When Should a TV Show End?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- When should a TV Show End? Some of the best TV shows ever made end poorly, some don't seem to end at all. But does having too many episodes of a once-great comedy series detract from its excellence? Is ending a show early the safest bet for it to satisfy viewers? In this video essay, we take a look at how a TV show gets made, why tv shows get cancelled, question whether a TV show is more entertainment or art, examine some of the biggest TV series finales and critique philosophies of famous show creators.
PATREON: / justanobservation
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References: The Simpsons, South Park, The Office, The Office (UK), Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty, Arrested Development, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Family Guy, SWAT, CSI, CSI Miami, Grey's Anatomy, ER, Frasier, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, True Detective, Prison Break, Lost, Coronation Street, Days of our Lives, Malcolm in the Middle, Space Jam, Community, Fawlty Towers, Peep Show, House, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, American Dad, Cold Case, The Sopranos, Golden Globes 2010
Sources:
screenrant.com/tv-success-rat...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televis...
ew.com/movies/2018/02/06/game...
variety.com/2019/film/news/ga...!
screenrant.com/friends-reunio...
screenrant.com/breaking-bad-s...
www.usatoday.com/story/entert...
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:09 Different Types of TV
5:14 How a Show is Created
8:18 Is TV Art?
11:20 Creator Philosophies on Ending a Show
14:24 Closing Statement
#tv #friends #simpsons - บันเทิง
I think breaking bad hits the right formula. It ended after its intended arc, but then had spin offs that explored other character arcs.
heh, formula
nice pun
we still wanted more.
@@radiacia_3511 should've added chilli p
End on a high note!
@@gustavofring9769 Tell me, Señor Fring, does the mere thought of a ringing bell... ring any bells for you?
The Office is the perfect example of a show that had a clear place where it should have ended but just kept going.
same with scrubs
@@krishan736 well scrubs ended. then it restarted lol. The ending (real ending) was perfect
Walking dead too. That lasted waaaay too long
What’s worse: Season one or the last two seasons?
Honestly, I don't feel like the Office suffered that much for the extra three seasons, and I will go so far as to say it was worth it for the Schrute Wedding finale.
Writing is usually better when there’s an overall plan for the story.
keyword usually, it was always planned for [HIMYM SPOILER] ted to get with robin in the end and that ending is almost universally hated
@@tristan4206 that its because the show lasted 9 seasons and characters changed so that ending after season 7 didn t make sense anymore and they should have adapted the ending to the character devepolement and story, also spending a entire season on a weekend of the wedding just for the characters to divorce 10 minutes in the next episode that they married its ridiculous
Except for Episodic shows. They can end whenever they want
@@diogomarques9228 this. The alternate ending is an improvement as it avoids the ted/robin endgame but it fails to rectify the divorce
@@obitosenju3768 eh, even episodic shows have character development anf at times a loose serialized plot that they have to take into account before wrapping up
I still can’t believe the ending of Game of Thrones was fumbled so badly. A decade of top-tier cultural relevance evaporated in about a month. The show has disappeared from the mind of the public almost completely, which is so wild considering that GoT had some of the highest high moments in television history.
So true😢
Although true, GOT did leave me such a Jon Snow fan that every movie I see Kit Harrington is just a "Jon Snow side story". Kit Harrington is British Mi5 Agent? That's just Jon Snow future adventure. Kit Harrington in Pompeii?? AGAIN, just Jon Snow in some adventure while on the way to King's Landing. Kit Harrington as the Black Knight??? OF COURSE HE IS!! That's who Jon Snow evolved into!!
honestly they could still be milking it if they had just left it without an ending due unfinished source material
Show watchers think Season 8 ruined the show. Book readers know it had been off the rails since Season 5
@@LordSluggo God yes, I tried to stay positive, but when that Sand Snake told Bronn(you know, the amoral, grubby sellsword) that he wanted a good girl but needed the bad poosy I realised the showrunners were morons who'd been carried by the source material and were about to fall flat on their faces when they tried to actually create anything.
I stuck with it until halfway through season 7, then I gave up, and I've never felt the slightest interest in watching that last 1½ season or rewatching any of the previous seasons. Hell, 90% of the Game of Thrones fanfiction "fix-it" stories out there are better than the last few seasons of the show! 😄
Honestly when Breaking Bad ended, I truly felt like there was no more way to say. I was content with the arcs the characters had taken, what was said was said, and what I truly wanted was just more content from Vince Gilligan. That said, I loved El Camino!
Better Call Saul is great. In some ways it's better than Breaking Bad; it may not have as many action thrills like robbing a train, but there's deeper character dimensions and stuff.
@@MorningsInTheMorning better call saul is the best tv show rn
@@SuperBrosHQ True!
@@MorningsInTheMorning Better Call Saul is infinitely inferior to Breaking Bad, they tried tho 🤷♂️
@@eduardogarciamejia5033 This is a case where I really do consider them one show, though.
Game of Thrones is such a fascinatingly weird example, because it violates all the usual rules of Seasonal Rot. The problem wasn't longevity, but the opposite.
Here's what really bugs me, why didn't the showrunners just hand it off to someone else? If the show got worse then people would say that it was because they left, and if it remained good or got better then people would say that it was because of the strong foundation that they built, instead they stayed on the show and ran it so poorly that they destroyed both the show's credibility and their own.
@@holdingpattern245 Better an empty house than an angry Tennant.
@@holdingpattern245That's not how Hollywood douchebags work.
Breaking Bad, The Good Place, and Six Feet Under ended at just the right time for me. I loved that Breaking Bad was able to create the brilliant Better Call Saul as well. Fantastic, writing, casting, directing and cinematography. Everyone involved with these shows deserve tremendous credit.
