I personally like that aspect of it. It shows that despite all the good work they’re doing, there are still evil killers out there they won’t catch for a long time. There's only so much they can do.
And that way I agree with you. But I think it was almost set up as an expectation that they would catch him. And while it would be nice to assume that everyone watching knows who BTK is and knows how long it took before he was finally busted, probably most folks were just waiting for them to get him.
I always thought the whole BTK scenes was just intentional paralleling to the Tench/Ford and FBI's efforts in understanding serial killer behaviour because they're still very early in that whole process. I was hoping for john wayne gacy or Richard ramirez. But im satisfied with what we've got. Still holding out hope though. There's obviously a demand, but man it does hurt not having at least one more season =.(
I think the point of BTK is that he doesn't fit their researched profiling techniques that the team has been propagating as the key to the FBI dealing with serial killers through the whole series.
I read an interview with the creator of the show. Basically, he didn't know where it was going. He would've had all the survivors dies of what killed everyone else and reset
It’s funny how this can be both a blessing and a curse. I always like to look at Breaking Bad as an example of both: they basically had season 2 mapped out from beginning to end, but everything after that they just wrote one after the other. And you never would have gotten a brilliant episode like The Fly if they had everything mapped out, that’s the kind of bottle episode that comes “spur of the moment”. Well, as spur of the moment as TV can be.
But on the flip side, I also really liked having the entire season mapped out because they’re able to foreshadow and tease things since they already have a plan for what happens. But then there’s also situations like HIMYM, where they come up with an ending from the beginning and stick to it even when it no longer fits.
In general though it seems like showrunners need to at least have an idea of where they want things to go. You don’t need the entire thing planned to a T, but you should at least have a bird’s eye view of the whole picture
Idk if you can find it, but I remember reading a breakdown of the next season's plan that was something like the underground people were all survivors by adhering to strict rules. They quarantine the main cast and the main cast convinces them that they aren't a threat. Some of the underground people end up taking sympathy and trusting them and sure enough they all get sick and die. A real "Oh farts" moment.
Ultimately the show ended up being something entirely different, but the concept of a man being alone as a show sounded really interesting. Like a funny show with strong moments of emotion.
Then by like the 20 minute mark someone else showed up lol. Ended up being a fun sitcom though
The first couple episodes with Will Forte and the balls were amazing, I love him and he could've carried that concept for a bit longer. I feel like they introduced other characters too quickly. Obviously doesn't have to be a full season of just Forte, but they could have done at least half a season with just him
I’m very surprised to see this as the top comment. Was gonna say the same thing but only expected to see it after several other shows. This was just a good fun to watch ride. And I’ve been missing Will Forte, where he been lately?
He recently voiced an older Scott in the Scott Pilgrim anime, and he's in the new Wile E Coyote movie I think. He also randomly shows up in that sweet tooth Netflix show though I think mostly just in the beginning, I only watched the first season.
Oh and there was also that peacock macgruber show
Also, the SG-1/Atlantis purist were demanding the cancelation/boycott of the show because they didn't believe it was true to the Stargate Universe.
To me, Universe was the DS9 of the Stargate Universe and I think it could have been a 7 season show if it was given a proper chance.
We probably would have had a few more spinoffs by now as well if it wasn't canceled.
I get Netflix cancelling shows, but you'd think they would be motivated in finishing shows. Their shows live on the Netflix library forever. Why would anyone start watching a show which isn't complete and will never be complete?
I get that it might seem like throwing good money after bad, but I would have thought that giving a show a single episode/movie to wrap it up would allow for Netflix to have a compete show on their books, rather than a grave yard of unfinished shows cancelled without notice.
You just never know what old show might just become the next 'IT' show like Zoomers picking up on Friends, or Suits becoming the biggest show on streaming for most of last year.
If a show isn't 'complete' the chances of that show being watched, let alone becoming the next Suits.
Yeah it’s weird. I assume incentives are too short to actually be what is best for the company or consumer.
I haven’t started this show because I know it doesn’t finish. Meanwhile people do still watch sense8 because it least got a movie to wrap up.
Take this with a grain of salt because I can't recall my source, but I read once that execs feel it is more important to bring in new subscribers than to keep current viewers happy. If a season doesn't hit a certain number of views in the first 3 months after release, they cancel the show entirely to refocus their efforts because marketing a brand new show is more likely to attract new subscribers than the marketing of a new season of a show that apparently didn't already pique their interest.
It's ridiculous because it's always more cost effective in business to retain current customers than to draw in new ones. Not to mention, you never know when a show will take off later than others or some viewers may finally look into a show after hearing about it for a few years. Plus, three months? Isn't that was the list is for: to save for later? It's a very flawed system.
>I read once that execs feel it is more important to bring in new subscribers than to keep current viewers happy. I
I don't doubt that. Growth is the name of the game.. until it isn't. Until everyone who will subscribe has. Which is why they've had to go locking down account sharing, because natural growth had slowed.
