Wait, other than the fact that it ended, how was Rome disappointing? It was the finest historical drama in television history, for my money.
You do have a good point, and perhaps we ought to make it a bit clearer what we’re meaning by “disappointed” in this perticular context, before going to a poll about it.
In the specific case of The Killing here are some features that, to me at least, define my disappointment:
- AMC has had blockbuster success with at least two (that I have seen) series in Mad Men and Breaking Bad.
- Last year’s Rubicon was touted to continue the streak but was dropped after a season that was less than rousing.
- The Killing was supposed to atone for Rubicon.
- The promises implied about how this series was to offer a counterpoint to other police procedurals and to get more “long form” (a la The Wire) with character development and plot lines, have been demonstrated to have come more from the Marketing wing than from the Writing wing.
The Red Herring Of the Week and the pointless introduction of straw men (and women) to “move the story along” have been silly devices and bear no resemblance to supporting anything “long form” other than a weekly jerking the audience around and playing parlor tricks on them. The predictability is boring.
Some of the other shows on the list (the HBO dropped series especially) are disappointing in that they didn’t continue, but the final episode (or so) before they were dropped had a distinct “fuck you” odor to them, at least to me.
I’d love to hear other versions of how The Killing disappointed others before we close the books on other candidates that may rival it.
Persons Unknown.
This show aired last summer (?) on NBC. It was in the vein of LOST, with a bunch of people waking up in a weird town, not knowing how they got there or why. Each episode just created more and more mysteries about who each person was, who was behind the whole thing, where they actually were, why they were there, etc. All summer long NBC ran promos saying “By the end of summer, all will be revealed.” One of the penultimate episodes did not air on TV, you could only watch it online, and then in the finale nothing was answered! It was clear that the creators wrote the ending in hopes of a second season (even though it was promoted heavily as being a single 13-episode series that would have a resolution.)
Okay, I watched it.
Seriously… what the fuck?!!?!!?
How has The X-Files not been mentioned yet? Great monster-of-the-week series, and those episodes still hold up. But the “mytharc” episodes, man, by the end of the series’ life, it had completely fallen off the rails. Alien super-soldiers? A courtroom drama reunion show? What the… is that the T-1000? It was awful.
Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World was a huge disappointment to me. I love the original. I’ve probably seen a couple of dozen times. I was so hyped about *TLW *that I got tickets to a preview screening. But between them completely changing Ian Malcolm’s personality (his quirkiness was much of what I liked about JP) and saddling him with a boring kid-in-peril, I just didn’t like it at all.
If people want to save time, just watch the last five minutes. You’ll get the full effect.
I bet Bob Newhart saw that!
Surely Kingdom of the Crystal Skull belongs on here.
the show “grew the beard” when they gave up on a seat at the Chinese restaurant. When jumptheshark.com was around, Seinfeld made their list of shows that never “jumped”. But if it did, it waited for the finale.
I’m tempted to agree, because I couldn’t make it past the first ten minutes. Luckily it was a Netflix rental so I wasn’t majorly pissed. Your suggestion is good enough for me to include it.
Updating the list so far:
Twin Peaks
Friday Night Lights (TV)
LOST
The Matthew Broderick Godzilla
American Idol
Amazing Stories
V
The Event
The Limping Man (movie)
Rome
Deadwood
Carnivale
Seinfeld’s finale episode
Persons Unknown
The X-Files the “mytharc” episodes, by the end of the series’ life
Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
=======================
Something tells me that TV audiences have been stung before, perhaps not to the extent that The Killing has risen in infamy in that regard, but at least memorably.
Is there any real argument to the last episode of The Sopranos? I’m actually neutral on that one, but I would expect it to get some votes in our poll.
What else? When was the last time you just went, “Oh, hell no!” at some season or series finale? What offended you so much that you never watched the show again?
I admit that there have been seasons of Big Brother and Survivor that made me mad enough that I swore off for good, only to realize when the next one rolled around that those shows are designed to piss you off and besides, what else is on opposite them – Big Brother especially? So I go back for more pain and suffering.
I’ll nominate Dollhouse. Joss Whedon, FFS. Fairly bold and intriguing premise examining the (good and bad, but mostly bad) possibilities of mind-wiping technology, but what a hot mess it turned out to be. First six episodes didn’t seem to have a clue what to do with the premise. The following batch, up to the end of the first season, found its groove and made for some great TV, followed by the utterly brilliant throwaway Epitaph 1, then a half-baked second season that once again seemed to lose the plot. I’ve got Season 1 on DVD but can’t bring myself to watch even the good eps, knowing how it sputtered to a ignominious halt.
Oh, whoops, and what about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip? Created by Aaron Sorkin, great potential in the characters played by Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, but another one that just seemed to go nowhere.
I concur with both those turkeys, El_Kabong and you’ve helped me think of one that may not even be dead yet: Harry’s Law.
Flash Forward started off strong, took a break, and was nearly unwatchable towards the end.
I completely gave up on The Event, though, so FF and The Killing weren’t the biggest disappointments. And I’m not done processing The Killing and if I liked it or not.
Second this. The show took a few episodes to find its stride, and the Christmas episode was great television. But when they came back after the break, nothing was worth watching.
I had the impression it wanted to go (indeed felt entitled to go) to places of deeeep social commentary and meaning. You can get away with that when one of your characters is the freakin’ President, but Studio 60 was about a bunch of damn comedy writers. Lighten up, Francis.
I’ll mention the prison drama Oz.
Could someone tell us how, exactly, The Killing crashed and burned? Put it in a spoiler box, if you wish.