Television Shows That Were Cancelled After Major Cliffhangers! (1 Viewer)

[Tony Bensley]

Recently, in one of the topics (Supergirl (CBS)) which I participate, the posts shifted to discussion of the worst cases of unresolved season ending cliffhangers that were the end result of a sudden (And often, quite unexpected!) series cancellation.

For me, the one that really stings is A&E pulling the plug on THE GLADES, after the 4th season ending cliffhanger, in which the main character, having been badly shot just minutes before his much anticipated wedding (They'd been building up to it ALL season!), ended with him lying in a pool of his own blood, appearing to be mortally wounded, but of course appearances can be deceiving!

Unfortunately for regular viewers of this quality show, A&E cancelled THE GLADES just days after the airing of TIN CUP, which was the highest rated episode of the season! From what I recall, the main motivating factor behind the cancellation had nothing to do with ratings (Which were much higher than most of A&E's reality programming!), but a decision to dump any shows that A&E didn't own. Seemingly endless campaigns on Social Media to bring back the series (Which I did lend support to, by the way!), or at least get one last 2 hour Movie to wrap up the series made, ALL fell on deaf ears!

Anyway, getting off my soapbox, I would love to see input from other HTF members regarding their own personal favorite TV (Or online based!) shows, whose untimely cancellations left them the most upset over major unresolved cliffhangers!

CHEERS!

 

[Citizen87645]

Deadwood

 

[MaxMorrow]

TWIN PEAKS was always the big one for me in this regard, though of course that will be rectified soon enough.

 

[Tony Bensley]

TWIN PEAKS was always the big one for me in this regard, though of course that will be rectified soon enough.

While I never really watched this show myself, I tend to consider the cliffhanger for TWIN PEAKS still in a way counting, in that a full quarter century passed before the new, and as yet, unaired episodes that (hopefully!) will resolve the long untied loose ends! No doubt, many fans of the original series have passed on, in the interim!

CHEERS!

 

[Dave Lawrence]

SOAP immediately comes to mind. Susan Harris had a 5th season all planned out, so cancellation between seasons left all storylines unresolved. A couple of years later, an episode of spin-off series BENSON revealed that Jessica didn't die as a result of the firing squad; she's just in a coma but will ultimately be okay. While it was a good episode and was a nice better-than-nothing gesture, who knows how Harris would have told the story or what would have happened with the other storylines that were left up in the air.

 

[Mike2001]

Twin Peaks was the first thing I thought of when seeing the topic.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Fastlane.

 

[Nelson Au]

Now and Again.

 

[Stan]

Other than Deadwood, we're talking TV shows from decades ago. Anything more recent?

The only one I recall was when they dumped Susan St. James from "McMillan and Wife" and it became just "McMillan", but I was a kid so don't recall how they did it, but don't think it was a cliffhanger. I remember "Soap", but don't remember it being a cliff-hanger, just thought it quietly was cancelled, caused quite a few arguments when it was airing.

 

[Bob Cashill]

Wasn't Jessica about to be executed by firing squad on SOAP when it was cancelled? That's a pretty big hanging cliffhanger.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

The only one I recall was when they dumped Susan St. James from "McMillan and Wife" and it became just "McMillan", but I was a kid so don't recall how they did it, but don't think it was a cliffhanger. I remember "Soap", but don't remember it being a cliff-hanger, just thought it quietly was cancelled, caused quite a few arguments when it was airing.

MCMILLAN didn't have a cliffhanger. The first episode of the season included conversation explaining that Sally's death (in a plane crash) happened months ago. By distancing itself from the death, it allowed the writers to have McMillan fall for a new woman in each episode rather than have him in mourning for the full season. (I'm guessing that the producers were also eager to just move on and not dwell on "Wife" since Susan Saint James left over contract disputes.)

SOAP had multiple cliffhangers in what ended up being the final episode - Jessica and the firing squad which I previously mentioned above, Burt about to walk into an ambush, and Chester walking in on his new young wife in bed with Danny (and deciding to kill them).

 

[TravisR]

Deadwood didn't end on a cliffhanger as much as it just didn't have a proper ending.

 

[Everett S.]

I thought Boston Legal would have gone on for at least 8 seasons. W.S. said he thought this would be the one,also.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Sledge Hammer! (sorta)

 

[Walter Kittel]

I already mentioned Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior in the Supergirl thread, here are a few others that if not out and out cliffhangers left major story elements hanging....

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Left a lot of stuff unresolved.

Carnivale - I think the storyline was planned to play out through six seasons. The show only received two seasons and left a bunch of stuff unresolved.

- Walter.

 

[Richard V]

As I mentioned in the other thread, "Invasion" and another brought to mind that whips my butt was "Alcatraz"

 

[Everett S.]

The Invaders

 

[David Weicker]

The bigggie for me was the Tim Daly version of The Fugitive (2000)

Lt. Gerard shot (fatally??),
Kimble and the One-Armed Man trapped together - maybe shot by same person who shot Gerard

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

Though I didn't watch the series, Caroline In the City ended after 4 seasons with an unresolved cliffhanger.

The Twin Peaks cliffhanger was frustrating at first but on repeat viewings, it fits the show.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Nothing comes to mind other than the last Walker, Texas Ranger movie ended with his wife shot. The followup movie never happened.