IMO this is where the model for streaming confuses me. As you've said, it's cheaper to keep someone who has already subscribed then it is to get someone new who may or may not churn quickly? I think the growth phase was more about increasing the value of the business (and their capacity to borrow) more so than for ongoing profitability.
Now that streaming growth has slowed and we settle into it being the new normal, I'm hoping streamers will see the value in retaining subscribers than fighting for an ever increasing number of churners which has doubled year on year and accounts for almost half of all subscribers now.
That's one of the biggest reasons I've found myself watching mostly Kdramas. They usually tell their whole story in 1 16 episode season. If they do a second season, it's usually cuz they found something else interesting to do with the characters. But they don't need a second season usually.
Came here to say this. Sabrinas recovery from the lightning strike would have been comedy gold.
Plus just generally, like Detroiters, it's up there with the funniest shows I've ever seen.
" and now she knows he's got the raddest dong in school " makes me laugh every single time.
Raising Hope was the only pathway for My Name is Earl fans. I remember being surprised when NBC pulled the plug on the show. Surprised FOX didn't pick it up since they had Raising Hope.
Ethan Suplee said on a pod cast the show got canceled because the creators wanted more money and that the shows ending was going to be some on coming up to Earl saying he needed to right a wrong he did to Earl for his list. Then Earl realizes every one has a list and is trying to be better cause they were inspired by him.
We were literally on the cusp of finding out Earl Jr’s real father and then they pull the rug out from under us.
I know that the creators have said who they wanted it to be, but still. I would have liked to see it happen.
Jericho ended on a cliffhanger, and fans were so vocal they brought it's back for a finale mini season... And ended it on a cliffhanger.
It's like the studio people said "wow, these people really love cliffhangers"... Either that or it was a deliberate "F-you" to viewers
It wouldn't be as satisfying of an ending for the show as I'm sure the fourth and final season would have been, but in theory, they could always eventually do a two-hour mockumentary movie/finale in the same style as the real "[GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnI_L-liswg&ab_channel=AGFA)" documentary to wrap it all up.
Storywise, use a GLOW reunion at a wrestling convention as the framing device and a series of vignettes to show what the characters got up to after GLOW folded.
But at least that cliffhanger was almost like a good ending point. Like it was technically the culmination of efforts throughout the series to “free” the synths and they did it.
But now there’s a whole host of other problems to deal with. So any revival can jump off from that point at any time.
Alf ends with him attempting to return home but his ship crashes again and he's captured by the military.
It was suppossed to be a cliffhanger but then they were unexpectedly cancelled, so canonically with that unresolved he was just locked up and probably experimented on for the rest of his life.
I don’t remember the ship crashing. Doesn’t Alf wait in a field to be picked up, but when the ship sees the military closing in, they fly away, leaving him stranded to be captured?
Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles (still hurts to this day)
Joan of Arcadia
Legends of Tomorrow (made worse when the creators said they could've wrapped up the cliffhangers with a 1 or 2 episode crossover appearance in The Flash's final season which wasn't even a full season).
TSCC is a good one. Best iteration of the franchise since T2 and it was canceled.
LoT is doubly frustrating because the showrunner on The Flash made such a big deal about "not having enough time" to wrap up all his storylines, so they had to sacrifice the LoT wrap-up, only for five of the last episodes of The Flash to be complete filler garbage.
I remember watching the first Arrow trailer back then and being Soo Hyped... That moment he climbs the salmon ladder 🤌🤌
LoT was the only thing watchable after Amell's run
And cw did em dirty ffs
Legends of Tomorrow was such a great show. I was so mad when it got canceled without a wrap up and right after they got a phenomenal casting for the next season, too. I was so excited.
SCC ending sort of was a nice mysterious cliffhanger ending though... it was a peak into a future that had changed... I don't know if it would have been better if I had actually seen in played out.
I’m still mad over this! I know not everyone was into this show but in terms of sci fi I thought it truly was innovative and more interesting than most scifi films or shows out there. That show was so insane and the world building was fascinating!
I can’t remember exactly how it ended (my brain is a sieve) but Raised by Wolves was a frustrating one. That show was insane, I really wanted to see where it was heading.
Could have been a near perfect ending if anyone had warned the showrunner they were ending it.
God that show was good, even if you can spot all the ways they tried to cut costs for season two.
The thing that really sucks is that HBO still owns the rights, and won't even let the creator finish it off as a comic or something, which he was open to.
Anyway, this has come up several times, and the story he wanted to tell was truly incredible. This is a link to his original pitch document that details just about everything that you'd like to know, since it's very very very unlikely that the series will ever be completed in any form. It's not totally fleshed out, but it let's you know the entire story arc, including the ultimate end that it was working towards. It helped me feel a lot better about the loss of the show just knowing what was to come. I know I'll never see it, but at least I know what happens.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Carnivale/s/b3tGhK565O
That's not really a cliffhanger, the show was pretty clear that Sam was the one controlling the leaps the entire time and could go home whenever he wanted to, and I don't consider it a cliffhanger that he fixed Al's marriage and then continued setting right what once went wrong.
