Why do low-rated shows end their seasons in cliffhangers?
- Thread starter Trek4Ever
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That's what's kind of nice about the way 24's first season was written. They didn't know when they made the series and wrote the first 13 episodes (the maximum order a new TV series will get at first) so what happens at the end of the 13th episode of 24's first season? Pretty much everything is solved. Jack saves his family, kills the man who has been threatening Jack and his family all day long (as well as Palmer) and Palmer even wraps his own family issues. Everything is pretty much over. Now, sure, in the final stinger of the episode we find out there's another assassin out there but it's possible that was put in there when the "Back 9" was picked up or we're not intended to worry about it because, really, Jack's main goal for most of the "day" was to secure the safety of his family.
But, as said above, it's not intentional that these shows end their series on cliffhangers they're written and produced that way with the idea being that they'll get a full run of episodes they do not consider that 13 is all they may get at the very most. As for networks canceling a show ending on a cliffhanger, the network is trying to make money and if a show is not doing that for them they're not going to waste more money just to do one more episode to "wrap everything up" for the few viewers that are out there.
But, as said above, it's not intentional that these shows end their series on cliffhangers they're written and produced that way with the idea being that they'll get a full run of episodes they do not consider that 13 is all they may get at the very most. As for networks canceling a show ending on a cliffhanger, the network is trying to make money and if a show is not doing that for them they're not going to waste more money just to do one more episode to "wrap everything up" for the few viewers that are out there.
Here we are having a thread about this and what do the producers of Shat My Dad Says do? They end the series on a cliffhanger. With all the advance warning they've had (i.e. low ratings from the get-go, not being picked up for a full season) how they could pull a stunt like this is beyond me.
Fortunately it's not a burning question "Who shot JR" type cliffhanger, but it is a cliffhanger never the less. Bastards.
Fortunately it's not a burning question "Who shot JR" type cliffhanger, but it is a cliffhanger never the less. Bastards.
Why a Sitcom needs a cliffhanger ending for a season is beyond me.
Same reason any other show does: to make the audience eager for the show to return. If you don't give them an incentive to come back, they may lose interest over the break.
Remember, The Simpsons' "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" cliffhanger was almost as effective at generating buzz and excitement as "Who Shot J.R.?" had been. Comedy or drama, it makes no difference, as long as you make people eager to find out what happens next or get an answer to a big question.
No one creates something ambitious on the premise "we're going to fail" any more than we get up in the morning and say "I'll probably die today."
Usually, most people knowing that they are going to die get the best things out of their lives.
No, but just out of common courtesy to their viewers they shouldn't have done that, when they know they're on the bubble. Look if the guys here can figure out they're likely (if not certainly) about to get the axe, surely the actual producers of show can figure it out too. And it's not like this is a recent development, the ratings have been bad for awhile now, and they had to have known before that last episode was filmed that they hadn't received any more episode orders. So I don't buy "Oh we didn't know" as an excuse.
Neither does any other genre. Shows don't "need" cliffhangers, but cliffhangers can be a useful tool for hanging onto an audience over a break between seasons. The genre is irrelevant.
And there have been a number of good sitcom cliffhangers. The one that ended Red Dwarf's sixth season was pretty cool, particularly given that several years elapsed before they got a seventh season. If it works, go for it. Good creators don't let themselves be limited by pat assumptions about genre cubbyholes. Genre is a starting point, not a set of limits.
If its good sure but My Dad Says was not the show that needed such a story device. For the most part I believe Cliffhangers should remain to shows with actual drama and not with shows that are mostly comedy...Exceptions being shows like Scrubs or even Fraiser who intergrated drama as well as Comedy in more than fleeting fashions.
I know what your getting at though but its just My Dad Says seems a very odd show to have a cliffhanger IMO and am getting sick of it being used in debut seasons for shows.
As I explained, that's exactly why shows do have cliffhangers. The whole reason cliffhangers exist at all is to create anticipation in audiences so that they will want to come back later rather than losing interest during a break. They have always been a device to keep a serial or series from losing its audience, to ensure that the audience's interest will remain strong and even become stronger during a hiatus because of their eagerness to see a dangling thread resolved. And what saves a show from cancellation is the belief that it will continue to have an audience. Cliffhangers are a defense strategy against cancellation.
True, it's a strategy that doesn't always work, that sometimes isn't even given the chance to work. It's a gamble, but so is putting shows on TV in the first place. Just because a risk doesn't always pay off, that doesn't mean the risk should never be taken.
What's the point of creating anticipation when they KNOW they're going to be cancelled? That seems to serve no purpose other than to piss off the viewers they do have. In the case of Shat, there was no point to this. They knew they were done and any return was unlikely.
Between the networks being axe happy, and the producers of shows pulling shit like this for no reason, it's a miracle they networks aren't bleeding more viewers than they already are.
Between the networks being axe happy, and the producers of shows pulling shit like this for no reason, it's a miracle they networks aren't bleeding more viewers than they already are.
I feel writers should always have a wrap up ending in place just incase by filming of the last episode, so if the networks say your not coming back to insert that ending into place like Jericho did with the season 2 wrap up. If you have little information to go on then of course put your original cliffhanger ending into place. I think of the shows that I watched end in cliffhangers and it so annoys me...