The final episode of Six Feet Under was perfect.
@@richardrose2606 Completely agree with you. That's when I discovered Sia. What a magnificent song she performed with "Breathe Me".
Personally I felt The Good Place had a phenomenal start but quickly felt like it was going through the motions beginning with Seasons 2 and 3. I felt like the idea that was so strong for the first season had diminishing returns and following seasons were just rehashed but worse versions of the first. But that's just me
@@davidanderson_surrey_bc I love that song from Sia. The music used in the show was perfect . It's one of the few shows where all the technical elements: sound design, lighting, cinematography, writing, directing and acting were perfect. A rare occurrence.
Even though 6FU has one of the best finales, I think it overstayed it welcome by about 1 or 2 seasons
As soon as a series involves a character getting pregnant (having a baby) or the will-they-won't-they relationship results in a wedding - you can taste the desperation.
Great analogy with the Mona Lisa. GoT has to be the worst offender of poor execution on ending a show. Breaking Bad ended on a high note, though I think they could have benefitted from another half season of episodes.
Yeah the final season and the finale was just so bad I can't even watch the show anymore 😬🤯😵🤪🥶😠😡🤬
@@matttisdell2455 bro this is the most unpopular and shitty opinion I've ever heard about the breaking bad ending
@@matttisdell2455 I think the thing everyone loves about the ending is that it didn’t so either of those things. It ends in a cruel but just bitter sweet way where no one really wins and everyone is shaken by the consequences of Walts actions over the last 2 years. But, nonetheless, he achieves the initial goal of providing money to his family, avenges Hank and sets Jesse free. The way I see it is that with a show like breaking bad, it’s the ending it deserved, but still one that satisfies and (as much as it could) rounds everything up.
@@matttisdell2455 you have possibly the worst take on the ending of breaking bad
Nah, Breaking Bad's last season is literally the best television I've ever seen. They ended the show as perfectly as they could've.
breaking bad has set the bar so high
I almost commented “*Sopranos” but I realized that your comment is actually right. Sopranos was on HBO, a premier channel where high quality product is expected. The fact BB aired on AMC is why it had/has such a strong impact on TV now. There’s no excuse anymore. It is not “impossible” to deliver top tier tv on cable.
No it didn't. Mad Men did. Breaking Bad just has explosions so it gets more credit.
It’s cause the had a plan & stuck to it
The final season was wholly unnecessary.
@@JesseBrown-qf6zp i will never understand that opinion. Season 4 ends with the flower, Walt tricked jesse and killed Gus, and thats it? No follow up to Hank being correct? No Mike coming back for blood? No follow up to Walter having cancer and the obvious covering up of Gus' empire? It would have been insane to end the show there
I think HOW the show ends is inextricably tied to how long it should last. As GoT proved, if you get the how wrong you can seriously damage the better seasons retroactively. I think the audience will more readily forgive a show in decline that still manages occasional greatness if the end is satisfying than a show that tries to wrap up while everyone still loves it but then kills that love with a horrible end.
4-5 seasons is a golden ratio
I think you're oversimplifying a bit. Purely episodic shows can and should go on a bit longer. Plus, even in serialized shows the story being told can vary greatly in length.
Only for a prestige drama, not for a sitcom or sci-fi drama or procedural.
The Good Place agrees
I would say 7-8 when it caMe to two and half men !!
And only do more if you have more ideas. The problem is most of the showrunners who do more than 5 seasons have no ideas and are just dragging it on for more money.
British shows tend to stick with the initial creator and writing team and end when they want to so there tends to be shorter and less seasons and more consistent tone and humour
Can you imagine how bad season 15 of "the IT Crowd" would have been?
I've never seen a faster drop off in interest, quality and direction than Heroes season 1 to season 2
On par with game of thrones started so great and then just forgotten
IMHO, that happened in season 3 when they decided to focus on the bad guys. I had really enjoyed the show up to that point and it never really recovered. Sad.
On par with Hannibal season 1 to subsequent seasons, also True Detective and its subsequent seasons.
i remember a nationwide writers strike was a big influence on the quality plummeting. but yeah season 1 was gold.
Amen!! ‘Veronica Mars’ too, great premise and well executed and then it’s like the writers changed or forgot how to tell a believable or compelling story.
Most disappointed I've ever been with a series I was invested in? Game of Thrones. It was the best TV show there has ever been for the first four seasons, so watching it slowly decline in seasons 5 and 6 was painful, and watching it fall off a cliff and rely on CGI, dick jokes and tired old fantasy tropes for the final two seasons was tragic.
Better an empty house than an angry Tenant.
Seasons 1-4 were so good. 5 was fine, lots of character development but besides the battle with the wildlings and the black it was very slow. Season 6 had really good moments but was overall not great. Then seasons 7-8 were just really dreadful
@@johnnewman1910 Season 5 was where the writing quality started to drop. I noticed it literally a few minutes into the first episode of season 5 when Tyrion and Varys were conversing - it felt like they fired the old (good) writers and hired new (worse) writers to save money.
Season 5 was also when they began relying on tired old tropes, like popular characters the audience loves being in danger but being saved at the last moment.
Also Dorne. The Dorne plotline was just pointless, poorly written, and in many instances poorly acted. The only person from Dorne anybody cared about was Oberyn, who was probably one of the top 5 best characters in the show, and he died in season 4. Cercei and Jaime's daughter who was in Dorne was a throwaway character that literally nobody cared about (I can't even remember her name!) so the audience didn't give a shit if she was rescued or not. The Dornish king who got assassinated by the Sand Snakes was a throwaway character that nobody cared about (I can't even remember his name!) so him dying is supposed to be this big deal political play except nobody cares because nobody cares about him, and nobody cares about the Sand Snakes who killed him because they were just annoying characters that nobody cared about (I can't even remember their names!).