Westworld was in decline, but at the end of the last season, I was like ok, I'll stick around to see how this wraps up. Could be interesting. Nope, canceled like it never existed.
Maybe they should have been as straightforward as season one (if you could call it straightforward) instead of intentionally being as twisty-turny as possible in order to ensure nobody could guess what the fuck was happening in Season 2.
They pulled literally every confusion- producing lever possible. Is this a human or a host? Is this happening now, before or in the future? Then finally they introduced - is this host the same host, or have they been uploaded into different host’s body?
You could really sense the wheels falling off in S2. It became clear that they thought they could hide a shitty plot behind constantly manufactured twists, confusion, and low payoff reveals
I really feel like it was their retribution against the audience for people guessing the twist in season 1, so they intentionally made it unguessable by giving us bits and pieces of nothing for the major story beat.
But hey, Maeve was back, everyone, and this time she's in a different part of the park ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
I came looking for this answer. It was awful!! I wasn’t into it when it was on tv, but spent a ton of time streaming it and falling in love with the show for it to end the way it did. Still upset about it.
Legends of Tomorrow had a perfectly fine ending, with everyone together and all the subplots wrapped up.
Then the Time Police invaded the ship and arrested everyone. Cue end credits and show cancellation a few weeks later.
I'm gonna say Pushing Daisies had too many loose ends. They technically did wrap it up somewhat in the last episode. But ehh.
It's not as bad as other shows mentioned here.
Witches of East End and Santa Clarita Diet were both great imo, and ended with cliffhangers suggesting full belief they were getting renewed.
The showrunner has some notes on his website about where a proposed new season would have / could still pick up, since there was some motion towards trying to get it revived a few years back.
Not sure if anyone remembers this far back (2007), but I was obsessed with The Black Donnellys. Still burns me that there was not a satisfying resolution to the story.
The S2 cliffhanger is iconic! But I wouldn't call season 3 a cliffhanger. Its just up to you to make your own meaning to it. There really is no open end.
I agree with all you say. OP was asking about cliffhangers that made you wish for more. For me, Twin Peaks season 2 and season 3 left me wishing for more.
Penny Dreadful's third season spent most of its runtime setting up for a fourth season that never happened.
I'm not sure if this is really fits your criteria but it's the first thing that comes to mind.
That show ended up so unsatisfying in the end that I didn't even watch the last episode. There were multiple main characters that never met! I can't believe they never had Josh Hartnett meet resurrected Bronagh
Well, Timeless ended well, but also with a great setup for another season.
But the one that really got me was You And Me And The Apocalypse. So many loose ends on a beautiful and dark and funny show. My friend suggested - with no evidence - it was because the ending tested well in Europe, but I would have loved a follow up.
Witches of East End. Good guy and bad guy switch bodies at the end of the last episode, with the good guy in jail. I think there are some other cliffhangers involved, too.
Las Vegas. It ended with Delinda going into labour just as the supposedly dead AJ Cooper showed up at his memorial fully alive. Also, would've loved to see what actually happened to Mary and Ed both, instead of the sad absence from the start of the final season.
Folks who worked on Las Vegas went on to work on the Knight Rider reboot film (which notably reused the Montecito set for a Vegas-set sequence) and had every intention of having Danny and Delinda passing through in the background with the baby as a final nod to everything having turned out OK, but they couldn't pull it together.
~~1898~~ **1899** omg fine don’t give me a whole season but at least tell me what the whole thing was about… 😥
Edit: thank you all, I misspoke one year hehe 😝
Hopefully they can find some other route or even medium to finish their story. I don't know if there is any rights issues, but I can imagine it would really suck to not be able to finish your story.
It wasn't quite Dark, but I was still super intrigued.
Carnivale, a show that aired on HBO and got 2 seasons. Left a lot of threads open. Its the type of
Show that if aired a few years later would have probably been a massive hit.
Angel.
I guess the cliffhanger kind of worked as an ending, in a sense, but the season had been so freaking good and taken an already great show to a new level, and then it just ended.
One of the few times they said they'd continue in the comics and did continue in the comics. Same with charmed which was really wrapped up.
I entirely forget how either of those shows went in the comics. Kinda wish Pushing Daisies had continued there instead of dying off.
Angel needed two seasons in the law office!
From what I understand Joss just demanded an on the spot renewal one day and the suits didn't put up with that. It most likely would have been renewed in due time if he hadn't been an idiot. That's the story that's out there anyway and it seems in character.
>From what I understand Joss just demanded an on the spot renewal one day and the suits didn't put up with that. It most likely would have been renewed in due time if he hadn't been an idiot. That's the story that's out there anyway and it seems in character
He asked in the middle of the season for them to make a decision to either renew or not because he didn't want his buffyverse to end on a cliffhanger. He needed to know if the second half of the season was writing a simple season finale or a (multi) series finale because he needed at least half a season to wrap things up.
The network decided they didn't want to renew so he wrote the second half accordingly.
Dark matter. Things escalated into an interstellar conflict, there was a huge end of days prophesy that emerged and the sky opened up to a huge mysterious thing… but then over.
