There's "this season is a self-contained story arc that has a beginning, middle, and end; here's a tease of next season", and "here's a goddamn cliffhanger". Timeless decided on the latter.
But when your show was already cancelled once due to miserable ratings and then miraculously saved from death, you don't end the next season on a giant cliffhanger in the hopes that it will generate enough fan outrage to prompt the network into renewing the show. That's only ever happened like twice and it's always a shitty thing to do.
What are the two times it worked?But when your show was already cancelled once due to miserable ratings and then miraculously saved from death, you don't end the next season on a giant cliffhanger in the hopes that it will generate enough fan outrage to prompt the network into renewing the show. That's only ever happened like twice and it's always a shitty thing to do.
I think that a serialized show, especially in its second season -should- end on a cliffhanger. It's still early in the show's life and typically the end of the second season is around the time when the show really starts to be what it's going to be about. Look at shows like Person of Interest or Fringe or Chuck (which was mentioned earlier) -- all shows that ended their second seasons with massive cliffhangers that changed the game for the show going forward. None of those shows would have had satisfying conclusions if they stopped right there. Regardless of what anyone thinks about the quality of later seasons of any of those, the cliffhangers were all good and necessary to keep the shows moving forward and continue to evolve the show in a compelling way.
The amount of shows that have actually been "saved" due to outrage is incredibly slim, and that certainly was not the case with the original Timeless cancellation and renewal either.
Look at a more recent example like Sense8... it did the same thing. People were upset it got cancelled, and it thankfully got a feature-length episode order to attempt to conclude it the best way possible. But showrunners can't worry about cancellation. They have to try to tell the story they wanted to tell, which is usually designed for 4-5ish years. And that's not a bad thing. Cliffhangers aren't intentionally designed to "spark fan outrage" in the event of cancellation, regardless of what anyone says.
Right, on the bubble means any of them very well could have been cancelled and had that happened fans would be just as upset. They got lucky and didn't, and all 3 of those shows got to go five seasons and end the way they wanted to. That's great, they're the fortunate ones. Many other shows (like Timeless) do get cancelled. Unless the network literally tells them "this is the final season", showrunners can't (and shouldn't) be expected to scrap their long term plan.Fringe, Person of Interest, and Chuck were never cancelled though, and that's the big difference. They were on the bubble and it genuinely could have gone either way with any of them - Timeless was cancelled with horrible ratings and was revived with even worse ratings. Pretending that it might come back for another season was tantamount to an outright lie and instead of being honest with themselves and making sure the story ended in a satisfying way (while leaving a couple of expandable tidbits open for a possible third season), they buried their heads in the sand and it blew up in their face. Like literally everyone knew it would.
(btw I haven't seen Timeless)
And specifically with Chuck, when the show was almost cancelled after season two (which I don't believe they anticipated), the writers made sure that each of the subsequent mid season and season finales would work as a series finale. Because, A. the writers were smart and B. wanted to give their show and the fans a satisfying ending.
You have to be realistic though. Like, what if the Wachowski's hadn't wrapped up the story with their wrap up special on the off chance that they might get another one after that (and another)? "I know they were given a wrap up movie, but they refused to wrap anything up and that's okay because their story is 12 seasons long and this is their art!" Uh, no.
Also, they didn't worry about cancellation because when they were writing it Netflix had never cancelled any of their originals and everyone was operating under the assumption that Netflix was in the business of making complete series for binging so everyone thought that at the very least Netflix would give them one more full season like they did with Hemlock Grove.
Jericho is one and I don't remember the other (if it even exists).
Right, on the bubble means any of them very well could have been cancelled and had that happened fans would be just as upset. They got lucky and didn't, and all 3 of those shows got to go five seasons and end the way they wanted to. That's great, they're the fortunate ones. Many other shows (like Timeless) do get cancelled. Unless the network literally tells them "this is the final season", showrunners can't (and shouldn't) be expected to scrap their long term plan.
Some shows don't know where they're going and try to figure it out along the way (like Lost and Westworld), but most of the time these do have a 5 year plan. And the first and second seasons are paced accordingly. It's not just about "art" or whatever, it's about literally making the show that was pitched and bought by the network, and hopefully beloved by fans.
