Time to stop watching new 'serialized' TV shows on NBC/ABC.
I know this isn't really 'Ft. Lauderdale' based…but I must vent. ABC and NBC keep scratching their heads on why they are losing viewers to cable TV. Well, when you cancel a heavily serialized show without a proper ending to the story, you've disrespected a large portion of your viewers.
NBC is the King of this practice. They've fooled me more than once into wasting my time:
Remember 'Surface'? That Sea-Monster type Sci-Fi drama a few years back? It took the whole season to get to point that was really interesting. The cliff-hanger was that the earth was flooded and these monsters were everywhere. No season two.
Then came Heroes. It was a huge hit for NBC in its first season. Then the dreaded 'writers strike' got in the way of its Second Season. They could never seem to regain the magic and the story kind of lost its way. The last season was weak….BUT, they never really ended the show in a way that left you satisfied. The 'secret' of where everyone's powers came from was never really revealed.
Now there is 'The Event'. They advertised the heck out of this show. While it could move along a little faster…it's not a bad show. It's finally getting good as we are headed to the 'Season Finale'. Well, news recently came out that this will be it for 'The Event'. It was cancelled. While we have yet to see the finale next week…I'm guessing there is some sort of cliff-hanger that doesn't wrap up the story.
I'm now done with NBC drama's.
ABC is treading on ice. While they have wrapped up cancelled TV Shows perfectly…they recently cancelled a show that left a huge Cliff-Hanger… 'V'. They tried and tried with this show and just when it got really good at the end of Season 2…'whack'. Cancelled. No ending…no resolution…no satisfaction for 2 seasons of watching.
I'm really hoping that ABC doesn't make this a habit. They did a great job ending Lost (signing a multi-year renewal to allow the writers time to end the story) and even the short-lived Mission to Mars (that was a weak ending…but still…an ending). I didn't watch the end of Flash Forward…so not sure if they wrapped it up with an end…or a cliff-hanger.
The bottom line is…if you expect for your viewers to invest time in a show…you need to assure them they will not be left at the end of the road with nothing. If you 'ax' a show like this…plan a 2 hour movie tie-up. You owe your viewers that much.
NBC is the King of this practice. They've fooled me more than once into wasting my time:
Remember 'Surface'? That Sea-Monster type Sci-Fi drama a few years back? It took the whole season to get to point that was really interesting. The cliff-hanger was that the earth was flooded and these monsters were everywhere. No season two.
Then came Heroes. It was a huge hit for NBC in its first season. Then the dreaded 'writers strike' got in the way of its Second Season. They could never seem to regain the magic and the story kind of lost its way. The last season was weak….BUT, they never really ended the show in a way that left you satisfied. The 'secret' of where everyone's powers came from was never really revealed.
Now there is 'The Event'. They advertised the heck out of this show. While it could move along a little faster…it's not a bad show. It's finally getting good as we are headed to the 'Season Finale'. Well, news recently came out that this will be it for 'The Event'. It was cancelled. While we have yet to see the finale next week…I'm guessing there is some sort of cliff-hanger that doesn't wrap up the story.
I'm now done with NBC drama's.
ABC is treading on ice. While they have wrapped up cancelled TV Shows perfectly…they recently cancelled a show that left a huge Cliff-Hanger… 'V'. They tried and tried with this show and just when it got really good at the end of Season 2…'whack'. Cancelled. No ending…no resolution…no satisfaction for 2 seasons of watching.
I'm really hoping that ABC doesn't make this a habit. They did a great job ending Lost (signing a multi-year renewal to allow the writers time to end the story) and even the short-lived Mission to Mars (that was a weak ending…but still…an ending). I didn't watch the end of Flash Forward…so not sure if they wrapped it up with an end…or a cliff-hanger.
The bottom line is…if you expect for your viewers to invest time in a show…you need to assure them they will not be left at the end of the road with nothing. If you 'ax' a show like this…plan a 2 hour movie tie-up. You owe your viewers that much.
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