The Sun-Herald

May I propose "shock series renewal" or "refuse to die" as a category? There have been 2 notable examples of this in recent times:

Scrubs: just finished screening here after being treated cruelly by Ch 7, with an awesome finale. Or was it? The series has apparently been renewed with the bare bones of the ensemble from the previous episodes, as many have tired of the concept (J.D.) or moved onto new series (The Janitor). Many agree that the network move from NBC to ABC would see it out its last season, but it gained a "shock series renewal".

My other example is Seventh Heaven. Something that should have been put out of our collective misery, but because in the US the good wholesome programming gibbons are obviously worried about the moral decay of society, the series was resurrected for one last season 3 days (ironic) after it's be all and end all finale screened. This one is listed under "refuse to die"

• by Bereft Skerrick on June 20, 2009 at 02:15 PM

Nice article TM, excellent examples of each style of show fatigue. Although not many of the Tribal Mind followers would remember Bobby & Pam Ewing.
But what about the opposite of this not knowing when to say goodbye??? The greatest example of this would have to be Fawlty Towers 12 (?) shows only, yet those shows have been repeated 100's of times since. The only other show I can think of is M*A*S*H, I don't think it ever fell into any of the syndromes, but still knew when to end. Maybe it was just the fickle finger of fate??

• by PJ453 on June 21, 2009 at 09:26 AM

No gay/lesbian URST? Merlin/Arthur? Xena/Gabrielle? Clark/Lex?
And my favourite show: Scully/Mulder. Phwoar, red speedos and a smart woman.
It's mainly the British shows that I think of when I think of shows that ended appropriately and within their Best Before limits: Blackadder, Life on Mars, Yes, Minister (and Yes, Prime Minister), all the excellent bonnet dramas (possibly because the original authors were sensible; even Dickens wrapped up his novels eventually), many mini-series, etc.
PJ453, I think M*A*S*H did rather overstay its welcome. Not too much, and it did end well, but it was getting cheesy towards the end.

• by tqd on June 21, 2009 at 04:35 PM

Bursting the URST? Man, that is gold. Oh, the mental image!
Re the URST, I think the problem is not technically getting couples together: it's the fact that TV writers do not know how to write relationships.
Lois and Clark is the classic example. The problem was not them getting together; it's the fact that being in a relationship apparently caused their IQ levels to drop 100 points and resulted in two entire seasons of tiresome suprisingly-emo conversations about their feelings (surprising for the times; this was pre-emo).
There have been cases where it's done well, however. B'Elanna and Tom Paris in Voyager is a good example.

• by genfie on June 22, 2009 at 11:06 AM

So what about the dying words uttered by Jacob in the room under the statue in the final episode of "Lost" after Ben and Locke (or is it Locke... Oooo) confront him. "They're coming", he tells Locke (or is it an entity that looks like Locke!), as if the atomic explosion set off by Juliet, who manages to survive a massive fall and have enough energy to bash the percussion caqp of the nuke until it goes BOOM!! is the event that will "usher their coming forth" in the final series of the Lost saga.
C'mon: this is all about making money and keeping jobs.
If it wasn't for dream sequences and shark jumping and melanoma moments or any other wittily worded or crafted lampoon of the devices TV show writers use in order to extract "that little bit more" from a creation that is as subject to the market place as any other product of the modern world, we'd all be whining about the lack of content on our giggle boxes.
It's entertainment after all. Sure some of it is about as entertaining as self flagellation, but there's certainly a lot of happy flagellators out there if DD's ratings lists are anything to go by.
I always figured that if a show tested my intelligence or patience to breaking point or beyond, that I could take a wander in the real world - after which, I'd be much more prepared to put up with any fantasy that a company of writers, producers, directors, camera operators, actors, make-up artists, costume designers and makers, musicians, composers and the various sundry trades people and professionals are able to churn out.
Do other industries we rely on these days cop as much flack as the entertainment industry? Certainly doesn't seem to be as much press devoted to the other industries we rely on for income these days as there is in parodying, criticising in a negative way or generally dissing the entertainment industry...

• by Steve C on June 22, 2009 at 12:57 PM

One of TV's best URST has to be Mulder and Scully from X Files. This pretty much ended when they finally kissed and then had a baby together ,which was never really made clear as to how that happened (I know the usual way , but was it, as the baby seemed to be part alien and had special powers or something).
Sounds pretty silly now but it fit in with the show. Of course, that pretty much ended X Files and then Ducovny left and Chris Carter tried to make it work without him casting a Terminator (Robert Patrick?) as Scully's new partner but the show really didn't have the same feel without the URST that Mulder and Scully had.
I also think that both House and GA's have well and truly had their day. Put them out of their misery I say. It really is quite sad to see good shows becoming crap because networks and producers try and milk every last cent they can out of it and in the process destroy the public's image of them. Instead of remembering a show as being great, you remember it as being boring or silly.

• by em on June 22, 2009 at 03:05 PM

So how does Ghost Whisperer rate as far as "cardinal sins" committed? Surely it's a show that has exhausted; perhaps even exceeded, it's quota of "cardinal sins" and still miraculously - like Jennifer Love Hewitt, manages to resurrect itself for another season.

• by Steve C on June 24, 2009 at 10:53 PM