So the whole thing is supposed to set up some big deal Cersei revenge plot against Dorne and the Sand Snakes except nobody was invested in it at all because nobody cared about the princess, nobody cared about Dorne and nobody cared whether the Sand Snakes lived or died because it was all just so poorly written.
Nah dude, season 5 was a bad sign of bad things to come in the following seasons. Wasn't season 5 also the season where Arya got her Faceless Men "training" which consisted of washing corpses and learning how to sell cockles and clams? Then she got stabbed in the stomach (certain death in those days / in that world) but was still able to escape, get back to health in like 2 days, then be able to escape from a chase and somehow still win a fight against a far more experienced killer? Just another example of tired old tropery creeping in to GoT in season 5. "Everyone likes Arya so she has to always win, even when the deck is stacked extremely heavily against her."
@@johnnewman1910 Imo, 5,6,7, and 8 are all equally bad in writing quality, but it gets easier to notice as the seasons go on since the events get more important, so people pay attention to the problems more.
IE nothing in season 8 is written much worse than Dorne in season 5, but not many people cared about Dorne so not many noticed or cared about the horrible writing.
@@johnnewman1910 Out of curiosity if there had been eight books to begin with, do you think a seventh and eighth season could have turned out better?
Gravity Falls is another great example of a show that was a perfect story arc that ended just right.
yeah the ending was perfect but i think its the only show with a great ending if they continued would still being really good because i feel there are still things they could explore also the thing saying see you next summer, feels like its a setting a new season, but yeah its better end on a higher note than drag for too long
Aren't they bringing it back?
it's also cool how it truned from being episodic to an actual story and turned from pure entertainment to like actual art
@@BurdenErnie1
Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch has said he doesn’t want it to come back. He said he and his team were pretty exhausted after season 2.
What absolutely kills me is Disney Channel was about to make another slam dunk like Gravity Falls with Owl House, but then decided to severely truncate its final season.
Better Call Saul ending was also perfect time-wise. These guys really know how to do it, huh
The Sopranos and Breaking Bad two of the best drama shows ever made, had the best endings.
I would add Better Call Saul now, too otherwise I totally agree.
Better call saul deserves more love :(
@@Kerminator-nb1gh oh i should've tag the other reply about bcs. I replied to him
It's important *financially* for shows to end at the right time, too. If a show finishes too late (Homeland, extended years beyond the original premise) or too soon (Westworld, axed 4/5ths of the way through the planned story), it becomes harder to recommend and less rewatchable. Fewer merch sales, DVD sales, overseas licencing fees and potentially an impact in the network/streamer's audience retention.
Protecting a show's legacy is critical. It's worth taking a hit in the short term to ensure that the show can be a bigger earner in perpetuity.
Westworld definitely ended too quickly but by the third season the writing got bad. The first seasons had lots of philosophical areas to explore and questions to ask. The third season was little more than just another soap opera, showing how unimaginative mainslime media has become.
yeah, specially now with streaming in which old shows can still make a lot of money decades after the end closing a show in a high note can make the studio and everyone on it make a lot of money not just now but also in the future.
No such thing as DVD sales anymore
@@limyize okay - DVD, Bluray and purchased streaming, which combined remain a big market. The point was about payable viewing, which is still a long-term lucrative part of a screen media product, rather than the format itself.
You're overthinking this. People will buy DVDs if for the seasons they like. Not to mention, all this is just gravy on top.
The How I met your mother Finale would've been the perfect ending to the show if the show ended like two seasons earlier. Everyone would've loved it, I think. They just dragged the show on for too long so that the big twist at the end didn't work
Yep. I think HIMYM finale bothers me more than GoT or Lost because it was a sitcom. It just needed to be a cute rom-com but tried to epic tragedy.
My late comment is sort of pointless. I agree mostly, Season 8 and 9 were way below the quality of the rest (even if 6 and 7 showed some weakness already). The last two seasons managed to produce multiple bad episodes, something I'd argue the show had never done before.
At the same time I love "How Your Mother Met Me" and a couple of other ones so I am kind of glad they didn't end it sooner.
Same with The Simpsons. I'm still happy for the few great episodes that came out after the golden years despite all the trash in between.
@@the_bottomfragger the mother parts of the story brought into season 7 (including how your mother met me) would've been great
Ending it two seasons later wouldn't have changed a thing, because the finale was preplanned and would have been the same.
HIMYM problem wasn't it's length but the last 10 minutes. Even though they had already filmed the children's reactions it ruined the narrative of the show and imo filming a new finale with the child actors as adults as a gag for how many time Ted had passed telling the story would have been funnier
@@martimoleraijaner8010 my point is the pre planned finale would fit better without the story of the last two seasons
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are still some of the most amazing shows of the past 2 decade
If you are craving for more in that section I can recommend Barry :) It has a different (more dark comedic) tone but also great, well written characters and another direction of that premise, but reversed. A hitman who wants to leave his violent past behind and wants to become an actor. This show is totally underrated, in my opionion.
I never got the buzz about BB. I found it to be unwatchable. Never saw that other show, and barely even knew it existed.
Breaking bad has one of the best endings of a tv show EVER that is a fact. Also the follow up movie el camino that focuses on the aftermath was quite nice.
One of the best examples of a show ending at the right time despite the peak of its popularity is Schitt’s Creek. The show was and is amazing, witty, fun and overall hilarious- and after 6 seasons it came to an end despite its lasting popularity.
this is about as perfect and fair of a distilled sentiment on a specific topic one could expect, nicely done.