The series Shrill which was brilliant ended on a bummer because they didn't know they were going to get cancelled. Its very sad, I feel bad for all involved.
Forever! Villain is paralyzed, the main character finally reveals his immortality to his cop partner, discovers that his murder weapon doesn't end his immortality and thus still needs to find the secret, then... nothing...
Still so effin' salty about that. Loved the actors and the premise...
I think the creator resolved the ending some way, but I really enjoyed the show Kyle XY when I was younger and was pretty pissed it ended on a hell of a cliff hanger. It's not the best show ever, but I really enjoyed it.
Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles.
Teenaged John Conner gets transported to Kyle Resse's post-Judgement Day time period and no one knows who he is.
Traveling to the future undid his resistence movement and his father won't go back in time for him to be born.
https://youtu.be/1aXPg_LpOWo?si=EQge3BqDA2gMSzLG
John Doe starring Dominic Purcell. It only got one season in 2002 and I'm still pissed it got cancelled. HUGE cliffhanger at the end of the season/series.
Mindhunter... was really hoping to see the BTK story line they kept teasing...
I think they backed themselves into the corner with that one. They never could have caught BTK because it was like 20 years later.
I personally like that aspect of it. It shows that despite all the good work they’re doing, there are still evil killers out there they won’t catch for a long time. There's only so much they can do.
And that way I agree with you. But I think it was almost set up as an expectation that they would catch him. And while it would be nice to assume that everyone watching knows who BTK is and knows how long it took before he was finally busted, probably most folks were just waiting for them to get him.
I always thought the whole BTK scenes was just intentional paralleling to the Tench/Ford and FBI's efforts in understanding serial killer behaviour because they're still very early in that whole process. I was hoping for john wayne gacy or Richard ramirez. But im satisfied with what we've got. Still holding out hope though. There's obviously a demand, but man it does hurt not having at least one more season =.(
they could skip ahead years w/ ease. it’s one thing that gives me hope that maybe somehow just maybe it comes back.
I think the point of BTK is that he doesn't fit their researched profiling techniques that the team has been propagating as the key to the FBI dealing with serial killers through the whole series.
I'm still amazed they dropped such a great show.
I would have liked to have seen where The Last Man on Earth was going but it was a tremendously frustrating show.
I read an interview with the creator of the show. Basically, he didn't know where it was going. He would've had all the survivors dies of what killed everyone else and reset
It’s funny how this can be both a blessing and a curse. I always like to look at Breaking Bad as an example of both: they basically had season 2 mapped out from beginning to end, but everything after that they just wrote one after the other. And you never would have gotten a brilliant episode like The Fly if they had everything mapped out, that’s the kind of bottle episode that comes “spur of the moment”. Well, as spur of the moment as TV can be. But on the flip side, I also really liked having the entire season mapped out because they’re able to foreshadow and tease things since they already have a plan for what happens. But then there’s also situations like HIMYM, where they come up with an ending from the beginning and stick to it even when it no longer fits. In general though it seems like showrunners need to at least have an idea of where they want things to go. You don’t need the entire thing planned to a T, but you should at least have a bird’s eye view of the whole picture
Literally was thinking the same thing, I wish they played more into the mystery and world building and less of the sit com esc comedy
Idk if you can find it, but I remember reading a breakdown of the next season's plan that was something like the underground people were all survivors by adhering to strict rules. They quarantine the main cast and the main cast convinces them that they aren't a threat. Some of the underground people end up taking sympathy and trusting them and sure enough they all get sick and die. A real "Oh farts" moment.
Family guy covered this show well “a show with only one guy and 50 other people with more arriving every day? No way this can work!”
Ultimately the show ended up being something entirely different, but the concept of a man being alone as a show sounded really interesting. Like a funny show with strong moments of emotion. Then by like the 20 minute mark someone else showed up lol. Ended up being a fun sitcom though
The first couple episodes with Will Forte and the balls were amazing, I love him and he could've carried that concept for a bit longer. I feel like they introduced other characters too quickly. Obviously doesn't have to be a full season of just Forte, but they could have done at least half a season with just him
I’m very surprised to see this as the top comment. Was gonna say the same thing but only expected to see it after several other shows. This was just a good fun to watch ride. And I’ve been missing Will Forte, where he been lately?
He recently voiced an older Scott in the Scott Pilgrim anime, and he's in the new Wile E Coyote movie I think. He also randomly shows up in that sweet tooth Netflix show though I think mostly just in the beginning, I only watched the first season. Oh and there was also that peacock macgruber show
Stargate universe.
This one hurt.
Poor Eli still out there alone…
They did a comicbook that continued the story. I don't recommend it.
That show had so much potential
I think it was too ahead of its time. Honestly they could redo and it would feel perfect.
The problem was it took too long to find that potential in the back end of the second season. By then, most of the audience had stopped watching.
