I find it makes things a bit clearer about all those disappointing endings you've mentioned if you consider the point was never about the story but rather repeating desired themes until the feedback made clear they had been adequately absorbed. But then, you know what a paranoid old propaganda-researching wing-nut I am.
There's always a financial component that a lot of fans overlook, as well.
I don't know if I can go that far down the rabbit hole with you, but I absolutely agree that we (the masses) still don't really understand the effects of mass media on both our conscious and unconscious minds. I mean, they've done studies on the harmful effects of television without filter or context, but when they approached the studios to see if there was any interest in broadcasting the findings far and wide...
And now we're in a place where people have written off traditional media platforms, only to fully embrace smaller, far more sketchy platforms that are doing the same exact thing. We need an intervention.
For absent friends (and because I’d sooner catheterize myself with a bowling trophy than go within ten miles of the Greenville Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dallas today): https://youtu.be/XkHDxUBwoo4?si=MglYmaql3dbzCUPJ
Endings are hard, especially when a show goes on too long. Or too short.
I had dropped away from "LOST" and "Heroes" long before they ended, figuring that if I heard it was good, I'd go back. I never have.
But this is a long-standing issue. They made Patrick McGoohan make more episodes of "The Prisoner" (1960s) than he wanted, so he messed over everyone with an LSD trip of a finale.
One of its spiritual successors, "Nowhere Man" (1990s), was a bit of a mess mid-season because the creator admitted he had no idea where he was going and was just saying, "Hey, this might be cool" over and over. Yet it ended on the BEST cliffhanger I've ever seen. It was a cliffhanger and, yet, it was the best possible ending for the series after its one season.
Its contemporary, "John Doe", had one of the most frustrating cliffhanger endings I've ever seen, but we did eventually get "word of God" explaining what we saw in a way that made us less likely to lynch the producers.
"Forever Knight" (1990s) had so much executive meddling, we were all happy when it ended, except the executive meddling insisted on a cliffhanger because they teased they might want a 4th season after all. More fan fic has been written about that ending than any other fan fic I've seen online (other than your basic fan fic porn).
"Farscape" wasn't supposed to end on a cliffhanger but SyFy screwed them by promising two more seasons and then giving them only one.
Not many series had what I think was a good finale when it was time, instead of extending the show another season. "Person of Interest" and "Doctor Who" (1987) come to mind. YMMV.
I find it makes things a bit clearer about all those disappointing endings you've mentioned if you consider the point was never about the story but rather repeating desired themes until the feedback made clear they had been adequately absorbed. But then, you know what a paranoid old propaganda-researching wing-nut I am.
There's always a financial component that a lot of fans overlook, as well.
I don't know if I can go that far down the rabbit hole with you, but I absolutely agree that we (the masses) still don't really understand the effects of mass media on both our conscious and unconscious minds. I mean, they've done studies on the harmful effects of television without filter or context, but when they approached the studios to see if there was any interest in broadcasting the findings far and wide...
And now we're in a place where people have written off traditional media platforms, only to fully embrace smaller, far more sketchy platforms that are doing the same exact thing. We need an intervention.
For absent friends (and because I’d sooner catheterize myself with a bowling trophy than go within ten miles of the Greenville Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dallas today): https://youtu.be/XkHDxUBwoo4?si=MglYmaql3dbzCUPJ
Endings are hard, especially when a show goes on too long. Or too short.
I had dropped away from "LOST" and "Heroes" long before they ended, figuring that if I heard it was good, I'd go back. I never have.
But this is a long-standing issue. They made Patrick McGoohan make more episodes of "The Prisoner" (1960s) than he wanted, so he messed over everyone with an LSD trip of a finale.
One of its spiritual successors, "Nowhere Man" (1990s), was a bit of a mess mid-season because the creator admitted he had no idea where he was going and was just saying, "Hey, this might be cool" over and over. Yet it ended on the BEST cliffhanger I've ever seen. It was a cliffhanger and, yet, it was the best possible ending for the series after its one season.
Its contemporary, "John Doe", had one of the most frustrating cliffhanger endings I've ever seen, but we did eventually get "word of God" explaining what we saw in a way that made us less likely to lynch the producers.
"Forever Knight" (1990s) had so much executive meddling, we were all happy when it ended, except the executive meddling insisted on a cliffhanger because they teased they might want a 4th season after all. More fan fic has been written about that ending than any other fan fic I've seen online (other than your basic fan fic porn).
"Farscape" wasn't supposed to end on a cliffhanger but SyFy screwed them by promising two more seasons and then giving them only one.
Not many series had what I think was a good finale when it was time, instead of extending the show another season. "Person of Interest" and "Doctor Who" (1987) come to mind. YMMV.
I think it's easier to count the popular series that ended well than to try and catalog all of the shows that ended poorly or not at all.