Las Vegas - Tom Selleck's character returns from his supposed death in a plane crash and another character goes into early Labour putting her life at risk and of course the childs.
Kyle XY - The big bad of season 3 is oh your half brother and the fate of your very destiny never gets fufilled.
Jericho - The original cancellation ended with the majorty of the characters lives left in the balance and the town facing complete annihilation from hostile forces. The 2nd and final cancellation leaves America on the eve of the 2nd American Civil War.
Stargate Universe - Will end on a cliffhanger ending
To name a few
...The Kyle XY one particularly bugs me because ABC Family gave Greek a final wrap up season despite poor ratings the year before (infact around 50-60% lower than Kyle XY's ratings). Greek has never gotten near Kyle XY ratings period
The problem with ending cancelled shows on cliffhangers especially after years of watching and not just 1 season (AKA Las Vegas, Heroes and most likely Fringe) it drives viewers crazy and they adapt a wait n see appoarch to new TV shows, forcing lower ratings for those debut shows.
Las Vegas - Tom Selleck's character returns from his supposed death in a plane crash and another character goes into early Labour putting her life at risk and of course the childs.
Kyle XY - The big bad of season 3 is oh your half brother and the fate of your very destiny never gets fufilled.
Jericho - The original cancellation ended with the majorty of the characters lives left in the balance and the town facing complete annihilation from hostile forces. The 2nd and final cancellation leaves America on the eve of the 2nd American Civil War.
Stargate Universe - Will end on a cliffhanger ending
To name a few
...The Kyle XY one particularly bugs me because ABC Family gave Greek a final wrap up season despite poor ratings the year before (infact around 50-60% lower than Kyle XY's ratings). Greek has never gotten near Kyle XY ratings period The problem with ending cancelled shows on cliffhangers especially after years of watching and not just 1 season (AKA Las Vegas, Heroes and most likely Fringe) it drives viewers crazy and they adapt a wait n see appoarch to new TV shows, forcing lower ratings for those debut shows.
I'd like to think that most viewers aren't so quick to anger. Having a story cancelled without resolution can be disappointing and frustrating, yes, but those emotions can be handled more constructively. Often, if a show is cancelled without resolution, it can fire the imagination of the fans, make them keep it alive in their minds as they imagine ways it could've been resolved, write fanfics that continue the story, etc. For people to whom fandom is merely a passive process, absorbing what's fed to them, getting no resolution can be frustrating and angering because they have no way to cope. But for people who actively engage their minds and their imaginations, who understand that being a fan isn't just about being a couch potato but about embracing a fictional world and engaging in it with one's own creativity, an unresolved cliffhanger can be an inspiration. Conversely, if a show wraps everything up and leaves its audience with nothing to wonder about, the audience may eventually lose interest, stop thinking about the show and move on to something else.
It's an ancient show business axiom: "Always leave them wanting more." It's good if your audience wants there to be more of the story than what you've shown them, even if you have no plans of telling any more of it. Because if they continue to be curious about the fates of the characters after the story ends, then they will keep the story alive.
On the other hand, philosophizing aside, it's probably true that a lot of shows use cliffhangers just because it's become routine and expected. It's the same way with most things in fiction: if a trope works well in certain cases, other, less inspired storytellers will copy it to the point of redundancy rather than stopping to think about why it worked in those cases. So yes, a lot of the time, cliffhangers are used for no good reason, simply because they've worked well in certain past cases and the majority of popular fiction is derivative and uninspired. But that doesn't mean that the cliffhanger trope itself should be blamed for the way it is abused through overindulgence. That's making the same mistake the imitative producers are making: assuming that the quality is determined by the tool itself, rather than by how it's wielded. As with anything else, most uses of cliffhangers are bad or mediocre, but when they're used well and not gratuitously, they can be brilliant. And that's true regardless of whether they're in dramas, sitcoms, or whatever.
Well I appreciate your input and mean no offense but I think you're reading too much into this particular show. It's not some kind of epic story that needs the imaginations of the viewers fired. This isn't Lost. It is what it is, a silly little sitcom with Shatner getting off an occasional good line. There's not much depth here, no story waiting to told.
As cliffhangers go, it was pretty mild and frankly I really don't give a crap about it's resolution. I'm more irritated at the principle of them doing this when they they KNEW it is EXTREMELY unlikely they'll be back. Again there simply was no valid excuse got them doing this.
As cliffhangers go, it was pretty mild and frankly I really don't give a crap about it's resolution. I'm more irritated at the principle of them doing this when they they KNEW it is EXTREMELY unlikely they'll be back. Again there simply was no valid excuse got them doing this.
I'm not talking about that show. As far as I can recall, I haven't said a single word about it. I've never seen it and have no basis for reading anything into it, nor any interest in doing so. What I'm responding to are the more general questions being raised: why are cliffhangers used at all, what is the point to them in general? I know some people have a tendency to address a specific complaint by casting their objections in more universal terms, but if a question is posed to me as a generality, then that's how I assume I'm expected to address it.
Thinking about these cliffhangers...I remember reading once that the producers of Space: Above and Beyond ended their show in a cliffhanger, knowing they were going to be canceled as a big FU to Fox. That's good and fine for the producers to get that off their chest but all that does is piss off whatever fans they have. I think a couple of other shows' producers did the same thing but I can't remember which ones (Twin Peaks comes to mind for some reason).
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