If you cut off the plan just because you think you might be cancelled, and then get picked up... then what? The whole rhythm is thrown off.
Unresolved cliffhangers due to cancellation suck, but given the number of wildly successful times it has been done (like all three of those shows I mentioned before), it is a very justified part of serialized television.
Didn't see it discussed, but saw Comic Book Men has been canceled.
Didn't see it discussed, but saw Comic Book Men has been canceled.
Screw that, it should be "Comic Book Show Cancelled" to freak people out. :PNever heard of this but the OT title should be "Comic Book Men Out of Print"
Screw that, it should be "Comic Book Show Cancelled" to freak people out. :P
That's a damn good one.Screw that, it should be "Comic Book Show Cancelled" to freak people out. :P
Got to do it to emScrew that, it should be "Comic Book Show Cancelled" to freak people out. :P
Showtime has given an eight-episode order to a limited series about Roger Ailes, with Oscar winner Russell Crowe set to star as the controversial Fox News founder in his US television debut.
The as-yet untitled series (fka Secure and Hold: The Last Days of Roger Ailes), a Blumhouse Television and Showtime co-production, is based on Gabriel Sherman's bestselling book The Loudest Voice in the Room and his extensive reporting for New York magazine about the sordid allegations of sexual harassment that prompted the late Ailes' ouster at Fox News. Sherman co-wrote the initial episode with Spotlight writer Tom McCarthy, who will executive produce with Jason Blum.
Showtime landed the Roger Ailes limited series for development in April 2017, a month before Ailes' death.
Didn't see it discussed, but saw Comic Book Men has been canceled.
Awwww that sucks. Well, it had a good run. It might've been heaaaaaaabily scripted, but it was fun. Always amusing to see the nerdy nostalgia people brought in. I actually learned a lot about nostalgic toys from the 60s-80s.
Didn't see it discussed, but saw Comic Book Men has been canceled.
Kevin Smith is setting up a patreon to apparently try to fund it, the show has got to be cheap as hell to make, I imagine YouTube Red, Apple, or even Netflix will happily take it up if they include the current 7 season, 96 episode back catalog as well.
I'm 2-3 seasons behind, the show is probably fake as hell ala Pawn Stars / those auction shows but its still kinda fun to watch as a comic / 80s nerd since it has a lot of cool toys. Definitely one of those "watch while cooking / cleaning" kinda shows.
The series premiere of Paramount Network's Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner drew nearly 5 million viewers in Live+3, making it the top summer drama series debut on both cable and broadcast, and ad-supported cable's most watched scripted drama series premiere since The People vs O.J. Simpson in 2016 (8.3 million).
The June 20 premiere scored well in key demos, with a 1.1 rating in P18-49 and a 1.7 with P25-54 in L+3.
The premiere viewership numbers are up from an average of 2.8 million in Live+same day. With the increase in Live+3, the premiere was the most-watched original series telecast both in the new network's history and its former iteration, Spike.
Yellowstone's average premiere audience in L+same day more than doubled that of Paramount Network's first scripted drama series, Waco (+156%), and more than tripled the debut viewership of new comedy American Woman.
AMC just how do you not order this?On Becoming A God In Central Florida, which was previously in development at AMC, was one of the passion projects for the late TriStar TV topper Suzanne Patmore Gibbs who revived Sony Pictures TV's label as home of female-focused material.
Written by Robert Funke and Matt Lutsky based on a spec script they wrote, On Becoming A God is set near Orlando in the early 1990s. It centers on Krystal Gill (Dunst), a minimum-wage-earning water park employee who will eventually scheme her way up the ranks of Founders American Merchandise: the cultish, flag waving, multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme that drove her family to ruin.
YouTube Orders Dark Comedy Series, 'On Becoming A God In Central Florida', Starring Kirsten Dunst From George Clooney, Grant Heslov & TriStar Television
AMC just how do you not order this?
Kirsten Dunst
Playing a scammer
out for revenge
in 1990s Florida
I don't think I've ever been in so much as for this.