The Brits seem to know when to stop a great show. If you haven't heard of "The IT Crowd" I highly suggest it. It was a perfect 4 seasons and ended w/out go into the "ridiculous" zone. Some shows (ex: Lost) don't seem to look for an ending. They have a unique idea but look no further than that. Recently, as many other have, I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed "The Squid Game", but does it need to go on? How long? Only time will tell.
Fawlty Towers, written by and starring John Cleese, ended after 2 series and 12 episodes, 6 per series. The result? It's a hilarious series without any bad episodes.
The Sopranos, The Wire, The West Wing and Justified all bowed out at the perfect time, imo.
The two shows I was gutted to see wrap after just one season were Firefly (yes, I’ve heard about the Disney reboot possibility) and Limitless.
Great essay btw, the quality of this channel belies its Subs…but I’m doing what I can to promote you!
You truly abide
Limitless did go too early.
As for the reboot, well....they usually suck or have to have diversity as their main theme, which ruins the show. Why can't we just go on merit and skill?
So glad to hear someone give Limitless a shoutout. It really did leave too early and had some points go unexplored, but I so appreciate that, all things considered, they still managed to make a pretty satisfying sendoff.
Justified on FX was to me the pinnacle of a show going out on top. It left me wanting more but I understood why 6 seasons were enough and when the protagonist Raylan visits the Antagonist Boyd in the final scene, Boyd asks him why he came all the way back to Kentucky from Florida just to give him a piece of information when a phone call would have been sufficient. Raylan says to him "Because we dug Coal together" as they both worked in the mines of eastern Kentucky as Teenagers. I couldn't help but smile as it faded to black, That was when I knew I hadn't wasted my time getting invested.
I think it’s important to remember that even Breaking Bad’s finale was negatively received by many immediately after it aired. But the further removed from it in time we become, the higher the esteem is in which we hold it. My point being, it’s near-impossible to perfectly stick the landing that is a series’ ending.
was it really? I find it hard to believe
No it wasn't. The overall reaction was immediately overwhelmingly positive, and I remember watching it the week it aired and feeling incredibly satisfied
@@flameracer93 yeah I remember reading a couple articles and talking to several people who felt it was almost corny
@@thesixfootsixexperience8781 art is subjective, right. I'm sure some people felt that the way everything worked out for Walt was too perfect. But overall, I believe it was received very well. It delivered on and wrapped up almost all its emotional throughlines almost perfectly, so audiences were more likely to forgive some inconsistencies in practicality
@@flameracer93 I agree that the finale was solid
I'm coming late to the party, but I still think 'Six Feet Under' had the best-ever series ending. 'Breaking Bad' and 'Mad Men' also knew just when to say 'done'.
This is one of the most thought-provoking videos that I’ve ever watched. I really appreciate your smooth and dynamic presentation, your word choice that perfectly captures what needs to be said, and your final statement that we should appreciate the work that’s gone into any artistic creation (even if we don’t like it as much as we wanted to). I just found your channel and I already know all your other videos will be similarly-high caliber.
Also, can you do videos on Seinfeld and Avatar: The Last Airbender? It may just be me, but I feel like Seinfeld is an exceptionally timeless and consistently high quality show (except for the ending). Avatar also seems somewhat timeless, and it really nailed its ending on the head.
Thanks Adam! I haven’t seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I do love Seinfeld so if I find an angle I’ll make a video one day
@@JustanObservation oh you gotta watch Avatar, it is an absolute masterpiece. There’s a reason it now holds the Netflix record for most consecutive days of being on the top-viewed items list. Fantastic character arcs and extremely sophisticated philosophical/societal topics, as well as very well culturally informed designs. It has a simple and common formula, but it’s flexible and versatile, and it ties up all the necessary loose ends at the conclusion of Book 3.
@@JustanObservation You really need to watch avatar the last airbender, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. It’s a terrific show with brilliant character arcs and a greatly paced story development. The first season is a bit slow and slightly childish but the show wouldn’t be so perfect without it. The third season captures everything you want in a story like it and makes the experience of watching the series so fulfilling. You need to check it out
@@JustanObservation A Seinfeld video would be great
@@abbawada2954 Personally, my favorite season was book 2
Game Of Thrones is a perfect example. Because the ending season(s) are so poor, it devalues the earlier seasons. The final seasons wrap up the plot set in motion at the very start, but because of how those plot lines were delivered it makes the earlier seasons feel completely pointless on rewatch.
It's a real shame.
You're just completely wrong about that. The terrible later seasons don't devalue the earlier seasons in any way at all. That doesn't even make any sense, so no. Just NO
@@juicypineapple6995 Clearly a lot of people agree with me, and it's fine that you don't.
But I honestly do think it devalues the earlier seasons. Where great characters died because they made honest mistakes yet later in the series everyone is coated in plot armour. It honestly reduces the impact of those deaths on rewatch.
Or major plot elements that were built up for years worth of TV only to be resolved by deus ex machina. On rewatch, it's hard to get invested in the threat when in the back of your head your thinking "Oh, they solve this dead easily at the end."
It's a debate and we clearly disagree which is cool.
@@lawrencesmeaton6930 The later seasons are trash, and yet I absolutely LOVE the earlier seasons and I rewatch Game of Thrones almost every year. The only reason you call them ruined is because you have allowed the later seasons to ruin them for you. It's exclusively because of your own way of thinking.
The Earlier seasons have fantastic character development, dynamics, witty and wise lines, an emotionally driven plot that keeps you guessing, shocking deaths and satisfying pay offs.