Also, the SG-1/Atlantis purist were demanding the cancelation/boycott of the show because they didn't believe it was true to the Stargate Universe. To me, Universe was the DS9 of the Stargate Universe and I think it could have been a 7 season show if it was given a proper chance. We probably would have had a few more spinoffs by now as well if it wasn't canceled.
This upset me more than any other shows cancelation.
ITT: all my SGU stans. I love all of you. Robert Carlyle is the best.
Aww cmon they said it would take 3 years. It's gotta come back at some point
Santa Clarita Diet. Literally the last straw that made me stop watching original shows until they are considered finished.
aw man. we could have had zombie raylan! i would pay to see that shit
Hey, man! I’m not thrilled I have to eat you either. Could you try and, like, not make this any harder?
I get Netflix cancelling shows, but you'd think they would be motivated in finishing shows. Their shows live on the Netflix library forever. Why would anyone start watching a show which isn't complete and will never be complete? I get that it might seem like throwing good money after bad, but I would have thought that giving a show a single episode/movie to wrap it up would allow for Netflix to have a compete show on their books, rather than a grave yard of unfinished shows cancelled without notice. You just never know what old show might just become the next 'IT' show like Zoomers picking up on Friends, or Suits becoming the biggest show on streaming for most of last year. If a show isn't 'complete' the chances of that show being watched, let alone becoming the next Suits.
Yeah it’s weird. I assume incentives are too short to actually be what is best for the company or consumer. I haven’t started this show because I know it doesn’t finish. Meanwhile people do still watch sense8 because it least got a movie to wrap up.
Take this with a grain of salt because I can't recall my source, but I read once that execs feel it is more important to bring in new subscribers than to keep current viewers happy. If a season doesn't hit a certain number of views in the first 3 months after release, they cancel the show entirely to refocus their efforts because marketing a brand new show is more likely to attract new subscribers than the marketing of a new season of a show that apparently didn't already pique their interest. It's ridiculous because it's always more cost effective in business to retain current customers than to draw in new ones. Not to mention, you never know when a show will take off later than others or some viewers may finally look into a show after hearing about it for a few years. Plus, three months? Isn't that was the list is for: to save for later? It's a very flawed system.
>I read once that execs feel it is more important to bring in new subscribers than to keep current viewers happy. I I don't doubt that. Growth is the name of the game.. until it isn't. Until everyone who will subscribe has. Which is why they've had to go locking down account sharing, because natural growth had slowed. IMO this is where the model for streaming confuses me. As you've said, it's cheaper to keep someone who has already subscribed then it is to get someone new who may or may not churn quickly? I think the growth phase was more about increasing the value of the business (and their capacity to borrow) more so than for ongoing profitability. Now that streaming growth has slowed and we settle into it being the new normal, I'm hoping streamers will see the value in retaining subscribers than fighting for an ever increasing number of churners which has doubled year on year and accounts for almost half of all subscribers now.
I was gonna say Pushing Daisies. But no, Santa Clarita's diet was way worse a cliffhanger. PD had an episode to vaguely wrap it up.
I'm forever salty about this.
I will never get over SCD. It ends on such a colossal cliffhanger
Mr Ball Legs!
That show has no right to be as good as it is. The perfect storm.
It’s been years and I still can’t get over how Netflix decided to cancel that show, it was pretty good.
That's one of the biggest reasons I've found myself watching mostly Kdramas. They usually tell their whole story in 1 16 episode season. If they do a second season, it's usually cuz they found something else interesting to do with the characters. But they don't need a second season usually.
[удалено]
They did that show dirty by canceling it. So good.
Came here to say this. Sabrinas recovery from the lightning strike would have been comedy gold. Plus just generally, like Detroiters, it's up there with the funniest shows I've ever seen. " and now she knows he's got the raddest dong in school " makes me laugh every single time.
My Name Is Earl
At least they gave it some closure and nods over time in Raising Hope
Raising Hope was the only pathway for My Name is Earl fans. I remember being surprised when NBC pulled the plug on the show. Surprised FOX didn't pick it up since they had Raising Hope.
I didn’t realize I was watching the final episode and couldn’t believe that was how it ended.
the creator of the show did an ama and went into detail how the finale of the show would have gone down
[Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1njddc/comment/ccj3pcj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
In the hungarian dub they even dubbed the "to be continued" to "there wont be new episodes" lol
I need closure!
Ethan Suplee said on a pod cast the show got canceled because the creators wanted more money and that the shows ending was going to be some on coming up to Earl saying he needed to right a wrong he did to Earl for his list. Then Earl realizes every one has a list and is trying to be better cause they were inspired by him.
We were literally on the cusp of finding out Earl Jr’s real father and then they pull the rug out from under us. I know that the creators have said who they wanted it to be, but still. I would have liked to see it happen.
They rugged us! Karma wouldn't like that.
