Firefly for too soon
Heroes for too long. It was a strong concept but there’s only so many ways you can write interesting stories with it before it becomes too much
Did Heroes eventually have a proper ending, or did you also abruptly stop watching as it continued to drag on?
Not sure if it ever truly ended. They had a short comeback season, and I watched it, but I can’t remember anything about it.
Heroes suffered from lostism. It was a great show until they completely explained it. We love making wild guesses and hate it when the truth is less exciting than what we were thinking it might be.
Can you spoil lost for me? I watched the first season but it was too much of a time sink and I just wanted them to explain it to me already
Everyone died on the plane crash, the plane actually sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Everyone who “survived” went to the Island, which was a type of purgatory. The survivors had to discover an afterlife for them all to live in. They actually find the sunk plane in the real world, and when new people arrive on the island, they remember hearing about the lost flight and the dead passengers whose bodies were found inside the plane. At one point, a couple survivors escape the island and go back to the real world, but eventually they come to find they no longer belong in the land of the living and head back. The big focal point near the end is where a nuclear-weapons-like device goes off and there’s a new storyline where the plane doesn’t crash. This new storyline is where the survivors finally found a happy afterlife to live in together. They end up reliving all the major events of the first season, and as they do, they remember their lives on the island and their relationships with each other.
I can’t truly spoil it, they treated the whole series like a fever dream. We spent the whole think collecting hints and details while they barely stayed consistent within their own canon.
There was this one scene fairly early on I think in the second season They had to leave this control center room and as the blast shields were coming down to permanently seal the room there was a giant black light drawing of the island and all kinds of glorious details of relays and switches and control centers. We froze the frame and extracted it and poured over it for weeks. They really didn’t use any of it going forward.
I’m fairly certain they just made the story up as it went along trying to throw curve balls to anyone that would guess what was going to happen.
By the time it was done there was time travel, immortal beings and the afterlife all kind of just crammed together to make sure that no one could have seen exactly what was coming.
They also had characters that were way too overpowered and it painted them in a corner. They had to keep handicapping them.
What I heard was the writers weren’t comic book fans and didn’t know the risk of overpowered characters- they wrote themselves in a corner.
It was also designed to be an anthology show with new heroes every season.
And the first Writers Strike didn’t help at all.
And and and, the second season juggled a dozen characters, so every week was storyline roulette. An episode could be full of plot and still wind up as filler because you don’t give two shits about any of the characters getting screen time.
Speaking of Lost, its parody show called Wrecked ended too soon.
Too soon:
The Expanse
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
Babylon 5: CrusadeI ferl you on The Expanse but I don’t think anyone would have liked it if they’d adapted the last 2 books.
Because of the time jump everyone’s middle aged and interested in meetings and things, Amos isn’t himself, and people that fans of the show were wondering about (eg Naomi’s son Filip) are just not in it, neither is Avasarala.
And Avasarala was understandably a lot older. So they would have had to get another actress (blasphemy) or do some weird attempt to make her look very old.
Great books and I highly recommend them. I felt it was a good and proper ending to the series
As involved with the show as the authors were, I could easily see them changing things if and when the show ever comes back. They and the cast have said that they are open to returning to it some day. I could easily see Amazon or another streamer giving it a limited series run, but it needs to cool off a bit.
Yeah it could work well if they are older.
Props for a Crusade mention. 100%
I LOVED the Dark Crystal show! The writing, paving, cliffhangers, characters, effects… I was blown away.
I need to watch it again now.
The Office (US) could have ended with the proposal in the rain.
It probably should have ended with the wedding in Niagara.
It definitely should have ended when Michael left. Don’t give me your Robert California bullshit either. The series was already on fumes and the last two seasons were garbage.
Unpopular (somehow) opinion incoming. I watched The Office because people talked about it so much and I loved Parks and Rec which I often heard it compared to. And while I found it nowhere near as good as Parks and Rec, I still enjoyed most of it. My least favorite part of the show, however, was Michael Scott. I love Steve Carell in almost everything I’ve seen him in, but Michael Scott was just such an annoying cringy asshole. I was super glad when he left. He’s easily one of my most disliked characters in all of media.
