Over the years, there have been thousands of tv shows that came and went, some dragged on for much too long(no, I don’t mean Grey’s Anatomy because I’d be fine if it made it to season 100) while others seemed to end much too soon. It makes sense to end a show after the first season if that season was a complete flop. But what about the shows that didn’t flop? What about the shows that left us without answers and having to accept the fact that we wouldn’t get the satisfaction of seeing where the story went? There are a few in this category whose endings have haunted me for years, and deep down, I still hope for another season–or at least a movie.
Firefly
In 2002, Fox aired this unconventional sci-fi series with space travel, western vibes, and lots of character-driven plotlines. At first, it wasn’t very popular, probably due to bad marketing or just the fact that it doesn’t really sound that good on paper. It didn’t help that Fox accidentally aired the episodes out of order( somehow?). This airing mishap, combined with the bad ratings, was enough for them to cut the show before the first season even ended.
It only became popular later on when the DVD version was released. As people slowly started to fall in love with the story of Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his misfit crew, an uprising began as fans demanded a continuation, or, if anything, some sort of closure. Unlike some of the other shows on this list, this one had a happy ending because years after its failed release, a movie was made. The movie was titled Serenity and continued where the show left off. Sure, it wasn’t a whole season, but at least it was something.
Star-Crossed
Years later, in 2014, the CW released this sci-fi romance about an alien teenager named Roman and his forbidden romance with a human girl named Emery. Roman is a part of an alien race known as Atrians who all crash-landed on Earth years earlier and have now become a part of the humans’ segregated society. The plot was certainly good enough to make this a series that continued for several seasons, but unfortunately, the CW cancelled it after season 1.
Honestly, the reason as to why it was cancelled seems to boil down to the ratings being too mediocre. But this is where I start to question ratings and where exactly they come from, because this show had a pretty huge fan base. Being a teen drama, it isn’t a genre that is supposed to appease the general public, yet, despite its large fan base of teens and young adults, it was still not enough to keep it going.
Personally, I loved this Romeo and Juliet alien love story, and I would’ve loved to see where it went. But instead, the CW ended the series on a cliff-hanger, leaving fans hanging on an eternal cliff.
The Society
Netflix released this teen mystery series in 2019, and right away, it was a hit. It followed a group of high school students who returned from a field trip to find their town completely abandoned, with no way for them to leave it. There were a total of ten episodes in the first season, and the shocking cliff-hanger of the last episode left fans impatiently waiting for the second season.
The great thing was that Netflix renewed the series in 2019, recognizing its popularity and choosing not to leave fans hanging with that cliff-hanger. But then, COVID complicated the production of the second season, and in 2020, Netflix made an official announcement that the renewal was being reversed.
It was such an impactful show that thousands of fans started petitions and online campaigns, but it wasn’t enough for Netflix to revisit the possibility of a renewal.
Kyle XY
Okay, so this series doesn’t fit perfectly into the list of one-season wonders, but it is a show that was a personal blow when it was cancelled after Season 3, before the story came to a true resolution. The show follows a teenage boy who was found naked in the woods with no memory…and no belly button. He is soon taken in by a family who tries to help figure out who he is, where he is from, and why he is unnaturally intelligent and otherworldly.
The series aired on ABC Family from 2006 to 2009, and it was one of the network’s largest hits. It was innocently humorous with characters that were genuine and multifaceted. And, it even had a great love story. But it wasn’t enough to save it when Season 3 saw a slight drop in ratings. The small drop was enough for producers to cut it, despite leaving on an insane cliff-hanger and leaving me still wondering what happened to Kyle, nearly two decades later.
Is it worse for a great show to drag on, leading to an inevitable, unsatisfying end, or for it to end too soon? Personally, I think there is a good middle ground that a few shows have managed to walk along, and it usually falls somewhere in the five-to-ten season range. But that’s just a theory because I mean, Lost ran for six seasons…and we all know how that last episode turned out. Nevertheless, I just ask that producers at least try to wrap things up if the show is facing an early end so the fans aren’t left to wonder for an eternity.