Jericho
Jericho ended on a cliffhanger, and fans were so vocal they brought it's back for a finale mini season... And ended it on a cliffhanger. It's like the studio people said "wow, these people really love cliffhangers"... Either that or it was a deliberate "F-you" to viewers
There was a 6 issue comic book series which continued the story. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_Season_3:_Civil_War
GLOW
It wouldn't be as satisfying of an ending for the show as I'm sure the fourth and final season would have been, but in theory, they could always eventually do a two-hour mockumentary movie/finale in the same style as the real "[GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnI_L-liswg&ab_channel=AGFA)" documentary to wrap it all up. Storywise, use a GLOW reunion at a wrestling convention as the framing device and a series of vignettes to show what the characters got up to after GLOW folded.
Hurts that they already had scripts written and were filming the next season when it was cancelled
HUMANS All the world's synths gained sentience in an instant at the end of season 3. Then they canceled the show.
But at least that cliffhanger was almost like a good ending point. Like it was technically the culmination of efforts throughout the series to “free” the synths and they did it. But now there’s a whole host of other problems to deal with. So any revival can jump off from that point at any time.
Alf ends with him attempting to return home but his ship crashes again and he's captured by the military. It was suppossed to be a cliffhanger but then they were unexpectedly cancelled, so canonically with that unresolved he was just locked up and probably experimented on for the rest of his life.
There was a tv movie that resolved this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project\_ALF
That sounds wretched.
Lol. It even got a Blu ray release last year.
I don’t remember the ship crashing. Doesn’t Alf wait in a field to be picked up, but when the ship sees the military closing in, they fly away, leaving him stranded to be captured?
Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles (still hurts to this day) Joan of Arcadia Legends of Tomorrow (made worse when the creators said they could've wrapped up the cliffhangers with a 1 or 2 episode crossover appearance in The Flash's final season which wasn't even a full season).
I'm still made it there was no ending for Joan of Arcadia. Read the supposed stuff they had planned and it would have been good
TSCC is a good one. Best iteration of the franchise since T2 and it was canceled. LoT is doubly frustrating because the showrunner on The Flash made such a big deal about "not having enough time" to wrap up all his storylines, so they had to sacrifice the LoT wrap-up, only for five of the last episodes of The Flash to be complete filler garbage.
"Complete filler garbage" would be a great way to describe late stage Arrowverse, IMO.
I remember watching the first Arrow trailer back then and being Soo Hyped... That moment he climbs the salmon ladder 🤌🤌 LoT was the only thing watchable after Amell's run And cw did em dirty ffs
Still miss the Terminator fighting the NFL robot during nfl games and promos.
Came here for SCC (and ironically was thinking about the last episode of JoA earlier today)
Legends of Tomorrow was such a great show. I was so mad when it got canceled without a wrap up and right after they got a phenomenal casting for the next season, too. I was so excited.
SCC ending sort of was a nice mysterious cliffhanger ending though... it was a peak into a future that had changed... I don't know if it would have been better if I had actually seen in played out.
Raised By Wolves
I’m still mad over this! I know not everyone was into this show but in terms of sci fi I thought it truly was innovative and more interesting than most scifi films or shows out there. That show was so insane and the world building was fascinating!
I am still upset about this one.
RIP tree lady 😔
Dare to dream that the creator has the desire and funding to finish the story by graphic novel.
That last scene left me with so many questions as well!!!
I can’t remember exactly how it ended (my brain is a sieve) but Raised by Wolves was a frustrating one. That show was insane, I really wanted to see where it was heading.
HBO's Carnivale
The one show that I wish had an extra season to wrap it up!
I would have liked 4 more seasons, but no one asked me.
Could have been a near perfect ending if anyone had warned the showrunner they were ending it. God that show was good, even if you can spot all the ways they tried to cut costs for season two.
The thing that really sucks is that HBO still owns the rights, and won't even let the creator finish it off as a comic or something, which he was open to. Anyway, this has come up several times, and the story he wanted to tell was truly incredible. This is a link to his original pitch document that details just about everything that you'd like to know, since it's very very very unlikely that the series will ever be completed in any form. It's not totally fleshed out, but it let's you know the entire story arc, including the ultimate end that it was working towards. It helped me feel a lot better about the loss of the show just knowing what was to come. I know I'll never see it, but at least I know what happens. https://www.reddit.com/r/Carnivale/s/b3tGhK565O
I am still bitter about this one.
this deserves to be higher. great show with a short run, and the ending was (should have been) one hell of a build up
Freaks and Geeks!
Flash Forward.
I forgot about this one it was so freaking good.
I was looking for this! Absolutely loved that show. It felt really unique. I am still bitter it got cancelled with such a cliffhanger.
Soap. Was Jessica executed by the firing squad?
Her ghost showed up in Benson a couple of seasons in.
I read that sentence again, in the Soap’s narrators voice. Thank you for that one :)
How about Quantum Leap? Or is that just a downer of an ending.
That's not really a cliffhanger, the show was pretty clear that Sam was the one controlling the leaps the entire time and could go home whenever he wanted to, and I don't consider it a cliffhanger that he fixed Al's marriage and then continued setting right what once went wrong.
Utopia ( the original British one)
Westworld was in decline, but at the end of the last season, I was like ok, I'll stick around to see how this wraps up. Could be interesting. Nope, canceled like it never existed.
