brilliantly clever and completely unexpected). There are probably a few more I am forgetting, but those stick pop to mind - but the point it, there are way more bad endings than good.

Very true that some shows are impossible to end in a satisfying way, but some it seems like they just go "hmm, I can't think of a way to end this sooo.....here we go". House was just lazy with the ending, they could have done much better with little effort. I had said at the beginning of the season that they should have killed him. That would have been an appropriate ending IMHO.

[Skirge01]

I think Firefly concluded quite nicely... granted, that took a movie, but it was a great finale. I also enjoyed the House finale, though. Could it have been better? Sure. Did I expect him to die? Definitely. But, I still enjoyed it and didn't feel "ripped off".

Since someone else went a ways back and mentioned Cheers, I'll bring up the fantastic finale that Family Ties had. Additionally, I thought Babylon 5 and SG1 had solid endings. I'm actually having trouble remembering what other shows I watched to completion.

[pjpjpjpj]

I would have mentioned M*A*S*H except, like Firefly (haven't seen it, but mentioned above by skirge) that was a movie. 2.5 hours isn't a "final episode".

Like Entourage, which was an okay ending (IMO) except that they spent the whole promotion week talking about how they were going to make a movie, so you couldn't help spending the whole final episode looking through the skewed view of how everything was pointing you towards a movie.

[darcilicious]

Additionally, I thought Babylon 5 [...] had solid endings.

Babylon 5 was meant to have five seasons all along -- the entire story arc was planned for from the beginning. Not the norm for most TV shows.

It will be interesting to see how Fringe ends next year.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

Babylon 5 was meant to have five seasons all along -- the entire story arc was planned for from the beginning. Not the norm for most TV shows.

It will be interesting to see how Fringe ends next year.

However I only really liked the 1st year of Babylon 5 the rest were just OK.

[bcjenkins]

I watched the pilot of Longmire the other day and thought that was really good.

B

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

Babylon 5 was meant to have five seasons all along -- the entire story arc was planned for from the beginning. Not the norm for most TV shows.

It will be interesting to see how Fringe ends next year.

Fringe is good, but this season got pretty annoying. I get that they are setting up for the "observers" to take over, but I don't see next season being very good. Too bad too, that was one of my favorite shows for the first two years.

[WellThen]

I thought the Star Trek:The Next Generation finale was good. Nice closure of the issues and premise raised in the Pilot.

I didn't really ever watch the show Life on Mars, but for some reason caught the finale - that was a surprise. They really went all out for the final sequences, which for a show that was mostly in another genre was great.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

I think Firefly concluded quite nicely... granted, that took a movie, but it was a great finale.

Great Finale? Wash is dead!! How is that "great"?

Wash, as the Stegosaurus: "We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... 'This Land'."

From that first episode I knew he would be one of my favorites on the show.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

Great Finale? Wash is dead!! How is that "great"?

Wash, as the Stegosaurus: "We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... 'This Land'."

From that first episode I knew he would be one of my favorites on the show.

Hey, they killed the Shepard too, he was going to be a much greater character - had the show been allowed to continue.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

Great Finale? Wash is dead!! How is that "great"?

What? Everyone needs to live in order for it to be a good finale? I don't want/need/like my action/sci-fi to be Disneyfied. I'll even take my drama shows with some bold storytelling (see: Boardwalk Empire). Or, would you prefer a Dallas-style story? The entire Serenity movie was actually just River's dream. It didn't actually happen. She wakes up and the entire crew is still just flying through the 'verse.

[graywolf]

I love/hate Game of Thrones for that reason. Never know when a main character you have come to love/hate will bite the dust.

Haven't read the books but have been told they have been pretty true to them so far.

[drewg]

Originally Posted by graywolf

I love/hate Game of Thrones for that reason. Never know when a main character you have come to love/hate will bite the dust.

Haven't read the books but have been told they have been pretty true to them so far.

I think that's the best part about GOT. When reading the books, I was shocked when my favorite character (who I thought of as the protagonist) bought it early in the series. I was upset for a while, then it dawned on me that it was a nice change from the "How is the author going to pull them out of this mess" sort of nonsense that plagues nearly every book / movie / etc. I also like that no character is "perfect" and they all have their dark sides.

Drew

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Hey, they killed the Shepard too, he was going to be a much greater character - had the show been allowed to continue.

While I loved all of the main characters in the series Book and Zoe were at the bottom of the list. The only thing that kept Simon from being below those two was how River and he were so closely tied together.

Originally Posted by Skirge01

What? Everyone needs to live in order for it to be a good finale? I don't want/need/like my action/sci-fi to be Disneyfied. I'll even take my drama shows with some bold storytelling (see: Boardwalk Empire). Or, would you prefer a Dallas-style story? The entire Serenity movie was actually just River's dream. It didn't actually happen. She wakes up and the entire crew is still just flying through the 'verse.

I'm just a sucker for happy endings. I guess what they needed were some good ol' Redshirts to be the lambs to the slaughter.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

I'm just a sucker for happy endings. I guess what they needed were some good ol' Redshirts to be the lambs to the slaughter.

Me too. If I want reality I just listen to the news. I can see all the good/gray folks die in droves.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Me too. If I want reality I just listen to the news. I can see all the good/gray folks die in droves.

Talk about depressing. (the news) Here in CT we have been having a rash of shootings, stabbings, etc. Our justice system is doing a great job of releasing prisoners early!

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Another one bites the Dust

CSI Miami
Unforgettable
A Gifted man
Ringer
Harry's Law
NYC 22
The River
The Finder
Missing

Looks like Unforgettable has been "un-canceled"

http://www.ismyshowcancelled.com/art...unforgettable/