What Part of that has disappeared? None of it. Go back and watch the earlier seasons again, and you should be able to realise that they are still exactly the same. So no, whoever agrees with you are also wrong. The earlier seasons simply are what they are, and the later seasons don't and can't ruin them ever.
@@juicypineapple6995 I think for many, it's a matter of continuity. How much you are able to compartmentalize the good installments from the bad depends on how interconnected those installments are. I can say I'm a fan of early Simpsons because the episodes are almost all self-contained. The first ten seasons or so were enjoyable for me. I can enjoy all those episodes and simply ignore the later seasons because they have no effect on the early seasons. However Game of Thrones was a building narrative, so the unsatisfactory ending makes the early seasons seem less satisfying to revisit (even if they were in and of themselves very high quality).
I don't like revisiting How I Met Your Mother because they were clearly building toward an ending that I ended up hating. Others were fine with the ending. I hated the Seinfeld finale, but because it was easily detachable from the rest of the episodes, I can still ignore it while enjoying all the previous episodes.
But yes, for many the destination can ruin the journey.
@@angelic5424 I'll tell you what I told him. The early seasons simply are what they are. They are not altered in any way. You should be able to love them and enjoy just as much as you did before season 7 and 8 came out, because they are literally still the exact same seasons. They can only be ruined for you if you allow them to be. This is why I don't.
One good show to take into account on this topic is the multiple "de-boots" of Archer, where they completely upended the central narrative but retained the cast and core traits of the characters. This allowed people to continue enjoying the chemistry and tone they enjoyed without the premise growing too thin.
Archer is awesome. I love how they kept it good for so long. Just upending the whole thing and sending it in New directions works good.
i dont know about that, quite a number of people didn't like the coma seasons. It's when the quality of the show dipped and never recovered imo. While some of the character traits remained the same there was still a change in the personalities and relationship dynamics that just didn't hit the same as pre-coma seasons. I would have preferred another season like "Archer: VIce" where the whole team is thust into a new environment/situation to the pointless coma seasons
I think Breaking Bad is the closest we've gotten to a perfect ending. Maybe Fleabag is another example of leaving the audience wanting more and having the perfect ending. Peaky Blinders is a fantastic show and I'm gonna wait until the finale episode so give my final verdict
It sucked and they're talking about a movie
@@AlbertoFolres I got to watch it and I liked it 😬 I don't think I'll watch the movie unless it's with the original cast.
Vince Gilligan was definitely talking about Walking Dead when he said he didn't want BB to be the show people said "Is that still on" about.
I've been foaming at the mouth for years that Season 5 was the perfect finale for Supernatural. I have friends who liked the later seasons. We eventually agreed that they shouldn't have shown Sam coming back until the Season 6 premiere, so it would have been easier to compartmentalize.
When I first watched Seinfeld's last episode when it was brand new, I hated it just like most everyone else. But having seen it in syndication a few times, I can totally appreciate its brilliance now. It was the perfect call back to all of the previous seasons most quirky moments and characters. And there were no group hugs or lessons learned, nor any other sappy moments, which perfectly showcased the show's whole premise. I think that we were all expecting too much from the last episode at the time, forgetting that it really was a show about nothing.
Even that ending on season 5 or 7 probably would have been stronger (although of course understandable it went on a bit longer).
Crazy how Family Guy has been bad since season 9 ended, Simpsons has been bad for more than half its run at this point, but South Park is still good in season 23 even after withstanding the hiccup of the 2016 election and that bad serialized season
First of all, loved the video - absolutely great work as always. Something you sort of addressed but didn't quite touch on is whether or not the original beloved shows can be diminished by the newer seasons not living up to their promise. Of course you can say "hey, just go back and watch the old episodes" but, personally, I find that my view of older work tends to feel depressing in light of seeing a show devolve into a caricature of itself. When I truly love a show, or a group of characters, it's hard not to have my perceptions tainted once I've seen a show become nothing more than entertainment for entertainment's sake. It might sound pretentious, and I understand that people need to get paid, but it's just my opinion.
Every single show I've ever watched from first to last season went significantly down hill for the last 2 or 3 seasons.
Sherlock, Orange is the New Black, Scrubs, Parks & Recreation, How I met Your Mother, Handmaid's Tale(still going) etc. And I love them all, but the end of each of them got worse somehow. With comedy shows the characters started behaving like parodies of themselves and with drama all the tension disappeared in favor of Hollywood explosions and over the top crap that didn't need to be there.
That's because a show is cancelled after it has 2 or 3 bad seasons.
So true about GoT being kicked out of the zeitgeist, literally the only time the show is mentioned now, it's about how shitty the ending was. Before the show ended, I had rewatched the earlier seasons 3 or 4 times and truly enjoyed it. Since it ended, I haven't even rewatched a minute of the show and it's been 3 years and I can barely see a reason to ever go back and watch it. If you're making a comedy, it is easy to just rewatch the good seasons and skip the bad ones, doesn't work for drama, it makes as much sense as watching 2/3rds of a movie and skipping the third act. Dramas are self-contained stories, even GoT with its many characters is still telling a single story about Westeros so there's no way to find enjoyment in watching up until season 5 or 6 and then just stopping. Somehow I think it would've been easier to rewatch the show if it never ended because you'd at least have your imagination to fill in the gaps but once there's an actual end and it's bad, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth and stains the previous good work that the show did.
That has nothing to do with its drop-off, that's just time. Ask just about any 24-year-old you know about the show Cheers, and they never heard of it.
British Office Nailed It
I love this channel❤️ The way you structure your videos is exceptional.
