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March 28, 2024, 09:55:58 AM

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Cancelled on a cliffhanger

Started by steveh, September 17, 2019, 11:33:18 AM

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steveh

I've just finished watching the comedy Impastor* which was cancelled after two series and ends with what seems like a deliberate attempt to set up as many unfinished stories as possible. Quoting Wikipedia:

QuoteThe fake pastor convinces the FBI and two other law agencies that he is an undercover FBI agent, the money-hungry prostitute convinces the church leader to enter a quickie marriage "for love", the church treasurer starts having sex with her pastor and murders her husband - her second murder of the season, the ever acquiescent church assistant suddenly finds the will power to search for a body in the woods to prove everyone wrong.

That got me thinking about what other shows have been cancelled on major cliffhangers. The only other one that came immediately to mind was Last Man on Earth, where Will Forte felt compelled to fill in where he wanted it to go after. Are there any other good examples, comedy or otherwise?

(* Criminal steals identity of new Lutheran minister and continues his life of crime in small town despite knowing next to nothing about religion which somehow nobody cottons on to. If you can suspend your disbelief about many, many things it's fine as a time filler. Christian groups tried to have it banned on the grounds of blasphemy and lewdness.)

Dex Sawash


Louis CK just had his cock dangling there

Endicott

Farscape. End of S4 main protagonists have REDACTED and then get reduced into tiny pieces and scattered in the sea. Series CANCELLED.

holyzombiejesus

Riget/ The Kingdom was never completed so lots was left up in the air. Can'tremember what but I do recall really enjoying it and hoping there'd be a final third series. Guess the death of Ernst-Hugo Järegård (and a subsequent other four) put paid to that.

There was talk of Carnivale being finished in the form of a graphic novel but don't think that ever appeared either.

Was there supposed to be another Twin Peaks after the 2nd series?

Absorb the anus burn

The Good Life: what the fuck happened to Tom & Barbara's beansprouts?

purlieu

Quote from: Endicott on September 17, 2019, 12:15:32 PM
Farscape. End of S4 main protagonists have REDACTED and then get reduced into tiny pieces and scattered in the sea. Series CANCELLED.
Season four had its highest viewing figures, too. Utter madness. Thankfully the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series tied it up, even if it has the awkward feeling of having an entire season's plot condensed into three hours.

This happens all the time these days, though, doesn't it? I swear there's a series cancellation announced at least once a week on Den of Geek. Dark Matter and Colony I decided not to watch because I knew their overall plot arcs were never concluded.

Moribunderast

Carnivale was the worst for me. Maybe not a cliffhanger per se but definitely setting a clear direction for a next season that would never come.

I watched the show KNOWING it ended prematurely but was convinced it ended prematurely after 3 seasons rather than 2. My disappointment was profound.


SavageHedgehog

Oh wow, I went through this with Impastor a couple of months back. Randomly selected it on Amazon Prime and actually really enjoyed it. Nothing groundbreaking but very enjoyable; fairly funny and oddly pleasant.

Cardenio I


Icehaven

Recent Syfy/Netflix series Happy! was cancelled after two series, and I can't remember the whole ending exactly but it was definitely incomplete and anticipating leading on to more. Each series was themed around a holiday season, the first being Christmas and the second Easter, so most frustratingly of all for me is that the third was going to be Halloween, which would have been bloody brilliant.


Ambient Sheep

Outcast (yes SMBH, I did finish it in the end, just never got round to writing about it until now!).

To be honest, it's surprising it wasn't cancelled after the first season, given how glacially slow-moving it was, but given that the second season it got was much more rapid and started to unveil some of the mystery, it seemed particularly unfair to cancel it on a massive cliffhanger (even if it was a very obvious "you can't cancel us NOW!!" attempt).


See also FlashForward, which after it sorted out its plotting problems in a mid-season hiatus, was getting really strong and likewise ended on a big cliffhanger.

Utter Shit

Traveler. Still angry to this day that it didn't make it to the end of the season.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on September 17, 2019, 12:20:56 PM
Riget/ The Kingdom was never completed so lots was left up in the air. Can'tremember what but I do recall really enjoying it and hoping there'd be a final third series. Guess the death of Ernst-Hugo Järegård (and a subsequent other four) put paid to that.