That really is an unpopular opinion so I respect you for sharing it. I think it might miss the mark a little bit. The point of Michael Scott is that he is the idiot boss, he is supposed to be a cringy asshole, and a way for the rest of the cast to have something in common with the audience (everyone has had a crappy boss). Essentially an American equivalent of the UK’s David Brent.
In season 2, they had to rework his character into not quite a lovable idiot but someone who was promoted above their competence level. The show couldn’t work with American audiences otherwise. You still aren’t supposed to root for him as much as feel bad for him. Then they replaced him with completely irredeemable and unlikable characters. The Office without Michael was like what Parks and Rec would be without Ron.
I liked all the other characters just fine without Michael. I would watch a show entirely about Jim and Dwight and their shenanigans. They were hands down my favorite part. And the secretary girl that came in late in the show. I forget her name, but I loved her as well. If Michael could have been her kind of dumb, more like how he played Brick in Anchorman, just not that dumb, I think it still would have worked. He’s just such a bad person in this that I can’t get over it.
I was going to say the exact same thing. The wedding was the perfect ending and Michael leaving would have been the last chance of closing the book. The influx of new characters made the show so chaotic and story lines were boring as hell. Nellie was hands down the absolute worst character in any TV show I have ever seen.
“so she’s basically just here to be the official shit stirrer. She has no character, no dreams or hopes, she is not relatable at all, she’s basically just here to cause conflict because we can’t think of anything better”
Too long: The Walking Dead, Money Heist
Too soon: Firefly, Extracurricular
Mind hunter ended way too soon
Good shout!
Too soon: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Once Upon a Time definitely went on too long.
My list:
Too soon:
- The OA
- Firefly
- Caprica (it was just starting to get interesting)
- Stargate Universe
- Jericho
- Altered Carbon
Too long:
- Game of thrones
- Dexter
- Lost
- Arrested development (they made a huge mistake bringing it back)
I am still mad that SGU didn’t even get a sign-off movie on SyFy. That franchise was a massive property for that network, and the moment one of them faltered in the ratings they just dropped it like it was diseased. Those characters deserved better.
Altered Carbon season 1 was absolutely amazing. Everything from the cyberpunk aesthetic to Joel Kinnaman’s acting was a joy to behold. The story in season 2 was good but Anthony Mackie killed it for me … In a bad way.
Mackie is just such a limited actor. Why does he continue to get cast in movies?
Yeah I didn’t rate him at all either, and it definitely started off a lot slower, but by the end I was properly into the story of season 2. It’s a really shame as like you said season 1 was incredible, they just didn’t have the same budget for S2. I would have liked to see more as we would have had a different actor and it never really got finished.
I recommend watching the redited version of arrested development. It’s slightly better and the characters feel less isolated.
I think Brooklyn 99 went on for too long. It started super strong. Whacky funny detective BUT he’s also really good at his job.
When i stopped watching it was nothing but whacky. I liked chelsea perettis character in the beginning and then i think she got pregnant or something and after that she was just that omnipotent annoying character who would lise her job every day of the week.Fyi no h in ‘wacky’ unless he’s beating people :)
After Gina leaves it gets a lot more serious. In the final season Rosa has left the force and become a PI over the George Floyd incident. Jake undergoes an arc about internalizing the fact that this doesn’t mean Rosa hates him or thinks he’s a bad person.
For me the show ends when Gina leaves the station. Most shows go way downhill as soon as a main character has a child
The final season was a disappointment for me. It’s just Jake relieving all the best moments and for me failed in the execution.
Too soon: dirk gently’s holistic detective agency.
Not 100 percent sure. Season 02 was weaker than 01.
Definitely, and both were very… different from the books.
I really like both of them. Pacing is maybe a bit weaker, but the worlds building is wonderful, character development is great, I really wanted to know what was next.
Too soon:
Raised By Wolves
Santa Clarita Diet
GLOW
Utopia (the UK version)
Happy Endings
Freaks and Geeks
Popular (did anyone else watch this?)
