Why do low-rated shows end their seasons in cliffhangers?

[gh4chiefs]

Well yet another soon to be cancelled show goes out on a cliffhanger. No Ordinary Family ends on a cliffhanger. thanks for nothing assholes.

 

[DBR]

I'm convinced that it's done just to fucking piss us off when they're canceled.

(grumble, grumble, Sarah Connor Chronicles, grumble)

 

[Dream]

Fringe. RENEWED!

 

[diankra]

The Fugitive is the classic example cited. A hugely successful network series, it tanked in back-end syndication because "everyone knows how it ends."

But... true as it might be, that's also a ludicrous argument, creatively. The Fugitive was an anthology about the people Kimble influenced in the towns he visited before he had to move on. Did anyone really tune in week after week thinking 'This week, he might catch The One-Armed Man?' The occasional clues to his quest, or meetings with Gerard, were just keeping the format simmering.
Don Bellisario said that the network didn't want him to do Vietnam flashbacks in Magnum, as 'If it's a flashback, they know he can't die.' Bellisario said back 'Do you really think your audience watches thinking we're going to kill Tom Selleck? Unless, of course, it's the season closer and they've read that we've been cancelled.'

 

[Trek4Ever]

Well yet another soon to be cancelled show goes out on a cliffhanger. No Ordinary Family ends on a cliffhanger. thanks for nothing assholes.

I'm sure there will be more complaints to come in the next few weeks with other shows as their seasons (series?) end.

The show Lights Out just ended and while for the most part the main story was concluded, there were many threads left unconcluded but it was enough to keep me satisfied that the show reached an ending.

However looking at the last few seconds of the final episode I keep getting the feeling that a new ending was shoehorned in since it just ended abruptly and only showed the back of the main actor. That had me thinking maybe they just filmed a stand-in for those last moments. All this led me to theorize that there was probably a more cliffhanger type ending but once TPTB learned the show was canceled subsituted this alternate ending.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I enjoy reading (some) tie-in comics because I can still imagine the actors actually playing their characters as I read what's happening.

That would work better for shows where the actors weren't a bit part of the draw. Heroes and Firefly for instance wouldn't work well. It would be annoying to have to be reminded that the actors are gone from the story forever.

Conversely, for stories where I was neutral about the actors or even disliked them in the roles, I'd be more likely to like the spinoff. You could regard The Clone Wars as a kind of spinoff, but one where I like how they cast the characters (and are writing the characters) better than in the PT.