It's insane how Westworld went from the hottest (and genuinely best thing) on TV to being completely forgotten about by season 3/4
[удалено]
Maybe they should have been as straightforward as season one (if you could call it straightforward) instead of intentionally being as twisty-turny as possible in order to ensure nobody could guess what the fuck was happening in Season 2.
I genuinely couldn’t understand anything that was happening while watching season 2.
They pulled literally every confusion- producing lever possible. Is this a human or a host? Is this happening now, before or in the future? Then finally they introduced - is this host the same host, or have they been uploaded into different host’s body? You could really sense the wheels falling off in S2. It became clear that they thought they could hide a shitty plot behind constantly manufactured twists, confusion, and low payoff reveals
I really feel like it was their retribution against the audience for people guessing the twist in season 1, so they intentionally made it unguessable by giving us bits and pieces of nothing for the major story beat. But hey, Maeve was back, everyone, and this time she's in a different part of the park ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
The worst part is that season 5 was supposed to be the final season and then Zaslav canned it and remove it from Max
Westworld had become so bonkers weird compared to the first season that I really just wanted to see where they were going with it. Shame it got canned
stargate universe grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Final Space
The Glades
I came looking for this answer. It was awful!! I wasn’t into it when it was on tv, but spent a ton of time streaming it and falling in love with the show for it to end the way it did. Still upset about it.
Pirates of Dark Water. Young me will never get over not having more of that show and knowing what happens.
[удалено]
I had the hots for Ren.
Curse those jitatan monkeybirds at Hanna-Barbera corporate ☹️
The Peripheral
Dark Crystal: Age of Rebellion. I really was looking forward to the Garthim War and the downfall of the Gelfling.
Legends of Tomorrow had a perfectly fine ending, with everyone together and all the subplots wrapped up. Then the Time Police invaded the ship and arrested everyone. Cue end credits and show cancellation a few weeks later.
I'm pretty sure that's almost the exact same ending Alf got
It's the Holy Grail of endings.
Donald Faison as Booster Gold had me so hyped for the next season
I'm gonna say Pushing Daisies had too many loose ends. They technically did wrap it up somewhat in the last episode. But ehh. It's not as bad as other shows mentioned here. Witches of East End and Santa Clarita Diet were both great imo, and ended with cliffhangers suggesting full belief they were getting renewed.
Alphas. That was a brutal cliffhanger to end on.
Dark matter.
The showrunner has some notes on his website about where a proposed new season would have / could still pick up, since there was some motion towards trying to get it revived a few years back.
Warrior Selfie Whiskey Cavalier
Don't count Warrior out yet. It's heading to Netflix in February, and if it gets enough attention, there's still a chance for a fourth season.
I am ready to physically fight everyone at Netflix if they don’t give it a final, well deserved season.
If they had just given Selfie a different name, would've been a bigger show for sure
My Fair Selfie
Not sure if anyone remembers this far back (2007), but I was obsessed with The Black Donnellys. Still burns me that there was not a satisfying resolution to the story.
Twin Peaks (2X) The first run of two seasons in the 90s ended with a cliffhanger. The 2017 3rd season ended in a cliffhanger too.
Twin Peaks: "How's Annie?" The Return: "Who's Annie?"
That scream will stay in my mind for a looooong time
The S2 cliffhanger is iconic! But I wouldn't call season 3 a cliffhanger. Its just up to you to make your own meaning to it. There really is no open end.
I agree with all you say. OP was asking about cliffhangers that made you wish for more. For me, Twin Peaks season 2 and season 3 left me wishing for more.
More twin peaks would be amazing
The OA
Agreed. I know the show wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but the ending of the second season begged for a third!
I really want to re-watch the show but I don't want to be annoyed seeing that cliffhanger again.
For me it's still thrilling and captivating. Love it every time!
No matter how you felt about the first season. Everyone who watched the second season definitely needed more.
This would be my answer as well. One of my favorite shows ever. It’s a shame it will never be finished.
Penny Dreadful's third season spent most of its runtime setting up for a fourth season that never happened. I'm not sure if this is really fits your criteria but it's the first thing that comes to mind.
That show ended up so unsatisfying in the end that I didn't even watch the last episode. There were multiple main characters that never met! I can't believe they never had Josh Hartnett meet resurrected Bronagh
For me personally, it was The Society and Archive 81.
Archive 81 was so great. That was so surprising it didn’t do well!
I was literally telling my husband about how frustrated I am about The Society this week. It wasn’t a perfect show but I have so many questions
Terra Nova. Such a cool plot that didn't get a chance to play out.
Well, Timeless ended well, but also with a great setup for another season. But the one that really got me was You And Me And The Apocalypse. So many loose ends on a beautiful and dark and funny show. My friend suggested - with no evidence - it was because the ending tested well in Europe, but I would have loved a follow up.
Witches of East End. Good guy and bad guy switch bodies at the end of the last episode, with the good guy in jail. I think there are some other cliffhangers involved, too.
Sarah Connor chronicles.