Firefly
Too long
Big Bang Theory
The Simpsons
Master Chef
Sex And The City
TWD
Too long because started great but went suddenly downhill:
Westworld
Futurama
Arested Development (that final season omgwtf)
Game of Thrones
New Futurama is just as good as old Futurama. Fight me.
Arrested Developments Netflix seasons, though different from the original run in format, I found them enjoyable and worth rewatching.
Game of Throne’s last half sucked but not because it went on too long, quite the opposite. The producers tried to rush the series to a quick finish so they could go do a Star Wars. HBO offered them extra seasons, they had plenty of source material they downright ignored or went against. The series was best when it was verbatim from the books. In the hands of someone who cared it could have been twice as long and quality all the way through. Obviously I’ll die on this hill.
Couldn’t agree more on the rest of your list. Westworld would have been a tight one season limited series.
Yeah I think we actually agree on GOT - it is on my list because it suddenly took a turn for the worst in the last 2 seasons. I’d have loved it if they’d just made it all and followed the books.
Who knows, maybe GRRM might have been motivated to finish them if it had gone down that way.
100% agree on Westworld and I would extend that to the movies and the books too.
Yul Brynner in Westworld? Excellent. Yul Brynner in Futureworld? The world has gained nothing by its existence.
Good point!
Arrested Development should be in both the too soon and too long lists.
True. The hiatus killed it.
I think it was timing too, something about scheduling… Can’t remember but anyway yeah, too much time had passed.
I’d say the same about Futurama
Futurama seems ok now? People seemed to enjoy the recent season
@otter have to admit I haven’t seen it in a long time, should check it out and see if it’s returned to form.
I remember in about 2011 thinking “huh, glad I didn’t buy that Planet Express t shirt after all.”
Season 4 of Westworld changed it from “Too Long” to “Too Soon” for me, personally. I didn’t really care for season 3 when it aired, but season 4 made me more forgiving of it, retroactively. It seemed like they were setting things up in season 5 which required season 4, which in turn required season 3. Especially given the nature of the show, it felt like they were building some grand story which required these banal meanderings that would all make sense when they clicked into place at the end.
Now I’m really curious what they were planning in 5 and it looks like we won’t get to find out.
@agamemnonymous ah that’s interesting. Yeah my partner preferred S4 to S3 but I felt the whole thing had jumped the shark.
That’s how I felt after S3, but I gave S4 a shot and it justified a lot of the decisions I didn’t care for in S3. Maybe S5 would’ve disappointed, maybe not, but it seemed like it was going to be the last season and I would’ve at least given it a chance to fully redeem itself.
I did watch S4 with my partner, just didn’t enjoy it.
I maintain that Big Bang Theory had 6 amazing seasons spread out over 12.
If someone with too much time and effort to spare could run through and edit out every nerd joke for joke sake, every episode that doesnt advance the characters and so on you would wind up with 6 seasons of damn good tv.
A “too soon” not listed yet, Our Flag Means Death. I really wish they’d had a chance to close out with the planned third season.
A “too long”, Murder She Wrote. I tend to watch TV shows from my childhood for a bit of nostalgia when I can’t sleep and this is what I’ve been watching lately. Fond memories of the syndicated reruns. But watching now and I see that Angela Lansbury stepped way back in seasons 5+ and other than a short intro by her, many of the episodes are about other characters. Maybe it picks back up in season 8-12?
I was pleasantly surprised at how good Our Flag Means Death turned out to be. I heard they were considering continuing with other characters as the main focus, but waititi thought the blackbeard and stede bonnet story was finished.
The last season of Scrubs doesn’t exist and don’t you dare try to convince me otherwise.
Too soons I haven’t seen listed:
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Better Off Ted
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People of Earth
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Undeclared
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Dead Like Me (Yes we eventually got the movie but I like to pretend we didn’t)
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That 80s Show (oh god was it terrible, but it had so much potential!)
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Todd & The Book of Pure Evil
I’m torn on Better off Ted. Obviously it was too soon. But we got a near perfect 2 seasons forever unblemished by time. Bittersweet
Yeah but the third season of shows is always the best!
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Im sad Norsemen got cancelled after season 3.
G.L.O.W got cut early too.
Totally. I really wondered where it was going.
