Too many “what got cancelled too soon” questions, what’s a show that went on too long?
Hard mode: no The Walking Dead
Game of thrones. They should have ended it when they caught up to the books. Just leave it unfinished. That’s not satisfying but better than what we got.
Spoilers ahoy. If you’ve not seen game of thrones, read on to get the disappointment out of the way now
I disagree wholeheartedly. As much as “who’s got a better story than bran” sucked, I think that was likely the ending that was intended in the books as well (and the extreme backlash against it is why we’ll never see the last books). GRRM stated on multiple occasions that he was working closely with HBO and that they knew the general shape of the story he was trying to tell.
I feel like the majority of the problem with GoT was Benioff and Weiss. GRRM wanted at least two more seasons in which to tell the story (and, knowing what we know now, to delay the revelation that he didn’t really have a way to untangle the story he tangled), HBO made it clear that they would keep riding the money train no matter how far the station, but D&D wanted to wrap the series up ASAP so they could work on producing some Star Wars films. That’s why Jon goes from Dragonstone to the wall in a single cut. That’s why the entire war with the nights king that was central to the whole series was over in an episode. That’s why Dani went psycho in her moment of victory. That’s why cersei’s death was so predictable that it’s a cliche in ttrpgs, that’s why cleganebowl was ultimately disappointing, that’s why the resolution to dragons being in westeros was “idk he just left lol”, that’s why the resolution to aryas story was “idk she just left lol” (even after several seasons developing her character as someone who believes that if Starks don’t stick together they’ll be destroyed), that’s why the resolution to the war in the north was “idk the north…won? but also surrendered? lol”, that’s why LRJ didn’t matter at all, that’s why the spider went from being the most politically adroit character on the show to doing a whole musical number entitled “Do You Wanna Do A Treason?”, that’s why littlefinger’s whole trial was “we know he’s a dick just kill him”, and the fact that House of the Dragon is being made by people who want to make it is why its almost as good as the first 5 seasons of GoT
It all comes down to the fact that they wanted the show to just be over, and now it is I suppose.
The issue isn’t the ending itself, it’s how they got there. They rushed the ending, and as a result it made no sense.
I was gonna binge this show after it ended but I can’t bring myself to watch a show that I know has a shit ending, so it will forever be one of those shows I missed
It was so good early on though. IMO you would do better to just watch the first 5 or 6 seasons and make up an ending in your head vs not watching at all. Or read a brief synopsis of the last couple seasons just to know where the characters ended up.
But then you might feel the call of the void, and want to watch the last couple seasons as a sort of "bad movie night” on steroids. On one hand, you will fully understand the magnitude of the fuckup, but on the other, you will taint your fond memories of the early seasons. The choice is yours.
If you’re okay with the head canon, just stop watching when the wall falls. White walkers won, humanity has ended. GG.
that’s 3 seasons into terrible shit.
stop after season 4 first 4 are genuinely some of the best television ever made
season 5 already has serious fucking cracks in it and season 6 and 7 are carried by one big episode.
I would’ve been really pissed off if they just stopped and didn’t even take a stab at it. Now I’m disappointed with the seasons that came after that point but at least the series has come to some kind of conclusion.
What really pisses me off was not just that is was lazily written, but that D and DB knowingly ran it into the ground. They had a Q&A where they admitted it.
As a Futurama fan…Futurama. The reboot is very mediocre at best, the show was great when it was a bunch of characters with wildly different personalities messing around in the year 3000. The first reboot was kinda less interesting but ok for the most part, I personally think the movies were pretty bad and the new season just wants to be South Park with 3-year old dated references. It had a good run, should’ve ended after season 4
I was looking for someone else to mention Futurama. The new season is just so mediocre. You hit the nail on the head, they’re leaning so hard on social commentary but most of the references are already dated (Bitcoin mining, lol) and in general it’s just rather cringey. I’ve yet to hear one joke that actually had me bust out laughing, and the writers seem to have forgotten the subtlety that made Futurama stand out from other animated sitcoms.
Billy West sounds like he’s lost his voice and it feels like the rest of the cast are phoning in their performances a lot of the time. And what’s with the release schedule? A Christmas episode in August? I remember there being delays but I don’t understand why they would rush to get it out, they had so long to get it right and they still messed it up.
I’m sure most people here would agree that cancelling Game of Thrones once they ran out of source material and waiting for the books to be done (lol) would have been preferable to what we got.
GoT would have exited the cultural zeitgeist a lot sooner than it did, probably to the detriment of future viewer engagement and thus a source of revenue for HBO, which is why they pushed it forward, but still…
Weeds should have ended at the burning of Agrestic.
The Office. Last couple seasons were garbo
cue downvotes from the “still watches The Office on loop” crowd
Should have stopped the show when Michael left, and made a TV movie of Dwight’s wedding.
I still think the way Jim handled being (or technically not being) the best mensch is worthy of being canon.
But Nellie and Robert were just too bizarre. Will Ferrell was just awkward. It could’ve been good but he was just very strange. No one was a worthy replacement. Even Ray Romano would have been weird if he hadn’t gotten scared off.
I would watch the Michael session on loop if I wanted to pay for peacock.
Rugrats after they added Dil. He was dead weight and the show went from the babies going on adventures to the babies taking care of a baby.
Scrubs.
