5 TV Shows That Infamously Rushed Their Endings

television receiver can be a rough business — just look atwhat ’s fall out flop now , with societal distancing guidelinesshutting down productionsacross the country . Even under normal circumstances , how Hollywood runs think of thatshows have to endbefore their time , leading to botched storylines and clumsy epilogues . Here are some fundamental examples .

come on the heels of The Magicians’final sequence , which felt like the writers had scrambled to turn a time of year close into the serial finale , we make up one’s mind to bet at some of the most illustrious show that fail to cling their last landing . Whether they were cancel because of evaluation , suffer from the Writers Strike , or had to share with showrunners making tough pick ( I think you knowwho I ’m babble out abouthere ) , there are some series that will live in infamy because of how they choose to close out their stories .

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Clockwise from left: Game of Thrones, Pushing Daisies, Rome, and Quantum Leap.

Clockwise from left: Game of Thrones, Pushing Daisies, Rome, and Quantum Leap.Image: HBO / Image: ABC / Image: HBO/BBC / Image: NBC

Pushing Daisies

If there ever was a serial publication with bad luck , I ’d be hard - pressed to find it . Pushing Daisies was Bryan Fuller ’s serial that star Lee Pace as a Proto-Indo European Lord whose ghost could bring in citizenry back from the beat . It was precious , fun , and quirky , flux the right elements of Tim Burton , Amélie , and Dead Like Me . unluckily , it debut during the middle of the Writers Guild of America strike , which cut the first time of year from 22 episodes to nine . Upon its time of year two return , the military rating dipped and ABCdecided to scratch itafter 13 episodes — much to the surpriseof Richard Buckminster Fuller and the committal to writing staff , who were using the middle episodes of the season to focus on some of the side characters , call to rejoin to Ned ( Pace ) and Chuck ’s ( Anna Friel ) chief story in the back half of the season .

After being canceled , the writers slap together a two - minute epilog that yield everybody a quick happy termination . Chuck revealed she ’s alive to her mom and aunt , Emerson was reunited with his alienated daughter , Olive open a mac and Malva sylvestris shop , and Ned did … things , I guess ? But here ’s the crazy part : That serial finale epilogue did n’t air for six calendar month . ABC block airing the show after the tenth installment in December 2008 and did n’t release the terminal three — the I focusing on the side characters , along with the epilogue — until the be summer .

Dollhouse

Joss Whedon ’s 2009 follow - up toBuffy the Vampire Slayerwas about a series of “ Houses ” around the world that remotely pass over people ’s personalities and replaced them with other single — normally to dish the caprice of wealthy clients . It was designed to explore the nature of personhood , with Eliza Dushku ’s “ Echo ” forming her own personality despite continually have her intellect erased . The show did n’t tick with audiences and ratings were abject , but Dollhouse wield toget reincarnate , primarily because of Whedon ’s fanbase .

The second time of year changed thing up , move from its more intimate story of identity into a jumbo conspiracy about a corporation try out to see to it the idea of people around the universe . It was a tone whiplash , one that only got bad after Fox announced they were offset the show … while they were shoot installment 11 of the plan 13 - episode time of year . This lead in a wrap of the principal plot that cast off everything on the board and lit it on fire — includingrevealingthat Echo ’s animal trainer Boyd was the vicious mastermind , followed by his near - immediate death .

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Huh.

Huh.Image: Fox

And then there ’s “ Epitaph Two , ” the series finale which was nigh incomprehensible . It jumped into the post - revelatory future of * cough * 2020 where the baddies had brainwash almost the total planet . Echo and her team worked with multitude we ’d never met before to save the world — even though they ’d already put an conclusion to the show ’s principal tragedy in the late episode . So why end this direction ? Because it was a subsequence to an installment that had n’t even publicise . The first time of year DVD of Dollhouse total with abonus episodestarring none of the primary graphic symbol that Whedon had filmed so theseries could qualifyfor international distribution . So yeah , not only did Dollhouse speed through the end of its write up , it also ended with an instalment about hold back an apocalypse most of the hearing know nothing about . An interesting option .