As a diehard fan of “A Song of Ice and Fire,” “Game of Thrones” makes me physically angry. The way the show runners handled the last THREE seasons (season 6 was just as bad as 7 and 8, it just feels like it’s better because you were still emotionally invested) kills maybe the best 5 seasons of drama ever put out.
There’s this amazing story that essentially doesn’t have an ending- people in the future won’t watch those amazing first 5 seasons because it’s last 3 are THAT BAD.
And worst of all- because of the success of the show, author George RR Martin has had his focus pulled away from his masterpiece- the book series- to work on other projects. This means that perhaps the best fantasy ever told- will NEVER get an actual ending.
They were all bad when one realizes the mental gymnastics the show runners did to break the books into show elements that were nothing like what they should have been.
Constantly clipping off hanging threads of interest from the books into dead end story kn the shows.
What I will never understand because the first book was published before the world expansion, is how long was Theon, to be a ward of the north?
It doesn't make sense.
@@mrillis9259 not being spoon-fed every piece of potential information is not the same as plot holes or hanging threads. There's no need to explain how long Theon was to be a ward in the north because it's not relevant.
I wonder if you're one of those people who complained that Arya was shown at the docks in Essos, talking to ship captains, and then in the next season, appeared in Westeros, without "here is a scene Arya booking passage, here is a scene of Arya on a ship, here is a scene of Arya arriving in Westeros, here is a scene of her planning on executing her revenge, here is a scene..."
What is missing from the story that is presented on the show by not *explicitly* being told the *exact* amount of time that Theon is supposed to be a ward in the north? Nothing. The burden of the wardship and the effect is has on the lives of those involved is fully fleshed out, and that's what's relevant.
GRRM will wank and eat himself to death before you get another paragraph of new ASOIAF material.
Sad because I never saw the show and always wanted to watch it. But now that the ending has made so many people dissatisfied, I almost feel like there’s no point in getting invested in it.
Maybe there was never a good ending. Maybe GRRM was intimidated because he created a huge story and couldn't figure out how to end it, so he passed the blame for it's bad ending to the TV show and just started writing other stuff that was less stressful.
What a discovery this channel. Really looking forward to new videos. Great work so far.
Twin Peaks deserves a mention. Art was a big goal due to David Lynch. Just the audiance was not ready for it. And because of the crazy demand on revealing the killer of Laura Palmer, the channel forced the creator to come up with a solution. But after there was a killer to name, the view count dropped significantly, and the show was cancelled.
But the urge to create something unique in the TV format paved the way for HBO to come up with Oz and than the big 3 (Sopranos, Wire, Six Feet Under) to change series ultimately.
Doesn't matter when it ends, what matters is that the end is satisfying and comes full circle
I beg to differ. I like how the Sopranos ended.
That's so true I like it when a tv series ends full circle with a great ending that actually makes sense 🙂😊🤔🤨
F is for family in a nutshell. It quite literally comes full circle in the last episode and the characters are back to where they are at the start of the first episode.
Otherwise, you could just use the To Love Ru cop out ending of “hahaha I guess thing will never change will they”…which I am weirdly okay with
You have the best observations
Man, this channel is so underrated. You make so many great points here. I especially like the Mona Lisa comparison.
I feel like there's something new that hits with these video essays
Just found your channel I love your deep insight to the study of pop culture and entertainment, as well as the psychological analysis of understanding characters and symbols through a show
Thank you and glad to have you here!
Great video.
I started reading a book awhile back called "Complex TV" about how tv got more experimental in the 90s and 00s. It also discusses how parasocial interaction through th einternet started to shape shows for the first time, so a dedicated audience had more influence over the show than previously possible. Really interesting stuff, Id recommend it.
critiqued
Hope my comment was some solid engagement, blessed be the algorithm.
Almost every good show has their “Jump the Shark” moment where the episodes after this event are never quite as good
This channel is so enjoyable!
I'd say it really depends on the scope of your show:
A huge storyline with multiple plots & arcs like GoT NEEDS to take its time to fully commit & develop those ideas (The war for the iron throne, politics in the North, war vs White Walkers, etc).
A character-focused show like Breaking Bad should plan ahead & end when the main arc reaches its conclusion (Walter's rise, peak & fall in the drug business).
A less focused show like HiMYM or the office should end when the ideas/execution start to fall flat, or when important cast members want to leave
A little known but brilliant show which has stuck with me for years is Orphan Black starring Tatiana Maslany, which in my mind is probably the most perfect example of a drama show across multiple seasons. Every season brings something new to the table, the core concept of of the show is groundbreaking in both idea and execution, the acting and performances are stellar and every character deserves a place with only minimal wasted characters or missed opportunities. From this show alone, Tatiana is wasted on drivel like She-Hulk.
This is the sort of show which knew what it needed to do and gave us just enough for it to feel meaty and satisfying without jumping the shark or outpacing itself.
I think the main reason we as humans usually desire to consume high-quality content is because we know that life is short and time is valuable, so when we commit our time and energy to watching a show and make it a part of our routine it hurts to be left feeling disappointed.
South Park is a fantastic example of a long-running animated comedy which has mostly avoided the common pitfalls that it's contemporaries have. It's evolved over the years and changed with the times, stayed somehow still true to its original concept yet simultaneously adapted to changing times and society to continually suprise us whilst mostly retaining the main core group of characters without becoming a shadow of its former self or becoming a self parody (unlike The Simpsons and Family Guy).
For anyone reading this comment, watch Mr. Robot, it's one of the greatest pieces of art ever created. Beautifully written, acted, directed, and executed. IT has a proper beginning, middle, and end. And it has arguably the greatest ending to any piece of media, ever.
pacing...
