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Ending Aversion: Difference between revisions
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Maybe the show was [[Screwed by the Network]] and was [[Cut Short|canceled]] [[Left Hanging|before any of the questions it raised could be answered]]. Maybe [[Kudzu Plot|as time went on, the story collects so many elements]] that [[The Chris Carter Effect|there was no possible way]] that [[Leave the Plot Threads Hanging|they could do each justice]]. Maybe it was the first part of a series [[Orphaned Series|left unfinished]] by the now-[[Author Existence Failure|deceased]] or [[Attention Deficit Creator Disorder|bored]] author, leaving the epic unfinished. Maybe the [[Series Goal]] was [[The Resolution Will Not Be Televised|never achieved]]. Maybe the writers just plain [[Seasonal Rot|tired themselves out of creativity]] by the end of it, and so much [[Fanon Discontinuity]] is claimed, you could swear the fandom was comprised solely of historical revisionists. Maybe too many a [[Spoiler]] was revealed, and it seems pointless to watch. Or maybe you've just heard that the whole thing devolves into such [[Gainax Ending|unspeakable]] [[Mind Screw|surreality]] that it would taint the rest of the experience.
Hearing about all these things makes people wary. No one wants to spend time dedicating themselves to something that will leave them disappointed. Maybe the overall experience would have more than compensated for any supposed deficiencies of the ending, but the potential viewer has been scared off.
This is [[Ending Aversion]].
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If a work is avoided because of a [[Downer Ending]], that is [[Angst Aversion]].
Compare to [[Hype Aversion]] and [[The Firefly Effect]] (wariness of committing to a new show, as opposed to one that has concluded). See also [[Awesomeness Withdrawal]].
'''Warning: Ending SPOILERS below.'''
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==== [[Seasonal Rot]] ====
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' - season 4 made some decisions that weren't very popular, though the general attitude is that season 5 got better again. Showrunner Joss Whedon then took a year off during season 6 to focus on the musical episode, and while people do remember and celebrate the musical episode even years later, this meant that he handed off writing duties for season 6 to other writers, and it showed. Things got moving again in season 7 when Joss came back full time, and the story intentionally built up to the final battle, but many still found it to be little better.
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' - the first two seasons are great, to the point that it won a Peabody Award during the break between seasons two and three. When season 3 got underway, they started running out of ideas, and it was downhill from there. It didn't help that a large portion of the acclaimed writing staff (but not the head writer) left the show before season 3 got underway, particularly all of the female writers (who also were acknowledged to be the guiding hand in the writing of the female characters up to that point).
* ''[[Scrubs]]'': Season 8 ended JD's story (our protagonist and narrator for the entire series) on a high note, and was intended to be a series finale. Season 9, however, revamped much of the cast (Turk and Cox were still regulars, others were relegated to guest stars), changed the setting, and had a different focus (med school). Series Creator Bill Lawrence initially wanted to rename the show to make it clear that this was a new beginning, but this was nixed by the network.
* ''[[The West Wing]]''.
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* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]''.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' - Some people think the rot even began with the season one finale. The problem isn't that the writers never planned out the show...it's that they intended the show to have an anthology-format with a rotating cast. Problem was that the season one characters instantly became popular national sensations, so they were forced to come up with new plots for them on the fly. It didn't help that there was a Writer's Guild of America strike which truncated season 2. Viewers started leaving in droves during season 3 when they started just recycling plots from season 1 (how many times can Sylar flip-flop from evil to good and back?). Was anyone actually watching this show by the fourth and final season?
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' - They'd sort of resolved all of the main story arc by the end of season 7, and a later episode broke the Fourth Wall to say that fans felt they phoned it in for season 8. The real break was seasons 9 and 10, when they introduced an entirely new set of villains, which to be honest were something of a retread of the earlier ones. They were even going to rename the show "Stargate Command" when season 9 began to try to emphasize how different it was, but rather than make a sequel-spinoff the network felt more viewers would stay if they kept the name intact.
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' - The introduction of Seven of Nine in season 4 was intended to be an [[Author's Saving Throw]], and things at least got more interesting. But seasons 5 through 7 are generally seen as a serious drop in quality, recycled plot lines, and just cranking out stories "like sausages". The series finale "Endgame" was heavily criticized.
* ''[[Bunny Drop]]'' - While the second half of the story introduced a [[Genre Shift]] and a [[Time Skip]] [[Love It or Hate It|that was disliked by some]], what really turned off a larger portion of the audience was {{spoiler|the inverted [[Wife Husbandry]] aspect of the ending, where the female protagonist Rin is revealed to be in love with the man who raised her for at least a decade, [[Incest Is Relative|who is her nephew]]. It follows through till the end, and they end up as a couple.}}
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* ''[[Angel]]''.
* ''[[Animorphs]]''.
* ''[[Blake's
==== [[The Resolution Will Not Be Televised]] ====
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