I understand that they were trying to create a spinoff. But to continue with the same name and then teasing us with the previous main characters just destroyed what was the perfect series ending.
Original Scrubs was one of the best shows ever made in my opinion - great cast and chemistry, genuinely funny whilst also bringing in the drama and tragedy of a hospital and it’s patients, great writing, kept up momentum until the end (the original end not the crap that come after), great acting, one of the most faultless TV shows ever made.
Big bang theory. It was absolute garbage.
I’m on the flip side with that one. I absolutely loved Big Bang Theory, but honestly I can’t stand Young Sheldon. I mean sure the show has its funny moments, but still, why oh why won’t they just let the show die?
Any show that needs a laugh track to tell you when it’s trying to be funny isn’t going to be funny. I actually heard a perfect description of why BBT wasn’t good (to me) a couple weeks ago from the Venture Bros creators. BBT was a show created by people outside nerd culture trying to tell nerds what nerd culture is. And IMO it entirely missed the mark.
It’s weird with Big Bang Theory, when it first started me and my friend circle loved it, thought it was brilliant but yes it did lose something after a few seasons.
But online everyone just seemed to hate it - could it be because we’re British and it just landed better with us…?
It was good the first few seasons, people shit on it because they shit on everything popular, but it WAS a good sitcom, it just never grew up.
Also, I found the depiction of the Indian guy funny at first but it quickly got racist and never got better, they just kept piling on the racism
Their depiction of “nerds” was also offensive and shitty in many of the same ways. But because that’s what the writers told you is nerd behavior and culture, it seemed more acceptable somehow.
Also, I found the depiction of the Indian guy funny at first but it quickly got racist and never got better, they just kept piling on the racism
Interesting. I didn’t like it for a very similar reason. Their depiction of nerds or geniuses or whatever you want to call them was pretty offensive. I could never get into it.
Edit: to be clear, I’m not saying that I’m a genius or even particularly intelligent. I’m not. But the barrage of stupid nerd stereotypes was just obnoxious and offensive.
British TV is, as a friend said to me once, dire. So it would make sense that it landed better there. I mean, clearly lots of Americans watched it, and I know a few that loved it. I just think less of them. 😁
- The Office (US) could have ended at the proposal in the rain.
- The Office should have ended at the wedding in Niagara.
- Dear god why didn’t The Office end when Michael left?
Ended way too soon:
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Invader Zim (there were plans for 7 seasons, but Nick said it was “too expensive”)
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Jimmy Neutron (again, f*ck you Nickelodeon)
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Inside Job
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The Misadventures of Flapjack (i mean, it’s length was ok, but i’m salty about it’s rushed ending).
Went on for too long:
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Stranger Things (looking back, only S1 was good)
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Rick & Morty (it was pure filler from S3 onwards)
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The Simpsons (should have ended with the movie)
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Spongebob Squarepants (also should have ended with it’s 1st movie)
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The Fairly Oddparents (i share the common thought that the show ended in “Channel Surfers”, but there were a few good episodes afterwards).
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Regular Show (mainly about Mordo’s disasterous love life, everything else was fine, and the ending brought me manly tears :')
Ended too soon, I would also add Rome and Deadwood
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Simpsons. Hasn’t been great since Season 12. Maybe glimpses in a few later seasons. But it’s now running on 35 years. Most of the original voices have left as have long gone all the good writers. The remaining can’t voice characters outside their ethnicity. And the show. Just “fart jokes.”
Probably the most brilliant show for a dozen seasons. Now just a husk.
I often wonder who’s still watching it. Like obviously someone is, because it’s doing well enough to keep getting renewed. But what’s the demographic? I don’t know many young people, but I’d assume they’re not watching it. Certainly nobody in my age range ever talks about it (or if they do, then they just say what the people in this thread are saying - it used to be great, haven’t watched it in years), and I don’t know of anyone in the boomer/parent age group who ever talks about it.
Of course, just because nobody I know watches it doesn’t mean nobody at all is watching it. But just like… who are they?
The remaining can’t voice characters outside their ethnicity.
This fucking overcorrection has got to stop. If every fictional character must be portrayed by a person who is as close to being that character in real life as possible, it’s no longer “acting.”
If they banned men from playing women visa versa, Bob’s burgers would get cancelled first and that show is just beautiful
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Treme, lost its way after season 1 iirc
I am in an opposite camp on that & would happily watch more seasons.
Lost
I just felt like it slapped me in the face with the ending. I was a kid when it came out and was obsessed with it! I also love Dominic Monogham from LOTR SO I watched for him… when He died (for no reason other than to kill his character!!!) I was so mad… but then the series finale was "oh btw… they were all dead the whole time… the smoke monster was death pulling them to the other side and they all were in purgatory… " I felt so upset…
Where do people come up with these made up endings of Lost?
That’s literally not all what happened in the ending but for some reason everyone seems to thinks so.
To be fair, it’s a complex and complicated ending that does indeed actually tie up almost all the loose ends, but it’s hard to understand at first and a lot of people really misinterpreted it. I certainly don’t blame them, but it makes me sad that because they couldn’t understand it, it ruined the rest of the series.
Seriously folks - there can be only one and done:
HEROES
Save the cheerleader, save the world and then please - go home. But nooooo…/
Supernatural
They managed to escalate all the way to God’s grumpy sister.
And then went even further, making the next enemy: The British.
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