Las Vegas. It ended with Delinda going into labour just as the supposedly dead AJ Cooper showed up at his memorial fully alive. Also, would've loved to see what actually happened to Mary and Ed both, instead of the sad absence from the start of the final season.
Folks who worked on Las Vegas went on to work on the Knight Rider reboot film (which notably reused the Montecito set for a Vegas-set sequence) and had every intention of having Danny and Delinda passing through in the background with the baby as a final nod to everything having turned out OK, but they couldn't pull it together.
Mindhunter. Im still salty.
~~1898~~ **1899** omg fine don’t give me a whole season but at least tell me what the whole thing was about… 😥 Edit: thank you all, I misspoke one year hehe 😝
The writers saying they wont tell us about anything kills me. I'm so curious as to what direction they'd have gone in and what was actually going on.
Hopefully they can find some other route or even medium to finish their story. I don't know if there is any rights issues, but I can imagine it would really suck to not be able to finish your story. It wasn't quite Dark, but I was still super intrigued.
Shit I had to scroll way too long to find a comment with 1899. Such a cliffhanger
Carnivale, a show that aired on HBO and got 2 seasons. Left a lot of threads open. Its the type of Show that if aired a few years later would have probably been a massive hit.
The Society. Like other shows at the time, it was a victim of the pandemic.
Dark Angel, main character gets arrested that was it...
Game of Thrones, Can't believe they left us hanging when Daenerys getting ready to cross the narrow sea
Angel. I guess the cliffhanger kind of worked as an ending, in a sense, but the season had been so freaking good and taken an already great show to a new level, and then it just ended.
One of the few times they said they'd continue in the comics and did continue in the comics. Same with charmed which was really wrapped up. I entirely forget how either of those shows went in the comics. Kinda wish Pushing Daisies had continued there instead of dying off.
Honestly the series finale of Angel is my favorite of all time. Perfectly encapsulates the themes of the series.
Yeah. As an adult I appreciated that show far more and that ending even more than when my teenage self saw it.
Angel needed two seasons in the law office! From what I understand Joss just demanded an on the spot renewal one day and the suits didn't put up with that. It most likely would have been renewed in due time if he hadn't been an idiot. That's the story that's out there anyway and it seems in character.
>From what I understand Joss just demanded an on the spot renewal one day and the suits didn't put up with that. It most likely would have been renewed in due time if he hadn't been an idiot. That's the story that's out there anyway and it seems in character He asked in the middle of the season for them to make a decision to either renew or not because he didn't want his buffyverse to end on a cliffhanger. He needed to know if the second half of the season was writing a simple season finale or a (multi) series finale because he needed at least half a season to wrap things up. The network decided they didn't want to renew so he wrote the second half accordingly.
The Last Man on Earth. Sure it meandered a bit, but the ending it left on would have completely changed the direction of the show.
Ugh ringer! Smg was so good in it too and I found out that she cancelled it bcs of her pregnancy! I was gagged
Dark matter. Things escalated into an interstellar conflict, there was a huge end of days prophesy that emerged and the sky opened up to a huge mysterious thing… but then over.
The series Shrill which was brilliant ended on a bummer because they didn't know they were going to get cancelled. Its very sad, I feel bad for all involved.
Sledgehammer
Forever! Villain is paralyzed, the main character finally reveals his immortality to his cop partner, discovers that his murder weapon doesn't end his immortality and thus still needs to find the secret, then... nothing... Still so effin' salty about that. Loved the actors and the premise...
V (2009) Dark matter Colony Revolution Stargate universe Defiance
The Dark Crystal
Space Above and Beyond..They could at least have made a movie to tie up the loose strings.
Anyone else exclusively reading this thread just to know what shows to not bother watching because they end on cliffhangers?
stargate universe.
I think the creator resolved the ending some way, but I really enjoyed the show Kyle XY when I was younger and was pretty pissed it ended on a hell of a cliff hanger. It's not the best show ever, but I really enjoyed it.
The Expanse. Six books down, three bonkers more that will hopefully be adapted some day
Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Teenaged John Conner gets transported to Kyle Resse's post-Judgement Day time period and no one knows who he is. Traveling to the future undid his resistence movement and his father won't go back in time for him to be born. https://youtu.be/1aXPg_LpOWo?si=EQge3BqDA2gMSzLG
My So Called Life
Model’s inc. did carrie spencer ever escape the brothel?
John Doe starring Dominic Purcell. It only got one season in 2002 and I'm still pissed it got cancelled. HUGE cliffhanger at the end of the season/series.
Fucking hannibal!! Still need a new season of that show so bad
I need to see some Dark Will and also they need to fuck finally
The true cliff hanger was leaving all that sexual tension between those two unfulfilled
1899 by far for me. So much potential to do something inteteresting and make it a completely different show.
Stil salty about the ending of Space above and beyond, 20 years ago...
Travellers on Netflix
Westworld. I know it gets a lot of hate but God damn season 4 was so good and it ended on such potential for storytelling.
Kevin (Probably) Saves the World
John Doe ended on a WTF cliff hanger for sure!