Ah that's too bad, I enjoy the show (though I've been disappointed that the last few seasons have had to have a celebrity or big event in every episode).Didn't see it discussed, but saw Comic Book Men has been canceled.
Kevin Smith is setting up a patreon to apparently try to fund it, the show has got to be cheap as hell to make, I imagine YouTube Red, Apple, or even Netflix will happily take it up if they include the current 7 season, 96 episode back catalog as well.
I'm 2-3 seasons behind, the show is probably fake as hell ala Pawn Stars / those auction shows but its still kinda fun to watch as a comic / 80s nerd since it has a lot of cool toys. Definitely one of those "watch while cooking / cleaning" kinda shows.
Can't Kevin Smith afford to fund the show himself if it's super cheap?
How the fuck is Olmos in that?Even though Sons of Anarchy became a flaming pile of trash I'm kinda hyped for Mayans MC.
Ah that's too bad, I enjoy the show (though I've been disappointed that the last few seasons have had to have a celebrity or big event in every episode).
"I know I'm a celebrity with (some) money, but you as a store that relies on profits wouldn't even dare to try to CHARGE me for my own doll, would you??"
I wonder if they even haggle like they do with random customers when they aren't filming. I have a feeling they don't (or don't as much as they do on the show) and a lot of people are disappointed when the visit and try to get a great deal.
YouTube Orders Dark Comedy Series, 'On Becoming A God In Central Florida', Starring Kirsten Dunst From George Clooney, Grant Heslov & TriStar Television
AMC just how do you not order this?
Kirsten Dunst
Playing a scammer
out for revenge
in 1990s Florida
I don't think I've ever been in so much as for this.
Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald discuss the Westworld Season 2 finale and what is and is not working in that show (9:00). Later they discuss television's ongoing search for the next Game of Thrones and the various approaches the different networks and shows are taking to get there (25:00).
Good to see One Day at a Time on that list, it is very undervalued due to its sitcom roots. Great show all around, but especially great for it's portrayal of several minority groups.
It's okay. It can be unbelievably dumb at times. But the first episode was pretty good. It's only 10 episodes but I feel like I could've bailed at episode 4.The Good Girls any good? Never even heard about it but the cast is great. Seems Netflix has the international rights since they are adding it here in EU soon.
Created by Leary and Alex Cary, Erase is the story of Donal O'Neal (Leary), a dirty ex-cop who decides to do the right thing and bring down his complicit superior officers. In this gritty crime thriller, laced with elements of black comedy, Donal races against time to repair the damage he's done to his estranged family while trying to avoid being killed by his enemies.
Thorne will play Donna O'Neal, Donal's (Leary) first love, mother of his children and ex-wife. A woman of strong backbone, incorruptible moral compass, whose strength and Achilles heel is her compassion.
I was curious if this is an increase people timeshifting or if the audience has decreased this season.The finale of "Westworld" was in line with its season average, but the show's linear ratings were down vs. Season 1.
The HBO show drew a 0.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 1.56 million viewers, even with the previous week. Year to year, however, "Westworld" ends up down about 23 percent in adults 18-49 in same-day ratings (vs. 0.8 in 2017) and 14 percent in viewers (1.57 million vs. 1.82 million).
Of course, the overnight numbers represent only a fraction of "Westworld's" total audience, with replays, DVR, on demand and streaming making up the majority. But the baseline is lower than it was in 2017.
Created, written, directed and exec produced by Weiner, The Romanoffs is set around the globe featuring separate stories about people who believe themselves to be descendants of the Russian royal family. The cast includes Diane Lane, Aaron Eckhart, Isabelle Huppert, Marthe Keller, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Jack Huston, Amanda Peet, Corey Stoll, Andrew Rannells, Mike Doyle, JJ Feild, Janet Montgomery and Paul Reiser.
Oh no, not Crackle!Sony Crackle is halting operations in Canada this week, shifting its portfolio to two non-Sony VOD services.
The move follows last month's news of a dozen layoffs at the ad-supported streaming service and heralds a new focus on the U.S. and Latin American markets.