TV series that end prematurely

Logan!

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I recently went through all seasons of The 4400 and although it wasn't a fantastic series, it was a good time filler for my insomnia and kept me occupied through the sleepless nights. The thing is, after the final episode I went in search of the next series only to find that it had been cancelled before the story had been concluded.

During this time, I fell in love with Summer Glau (links at the end), so I googled her and found out what else she was in. I settled on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I always imagined this would be absolute gash but I actually enjoyed it. But again, after 2 seasons I find that the show had been cancelled.

It's fecking annoying. If a channel commits to producing a show it should at least commit to producing a series finale. Regardless of how many seasons it runs for, they can surely plan enough in advance to know if they'll receive funding for another season before finishing the current one. That way they wouldn't end the show on a cliffhanger leaving the viewer with no clue what has happened when the next season is cancelled.


*Links as promised, but remember; I saw her first!! :drool:

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It's a strange one this, because I always think the best time to end a TV show is when people want more. If you keep it going on and on, it often loses it's appeal and becomes old and dated.

Father Ted Phil says, it's remembered as one of the great comedies, as it should be. 3 seasons of brilliance, had it gone on it may have lost that.

Same with Fawlty Towers. Only Fools and Horses went on slightly longer than it should have done, but it was still great.
 
Every porno I ever watch ends prematurely.
 
Millennium. Although they fecked it up after the first series.
 
esmufc10 said:
It's a strange one this, because I always think the best time to end a TV show is when people want more. If you keep it going on and on, it often loses it's appeal and becomes old and dated.

Father Ted Phil says, it's remembered as one of the great comedies, as it should be. 3 seasons of brilliance, had it gone on it may have lost that.

Same with Fawlty Towers. Only Fools and Horses went on slightly longer than it should have done, but it was still great.
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Your examples are all comedies though Elvis and don't necessarily have a major storyline. They just have many smaller storylines that bring about comedic circumstances. Drama series are much different and need to be drawn to a conclusion to satisfy the viewer. It's fine to leave the viewer wanting more under certain conditions. A nice cliffhanger at the end of a season is fine, as long as it leads to another series. It creates suspense for the viewer and makes them want to watch the next season, thus benefiting the producers. But if there isn't going to be another season, a cliffhanger is somewhat redundant as it serves no purpose other than to frustrate the loyal fans who have downloaded I mean bought all the dvd's.
 
Firefly (seems there's a bit of a Summer Glau curse going on), Carnivale, Arrested Development...

It's always my favourite shows that end up getting bloody cancelled.

Edit: Add Rome to that list as well. That was cancelled, right?
 
I_live_cement said:
Firefly (seems there's a bit of a Summer Glau curse going on), Carnivale, Arrested Development...

It's always my favourite shows that end up getting bloody cancelled.

Edit: Add Rome to that list as well. That was cancelled, right?
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Although I agree that Arrested Development was cut far too short, as least it did get a final episode

But, yeah, Rome was cancelled. There was suppose to be a third season, but they cut it short. Evidently it was too expensive and the viewer numbers weren't overly impressive. For me, it was a great show, but I always liked season 1 a lot more.

This is a quote from one of the creators I just found:

'I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end. The second was going to end with the death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around.'

If that's the case, a little part of me is glad it got cancelled.

EDIT: I just read that they are making a Rome movie!
 
Wittmann45 said:
Although I agree that Arrested Development was cut far too short, as least it did get a final episode
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But it was a half arsed season 3 filled with pot shots at Fox at every opportunity. Not the same standard as the earlier two seasons.

Wittmann45 said:
But, yeah, Rome was cancelled. There was suppose to be a third season, but they cut it short. Evidently it was too expensive and the viewer numbers weren't overly impressive. For me, it was a great show, but I always liked season 1 a lot more.

This is a quote from one of the creators I just found:

'I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end. The second was going to end with the death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around.'

If that's the case, a little part of me is glad it got cancelled.

EDIT: I just read that they are making a Rome movie!
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Yeah Rome wasn't such a disaster because we had closure with the characters and it couldn't really end on a cliffhanger. Good news on the film though.
 
Angel.

The ratings were still good, Joss Whedon still had plenty of ideas for the show and I felt it had a good 1-2 seasons left in it. The network basically cancelled it because it wanted room for more shows, disgraceful if you ask me.
 
Girish II said:
Was always bordering on the shall we shan't we. Judging by the crap approved since, I would have kept it going. There's was enough about it to keep me interested.

Primeval?
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I read somewhere that they've decided to bring it back, after originally cancelling it.
 
I don't know if you guys know the series "The Unit".It was a brilliant one but I don't know why but they stopped producing and broadcasting it.
 
Carnivale

1205200921019carnivale.jpg


If you haven't seen it yet, WATCH IT. It's fantastic but only two seasons long.
 
I'm probably in the minority here but I used to like the Sarah Connor Chronicles too. It's a shame it was cancelled.

I would also like another series of I'm Alan Partridge.
 
Plan M said:
Carnivale

1205200921019carnivale.jpg


If you haven't seen it yet, WATCH IT. It's fantastic but only two seasons long.
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I started watching this a few years ago but lost interest. I'll rewatch it again during the summer. It's got that fella from Termie 3?

Firefly is an odd one. I didn't hear about it until a year ago, watched Serenity, enjoyed it. So I bought the boxset... how can a show of that quality get cancelled just as it was starting to get good? The characters were all blooming brilliant too. Such a waste.
 
Brimstone
American Gothic

American Gothic in particular was an absolute beast of a show, for those of you unaware basically Gary Cole is the devil and also the Sherriff of a small American town down south, his illegitimate son who is being haunted by the ghost of his dead sister lives in the same town and Gary Cole is trying to influence his boy by any means neccessary. Can't believe it's been over for 15 years!

Flight of the Conchords
IT Crowd (if they never get around to making another series)
 
Ivor Ballokov said:
Brimstone
American Gothic

American Gothic in particular was an absolute beast of a show, for those of you unaware basically Gary Cole is the devil and also the Sherriff of a small American town down south, his illegitimate son who is being haunted by the ghost of his dead sister lives in the same town and Gary Cole is trying to influence his boy by any means neccessary. Can't believe it's been over for 15 years!

Flight of the Conchords
IT Crowd (if they never get around to making another series)
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I remember that, the little boy was called Caleb. Did that get cancelled before the end? I can only remember watching the first series but I can't remember much about it.
 
Hectic said:
Firefly (Worst decision ever), Rome, Arrested Development, Jericho, Twin Peaks Freaks & Geeks & Deadwood to an extent.
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I can understand that one, it just became a chor to watch, couldn't really get into it.
 
The Office, Alan Partridge, Fawlty Towers, Pheonix Nights all ended quite early, however if you look at the people who wrote them, majority of them were comedians, who are more concerned with damaging there reputations as writers, so they were quite clever in closing seasons before they went a bit dry. They are remembered much more for it.
 
I don't get why people are saying The Office. It had two great series and the Christmas specials, had a nice resolution for all the characters, and for me was one of the few comedies to really wrap things up nicely without overstaying their welcome. Or is it just a case of people wishing there could've been more episodes? I think at that point its popularity had risen too much for them to continue, it works much better as that little show on BBC2 than essential viewing on BBC1.

Firefly is the obvious choice I'd say, a very good series that could potentially have been great, cut short. Another one not mentioned yet would be Kings. Never stood a chance after the early dissapointing ratings, but it could've been a hell of a series. The pilot episode was superb and even if people don't want to commit to watching an unfinished show, I'd strongly recommend watching the first episode as it works as a stand alone.
 
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