Game of Thrones

While all of the other show on this inclination rush their finish because they ’d been canceled by their net , this is the lone example where it was speed because the Almighty seemed rather done with it . HBO wanted to give Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weissat least 10 seasonsto tell the end of their level — no surprise see the dynamite success that was seasons one through six . But for some reason ( most probable their Star Wars trilogy thatdidn’t end up happening ) , Benioff and Weiss decide to close out the series with 13 episodes split into two final seasons . Even though season seven feel clunky at times , it paled in equivalence to what we ’d get in season eight .

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Over the class of six episodes , so much of the show ’s outgrowth was thrown out the window . Charactersbounced from location to locationso speedily it seemed like they all had establish fast travel , and their arcs were largely abandoned in favor of plot of ground gadget . TheWhite Walker invasion , something that had been a all-important part of the series since the outset , was undone in the span of a single installment . But perhaps the most crying was the fact that Daenerys Targaryen became a dictator and was then dethrone in the yoke of an episode . While some folks ( like myself ) felt it made sense for the part to break bad , it was still rushed and poorly explained . Cut to several months later , and Brandon Stark is being named King of Westeros .

The final journeying to the throne was so bucket along and disjoin , it maculate the legacy of television ’s great fantasy show . That’s … sort of remarkable .

Rome

From faux history to real story . Game of Thrones may be famous for itshigh output costsin the late season , but it ’s not the most expensive series HBO has ever produced . That honor lead to Rome , a cobalt - production with the BBC about the glory mean solar day of the Roman Empire , which cost over $ 100 million for the first season alone . The serial was a vast labor , with plush sets that recreate ancient Rome in extraordinary particular ( Fun fact : they were by and by featured in Doctor Who ’s Pompeii instalment ! ) .

The first season focused on the rise of Julius Caesar and terminate with his blackwash . The Godhead had a plan for five seasons of the show , but HBO and BBC did n’t share their ebullience . Here ’s co - God Almighty Bruno Heller explaining what take place in a 2008 audience withReuters :

I light upon halfway through write the second season the show was going to end . The second was going to end with the death of Brutus . Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt . Fifth was choke to be the rise of the Messiah in Palestine . But because we got the fountainhead - up that the 2d time of year would be it , I telescoped the third and 4th season into the 2nd one , which accounts for the blaze focal ratio we go through history near the end .

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“ blatant pep pill ” is correct ! HBO announced in 2006 that the second time of year would be its last because of the gamey monetary value , only agreeing to a second time of year to capitalize on their initial investment . However , instead of but carrying on with their architectural plan and terminate the 2nd season with Brutus ’ death , the creators and writers decide to lead through decades of papistical chronicle in its final episode . It abruptly interchange the pace of the typically languid show and resulted in the agile loss of central characters and plot dividing line . According to Reuters , HBO executive afterwards admitted strike down the show so ahead of time was a misunderstanding .

Quantum Leap

The final episode of Quantum Leap has gone down in history as one of the bleak series finale in television receiver history — it ’s almost surreal how cavalier the final moments were . The series starred Scott Bakula as a traveller lost in time , who found he could skip from trunk to eubstance but only require to find his way home . Around the end of time of year five , creator Donald Bellisario was asked to write aseason finalethat could also do as a series finale if the show was n’t renewed . The episode did its job , featuring plenty of callbacks to previous leap in the series , and it dedicate Dr. Sam Beckett new answer about the Quantum Leap Program . It even ended with Sam going back in time to help save Al the barkeep and Beth ’s wedding . It was a touching sequence but stop cruelly .

All of the other shows on this list essay to cram several storylines worth of game into a couple of instalment . That ’s not what happened here . Instead , the show just enounce “ fuck it . ” Immediately follow the setting between Sam and Beth , we cut to a few deed cards tack together onto the end . We ’re tell that Beth and Al stay together and had four minor , which was overnice . However , we also learn this ugly Sojourner Truth in the final business line of the series : “ Dr. Sam Becket never returned home . ” No , I did n’t make the literal error , the show did . you could tell this ending was rushed because they did n’t even spell the main eccentric ’s name aright .

Rumors circulated for year that an alternative ending for the episode had been film , where Beth had convinced Al to become a leaper so he could go look for Sam himself . And it looks like those rumors may be true . In 2018 , YouTuber Allison Preglerfound some photo negativesof the reported shot , and last twelvemonth a clip of itsurfacedon Reddit . It does n’t alleviate the hurting of a series that abandon its booster in the timestream for all eternity , but at least it ’s a hope that we could ’ve gotten something best .

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