Saved by the end date

[Joe Washington]

As many of you have noticed, Lost has become increasingly better since it was given an end-date for its conclusion. From a show truly "lost" and wandering without much of a direction to an epic story driven by the fire of a exciting race towards the impending finale.

What shows can you think of that would benefit from having an end-date of their own?

 

[DonIago]

I thought Heroes got better when the Writer's Strike was looming and they decided to shorten the 2nd season.

...too bad it didn't stay that way.

ENT got better with the threat of cancellation, apparently.

 

[RoJoHen]

I think, as soon as shows have one or two successful seasons, they should be given an end date, rather than maybe or maybe not getting picked up every year. That would give everyone involved a chance to tell a specific story. If that end date comes around and the show is still popular, renew it for another set number of years, with another specific end date, so they can tell a new complete story with the same characters.

As much as I like it, I think BSG should have had a specific number of years before it finished Season 2. That way the last 2 seasons could have had a little more direction.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I don't think Lost was "saved" by its end date at all. It was far better than the average show, even when it was "bad."

Heroes wouldn't be saved by an end date, either. The writers are just incompetent. Maybe an end date on their contracts, dated TODAY, would save the show? Better yet, use a time machine and date it END OF S1.

The X-Files wouldn't have been saved by an end date. The mythology was just a convoluted mess. A sooner end date might have obscured that fact, but not changed it.

ENT wouldn't have been saved by an end date. It had three years of pointless plotting, followed by a personnel change that finally allowed the fourth season to have the glimmerings of something worthwhile. It needed an extension of its end date. Like Heroes, the problem was in the writing room, not in the length of the show.

ENT got better with the threat of cancellation, apparently.

ENT got better after it had been cancelled, and Manny Coto was brought in just to finish out the final season. Maybe having been written off was what allowed the show to finally get someone good in charge?

BSG wouldn't have been saved by an end date. Its premise was botched from the start. RDM et al needed to sit down and work out a better premise before they set the first pen to paper. (Still, they did pretty well, considering how they handicapped themselves from the start.)

Here's one that could benefit from an end date: 24. It's beyond repetitive. The final season should be announced as such, because then we can have the fun of wondering whether this is the day Jack finally dies.

I think, as soon as shows have one or two successful seasons, they should be given an end date, rather than maybe or maybe not getting picked up every year.

That will never happen. Any show with good enough ratings to survive will be renewed as much as possible. Networks can't afford to lose any shows that work, because most of what they try fails. Their few hits have to pay for their many failures - that's their business model.

It's very unusual for TV producers to have the clout (and the guts) to end their own show. How do they know they'll ever have a successful show again? They're in a very iffy business and to cancel their own show might mean they're cancelling their own career. How many people here would walk out on their jobs, especially if they were in a profession where it was far from certain they'd ever get another?

 

[Mr Light]

Jack can't die in the final season since they're going to do theatrical films after the show ends.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

I'm not quite certain if it was saved by an end date per se, but Babylon 5 probably fared better knowing they'd only get (or do) four or five years to tell the story.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I don't know if the show was ever in real trouble... it was just the writers became infatuated with The Others. They thought the Others were a lot more interesting than the rest of the audience did.

Ironically, the others did become interesting AFTER all the episodes focusing on them when they revealed Alpert and his agelessness in the Ben backstory episode. But that was very late in Season 3.

 

[NCC1701]

Jack can't die in the final season since they're going to do theatrical films after the show ends.

What?! There's Lost movies coming out after the show ends and nobody told me? I think if they go that route, they're kinda limiting their audience as it would require having watched six seasons of Lost before going to see the movies at the multiplex if the audience is to understand the storyline at all. Hell, I've watched every episode to date and I'm still confused as to what the hell is going on

 

[Aragorn]

^ He's talking about Jack Bauer. DAMNIT!

 

[NCC1701]

^ Whoops, my bad

 

[Mr Light]

Actually the B5 story was originally going to be strung out over 10 years (5 years of B5, 5 years of the spin-off), but JMS realized the show was gonna get canceled so he smushed it all into five years. The Shadow War wasn't going to end until year 10 originally; year 5 ended with the Shadows defeating the Vorlons and destroying B5 and our characters going on the run with B4.

 

[Scout101]

ENT is a decent example, although as pointed out, it wasn't an end date so much as "you're cancelled no matter what, so wrap it up as best you can".

This keeps ALMOST being true for Smallville. They think it's going to be the last season, so they started trying to get the story moving, only to find out they are coming back, so they draw it out, then think THIS will be it, then renewal, etc. Last couple of seasons have started making progress again, though...

Prison Break is kinda an opposite example: It was planned as a 1-season show, tell the whole story and wrap up, and it was well put together, tight storyline, etc. When it got popular and they decided to renew it, they had to try and stretch a 1-season premise into several years, and now you've got people breaking out of multiple prisons, on the run, back in jail, etc.

I'd be more a fan of the "limited run" series, if they could stick to it. Plot the whole thing out, tell the story, then STOP. Could get a lot of interesting things done this way, more variety, and have some really tight, cohesive stories done. Might get some different, interesting actors that way, too, as people that wouldn't sign up for a running TV series might be more interested in playing a character if it had a specific end date up front...

Problem is, if it's a hit, they want to try and milk it for more, and if not, they want it gone before the season ends.

Heroes was SUPPOSED to be kinda like this, before the cast became popular. They were going to tell a specific story, then dump most of the actors and tell a DIFFERENT story along the same lines. Instead, they took a 1-season storyline and are beating it to death, or repeating the same crap over and over. Too bad they didn't stick to their guns, they took a popular franchise and rode it right into the ground.

 

[sojourner]

Actually the B5 story was originally going to be strung out over 10 years (5 years of B5, 5 years of the spin-off), but JMS realized the show was gonna get canceled so he smushed it all into five years. The Shadow War wasn't going to end until year 10 originally; year 5 ended with the Shadows defeating the Vorlons and destroying B5 and our characters going on the run with B4.

^Wow, first I've heard of that! Everything I've read said it was going to be a 5 year show from the get go. Got a link?

 

[NCC1701]

^ From what I understand of it, technically you're correct, B5 WAS supposed to be five seasons long, after which a new show called Babylon Prime would run for the remaining five years.

 

[ToddPence]

Smallville?

 

[Mr Light]

It was apparently revealed in the B5 scriptbooks, there was a thread about it here several months ago.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I wonder if this is a weakness of American television. Standard operating procedure seems to be when a show gets popular you milk it for as many years at it is worth until ratings tank or nobody involves wants to do it anymore. Sometimes that leads to shows being vastly different when they end then when they started.

I've noticed television shows in other countries tend to have much shorter shelf lives, and aren't afraid to tell stories with definite beginnings, middles, and ends.