I enjoyed the show but damn, it was rough at times.
(and I love me a good slow, deep, intellectual burn)
@@yondie491 I think this mainly applies to season two, now? Mr. Robot is my all-time favorite, and I think it had a slightly too eventful first season, while then shifting to a really slow burn in S2. The overall storytelling as well as S3 and S4 as standalones are peak television, though
Favorite show of all time, happy to see this comment
Yes! Quality over quantity! Balance entertainment with art. Write and create until you see its conclusion or semi conclusion. If you end something on a cliffhanger as a finale, the viewers can, in fact, continue its storyline by writing blogs, short stories, or other and sharing it on social media. That's what imagination is for! 🎥 🎙 📝
Loved this video. Six feet under still is one of my favourite series of all time and had the most perfect ending of any show I've ever watched, I would highly recommend.
Yes they did it was a show that actually had a proper ending unlike with supernatural and lost 😊🙂🤗😠😡🤬🥶
One show I think ended right was Psych. On the final season the characters are aware this isn't gonna last forever, they're moving up in the world or going away. Protagonist Shawn is afraid of all this change like us, but grows to accept it and move on.
Best of both worlds, showrunners should at least give a good "jumping off point". Supernatural has a good first 5 seasons and it tells a complete story and acknowledged by the creator as a jumping off point. You can stick around if you want to have fun but if you want a solid story no hard feelings.
I was hoping he would say something about Lost because everyone knows it for having a "bad" ending although I personally loved it.
The only show I've stopped watching because it got so bad was Orange is the New Black. I lost interest once it got to season 6. Wasn't feeling it at all.
I really liked the ending of Lost too. It could have been better, but it was far from "bad".
Breaking bad and Mad men are the 2 shows that got it just perfect. High quality right up until the end. Horrible misses I thought were Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, The X-Files, Friends, Dexter, and How I met your mother. All shows that were amazing once, but should have ended a few years before they actually did (although TWD is still running obviously). Such a shame, because you always feel the need to add ‘but it sucked after season x’ when you say you like one of those shows.
Great video that helps me understand what works for me and what doesn't. This tells me that I see most things from an artistic perspective and so I tend to be one of those people who starts to dislike shows that go on longer than I wanted. I think it's better to be artistically inclined. Some of my favorite shows are ones where I felt the creators really knew when to end the show.
The Sopranos, Mad Men, Samurai Champloo.
And then I tend to also love shows that seemed to have ended way earlier than they deserved!
American Vandal, Drunk History, Awake.
Some shows I think are good but not great are shows that went on a bit longer than I wanted.
The Office (US), Friends, Stranger Things
I have never seen such a rapid decline in interest when it comes to a TV show than whatever the hell happened to Glee.
Californication's ending. 👎 The show went on too long. Your video on the other hand, was perfect in lenght...and girth. And I like where ever your accent is from. Keep em coming 👍
The show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend absolutely achieved this. It had a 4-season arch planned from the start, but every year there was questions about renewal due to low ratings. Fortunately, the CW kept it as its prestige show and we got to see the entire storyline. I'm a huge fan of the show and loved the ending. I regularly rewatch and get to enjoy the fun songs and the characters' journeys.
Plus the CW will keep any show that still gets 15 viewers
I was listening to the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Soundtrack when i read this comment. It really was a great show.
I thought Futurama had a good ending. This is one of my favorite channels btw, thanks for the video.
Shocked no one has mentioned the Shield. Excellent final episode with a huge, tragic pay-off.
I was waiting for someone to mention The Shield.
Breaking Bad is rightfully mentioned in this thread as taking the right amount of time to tell its story, so here's another show I don't think wore out its welcome: The Wire. 5 seasons looking at 5 aspects, while maintaining a thru line. The ending might turn off some because there's no resolution to the greater story, but I think that's how it was supposed to make the audience feel.
I agree with you; the ending of The Wire was suppose to make the audience feel that way. The whole point of the show is that nothing really changes. Every system works in cycles and every character, whether good or bad, has someone who will take their place. There may be momentary resolutions but the big picture stays the same.
Has anyone here seen mr. Robot? That show deserves respect
Breaking bad has a perfect ending. And it's overall a pretty hard show to compare anything to :D
09:59 low-key that looks amazing and actually a really great idea for a long term art project, have a series of artists who add to a giant canvas other the years and see how art evolves through the centuries
The Seinfeld finale really was the perfect ending...seeing all the wacky characters again and the gang finally going to jail--because they were terrible people! The fact that my family and so many Americans disregard their behavior is rather alarming! 😳.
But people don't deserve to go to jail just for not being nice, and also Jerry and his friends were acting way out of character just so that forced ending could happen.
best ending a bit early, leaving people wanting more than out staying your welcome in my opinion
Excellent, EXCELLENT, insightful and articulate observation. You’ve earned my sub.
Hi there, another great video! My Top 3 TV-Show endings / shows with the right number of seasons are Breaking Bad, Battlestar Galactica and (my personal favorite) Six Feet Under. A TV show about a mortician family, in which death has to be dealt with all the time and at the end of the show we are shown in time jumps how our beloved main characters eventually die too.... That was so sad but also totally logical... .And it was also a final stroke, because there was no one left for another season.
Subscribed from the Breaking Bad video (example of a perfect finale), another great video this is!
The most disappointing ending ever for a show was Dexter, hands down. You think after he sails off into the storm he's sailing off into his death, but no. He's OK. He's a lumberjack. That's right. He's a lumberjack... and he's OK.
But he's lost everything and everyone he cares about. Left his son in the hands of a psycho. Lives a miserable existence. Luckily, the new season sorted things out a bit.