Apparently Von Trier even wrote the scripts for the third series of Riget so it's really frustrating that he hasn't released them in book form. I hope they one day leak at least, possibly after he dies.

QuoteThere was talk of Carnivale being finished in the form of a graphic novel but don't think that ever appeared either.

I remember Knauf talking about the graphic novel, or perhaps even a normal novel, but neither have taken place.

Quote from: Ambient Sheep on September 17, 2019, 01:55:48 PM
Outcast (yes SMBH, I did finish it in the end, just never got round to writing about it until now!).

To be honest, it's surprising it wasn't cancelled after the first season, given how glacially slow-moving it was, but given that the second season it got was much more rapid and started to unveil some of the mystery, it seemed particularly unfair to cancel it on a massive cliffhanger (even if it was a very obvious "you can't cancel us NOW!!" attempt).

There's still time, the old thread still exists after all! ;)

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on September 17, 2019, 02:08:05 PMThere's still time, the old thread still exists after all! ;)

I even took notes, but whether I'd now understand them I don't know!

non capisco

Never did find out what that poxy light in the sky was on 'Pigeon Street', did we?

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: non capisco on September 17, 2019, 03:15:36 PM
Never did find out what that poxy light in the sky was on 'Pigeon Street', did we?
Or whether Mr Benn finally put on the costume that got him home.

NoSleep

The end of Twin Peaks 2nd season was the one that seem to set the precedent. Intentionally going for maximum cliffhanger threads, knowing the series had been pulled. One movie and 25 years later it finally returned.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles left us hanging similarly.

Beagle 2

Dead Boss. Really enjoyed it, total waste of time watching it, ultimately.

Deyv

Does Angel count? I think they were aware by the time they made the last episode that it wasn't coming back but went with the cliffhanger anyway. They had plans for a 6th season, I believe. The comics that continued the story were fun (I think moreso than the Buffy comics, though I didn't stick with them for very long) but I didn't read to the end of the run.

Piggyoioi

Did anyone watch Terriers?

Been a while since i watch it but I remember being so confused as to why it was cancelled.

chveik

Quote from: Deyv on September 17, 2019, 09:11:56 PM
Does Angel count? I think they were aware by the time they made the last episode that it wasn't coming back but went with the cliffhanger anyway. They had plans for a 6th season, I believe. The comics that continued the story were fun (I think moreso than the Buffy comics, though I didn't stick with them for very long) but I didn't read to the end of the run.

yeah Angel & Firefly are my biggest regrets series wise

jamiefairlie

Quote from: NoSleep on September 17, 2019, 03:55:18 PM
The end of Twin Peaks 2nd season was the one that seem to set the precedent. Intentionally going for maximum cliffhanger threads, knowing the series had been pulled. One movie and 25 years later it finally returned.


Aye and then the bastard did it to us again!

Dex Sawash

Quote from: Piggyoioi on September 17, 2019, 09:34:49 PM
Did anyone watch Terriers?

Been a while since i watch it but I remember being so confused as to why it was cancelled.

Still whistling the theme song

Custard

Dunno if it was really a cliffhanger, but Deadwood. Until Deadwood The Movie, of this year. Which was great


a duncandisorderly

Quote from: NoSleep on September 17, 2019, 03:55:18 PM
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles left us hanging similarly.

yep. derailed by the revival of the franchise for a shit movie. the tv show, despite its low-budget, was doing pretty well.

Jockice

The Hour. Not that I saw the last episode. Of either series.

Moribunderast

Quote from: Piggyoioi on September 17, 2019, 09:34:49 PM
Did anyone watch Terriers?

Been a while since i watch it but I remember being so confused as to why it was cancelled.

FX were cruel bastards that year. Debuted both Terriers and Lights Out, which were both fantastic and then cancelled each of them. Terriers cancellation, especially, still hurts. I do remember the head of FX being very apologetic about it, basically saying "We KNOW this is a great show but nobody's watching it, sorry..."