This being said, it was really crap. Dexter should have wrapped in season 4 after Trinity. Every other season baddie paled in comparison and felt like filler to justify the show going on.
@@MrReubenTishkoff I did like Season 5 but mostly because I like Julia Stiles both in general and in the role.
I can't believe you produced this [excellent] video w/o referring to Happy Days and the origin of the phrase, "Jumping the shark." Soooo many shows were driven by the dollar and the showrunners could no longer read the writing on the wall--sadly overstaying their welcome.
Great video with a lot of ideas I haven't thought about before. My usual thoughts on a more episodic show ending mostly come down to whether or not the cast and crew are still invested or believe they can add on to cultural ideas with the show well. Throughout the life of shows, those working behind the scenes will start changing either to different shows and new people will come to replace them with even fans of the early seasons becoming writers for new seasons.
My best personal example would be Star Trek. Most of the shows have different focuses and tones from each other but all still come from the same basic parts of exploring space and ideas on the future. Each show is usually made with a general scenario with the writers doing episodes with what they can add to that idea. I feel that that sort of freedom in not getting stuck to one specific setting or set of characters allow the shows to comment on events both past and current that give the episodes that artistic quality.
I'm wondering how you would see long running anime like OnePiece. It has been running for 20+years/ over 1000 episodes but is still going strong and its plot is still developing.
I think it’s about the same honestly. One of, if not THE biggest points of contention against One Piece is how long it is. As the video stated, if you value entertainment then you will value quantity. Seems like your comments of “still going strong” and a “still developing plot” are positive so you fit there. Those who prefer art will value quality over quantity. I believe AoT is popular for that very reason (ignore leak outrage tho lol)
@@isaaccruz8131 Well in this case the length IS the quality though. If you would significantly shorten the story it would loose a lot of quality (it would take away from the world building and the feel of an epic adventure) and become just mindless entertainment instead of the master piece it is widely considered to be.
@@ldm8393 it’s a quality to YOU, and that’s my point. I’m telling you, the length of one piece is what makes it breaks it for people.
@@isaaccruz8131 I'm not arguing that some might find the show to long. It is a really long show after all. My point is that OnePiece is a unique blend of the more artful drama/thriller show, with pre-defined beginnings,middles and ends, clear goals, over-aching plot progressions and artistic integrity. And the more procedural entertainment kind of show with its simplistic plot structure, slow chracter development and long running nature.
In my opinion the diffenence between artentertainment is not as easy as saying a show should stop after its 6th season otherwise it cannot be art an
This was a great video. As Aaron Sorkin once put "you have to be evangelical about Aristotle". A story have a beginning, a middle and an end.
Love the video. I feel like it would’ve been cool to talk about it’s always sunny. Longest running live action sitcom and doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.
You deserve way more subs
Nice listen Great points
Great video!
Only just found this video, but you make great points here. There’s really such nuance between entertainment and art and you explain both perspectives well and how depending on the type of show there are different expectations. A few shows that I think ended at the right time and became art are Gravity Falls, Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. In the case of the latter two, yes there are other versions or spin-offs, but the show in question can be watched as a stand-alone and fully appreciated.
Also Amphibia!
Fantastic video sir!
If those in charge of cancelling shows could at least let them finish their story arcs, that would be fantastic. Like there should be more than one season renewed at a time, it should be two with one rolling, if that makes sense. That way, if at the end of season 3 the studio says they're not earning enough money from it anymore, they still have season 4 to wrap it up instead of it just abruptly getting no closure, because they know there won't be a season 5. I'm thinking especially of American Gods and The Borgias, both fantastic shows but I guess expensive to make and a little niche. It's logical not only for the fans though, but also financially, because then you'll still be earning money from people buying/streaming the entire series after it's all over. Like you say, sometimes people hear about it after a few seasons, but most people aren't going to start a show knowing that it doesn't get an ending, and so you lose future audience.
I can understand why the cast and crew of a still-running show get a little miffed when they hear people say that it should have ended a long time ago since it sounds like we're saying they should be out of a job, so maybe a better way to frame it would be to say that we'd like to see what everyone does next. Part of the tragedy of something like The Simpsons continuing to limp along is that everyone currently working on it could be involved in the creation of potentially amazing new shows if only they weren't committing so much of their time to cranking out forgettable and mediocre episodes of a show that almost nobody considers fresh or relevant anymore.
I kept thinking many of these ideas also apply to the MCU case. Great analysis
The worst finale that completely destroys the magic of the earlier seasons, is Lost. BIggest disappointment ever.
Series are really hard to wrap up.
And then there's Futurama that perfectly nailed it three times (hopefully four times now)
GoT was my biggest disappointment but only because they rushed it. Given one more season or even a handful of more episodes so we saw the madness in Dany AND give Jon the killing blow of the Night King and it would have pretty much stayed on top.
I will sometime return to watch the show again as I still love it, but it will always be a “what if” scenario for me for the final season.
I remember reading that the creators of "Lost" wanted to end it after three seasons, but ABC wouldn´t let them. And seasons back then were over 20 episodes long! I think "The Sopranos" had a great run and ended right. "Mad Men" was great, but I´m not a big fan of the ending episode. I LOVED all seasons of "Better Call Saul" (in my opinion, far superior from "Breaking Bad") and the ending was great. Oh, and "Stranger Things" should've ended after season three.
Really great video!
I'm surprised you never mentioned Pokemon at all. Great video anyway :)
I personally never knew what was gonna happen in House and found it incredibly artistic
I like how the villains on breaking bad got more dangerous, smarter etc until in fifth season after they had every type of villain Walt gets to be the villain.
Excellent perspective. 😊