# Shows canceled after cliffhanger episodes \[Spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629 "2009-05-26T00:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/81 "2009-05-29T19:58:29Z")
Judging Amy. Maybe not so much a cliffhanger as opening the door for a spinoff. She retires as a judge and seems to be considering a run at a senate seat or something. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/82 "2009-05-30T02:27:05Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Judging Amy. > > Maybe not so much a cliffhanger as opening the door for a spinoff. > > She retires as a judge and seems to be considering a run at a senate seat or something. She ended up a doctor in a boutique practice in California…duh!( Oh yeah and slept with her ‘mom’s’ brother Tim Daly Hee) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/83 "2009-05-30T03:04:46Z")
Maybe not so much a cliffhanger, but in the final 3 episodes of _Maude_, Maude Findlay somehow got herself elected to Congress. That was supposed to be a reboot for the series, but Bea Arthur became disenchanted with the project, and dropped out. Undaunted, the producers cast John Amos as the newly elected Representative. However, Amos also dropped out. Not willing to let go, the producers then rewrote the script to focus on the internal politics of a university and cast Bill Macy (Maude’s husband) as the lead. The result ended up on the air, but was canceled after four episodes. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/84 "2009-05-30T08:35:56Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I do the ridiculous fanwanks, **jack**. I think it’s in the FAQ. Sorry… do you have an apprentice? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/85 "2009-05-30T09:51:35Z")
I don’t know if it counts, but. apparently, the execs thought _Gilligan’s Island_ ended on a cliffhanger. They had to devote two movies to resolving how they got home. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/86 "2009-05-31T07:13:56Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > _It’s Your Move_, a forgettable early-80’s sitcom that lasted only one season. I think Jason Bateman was in it. > > The lead character (I’m going to assume it was JB) had promised more than he could deliver w/r/t a popular heavy metal band playing at his high school’s big dance. Not one to admit failure, he rigged up some smoke, mirrors, lights, and lab skeletons, along with a tape of the band playing, to make it look like they were actually there. The dance started… end scene, end series. > > 25 years later I’m still dying to know how it turned out. I remember that episode. The dance was a huge success - too huge. Jason Bateman get a call for the Dregs of Society (IIRC) to play Madison Square Garden. Episode ends. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/87 "2009-05-31T07:33:56Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > There was a really campy series, a send up of the _Dirty Harry_ movies, called _Sledge Hammer_ or something similar. Think it ended with the main character trying to defuse a nuke, and “To be continued?” as the final scene. As I recall it, _Sledge Hammer_ actually ended up having a second season- set as a prequel. I’m not sure how to classify Red Dwarf… Series VIII indeed ends on a cliffhanger, but the recent 3-part special begins nine years later. Shame it turned out to be a 3-episode long remake of the Series V episode _Back To Reality_. Even so, I rather enjoyed it, FWIW- if it was nice to see the lads back together again. 🙂 _Blackadder Goes Forth_ ends with a semi-cliffhanger. It’s implied everyone gets machine-gunned, but… well, Baldrick did have a cunning plan up his sleeve, apparently. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/88 "2009-05-31T16:28:57Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > _Blackadder Goes Forth_ ends with a semi-cliffhanger. It’s implied everyone gets machine-gunned, but… well, Baldrick did have a cunning plan up his sleeve, apparently. 😉 Well, I missed that. ??😕 ---
**Author:** ![TheVioletCreep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@TheVioletCreep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheVioletCreep)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/89 "2009-05-31T18:16:59Z")
John From Cincinnati _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/90 "2009-05-31T19:53:28Z")
Blackadder: everyone dies at the end. It’s not a cliffhanger. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/91 "2009-06-01T05:22:37Z")
The CBS show **Now and Again** was awesome. It featured John Goodman getting killed in a subway accident and having his brain brought back to life in an artificial body (played by Eric Close) designed to be a super-soldier, with super-strength and super-speed (and super-healing). But he could never contact his wife and daughter, or the scientist who created him (played by the guy who played the president on season 1 of **24** … Dennis Haysbert or something?) would kill him and replace the brain with somebody else. It lasted one season and was cancelled on the ultimate cliffhanger. Grrr. Also, **Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World** was great schlocky fantasy fun that reminded me vaguely of Kevin Sorbo’s Hercules series and **Xena: Warrior Princess**. It lasted three season before a dispute between some of the producers and the studio (or something like that) caused the fourth season to be delayed … and delayed … and delayed … and finally years had passed and there was no way it was ever coming back. It also ended on an ultimate cliffhanger. We eventually got a 64-page synopsis of the storylines that had been planned for the 4th season, but it just wasn’t the same as actually having the 4th season made … there’s no Jennifer O’Dell in her self-designed leather bikini-and-miniskirt outfit, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/92 "2009-06-01T05:32:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, I missed that. ??😕 Right before they go over the top, Baldrick says something like “I have a cunning plan to get us out of this” and Blackadder says “Well, whatever it is, it will have to wait” before he wishes everyone good luck and gives the order to commence the attack. I know it’s strongly _implied_ that everyone gets machine-gunned, but there is an “out” there should they have decided to make make Blackadder On The Western Front Christmas Special. (They talked about doing a series called _Red Adder_, with Edmund (or a relative, more likely) as a Commissar in Russia during the Russian Revolution. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/93 "2009-06-01T05:48:37Z")
Vanished. Fuck you Fox, fuck you :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/94 "2009-06-01T12:45:54Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Blackadder: everyone dies at the end. It’s not a cliffhanger. Everyone but Baldrick dies at the end of the first series too don’t they, so continuity is not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/95 "2009-06-01T13:06:49Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Everyone but Baldrick dies at the end of the first series too don’t they, so continuity is not a problem. And the second. It’s only the third series in which Blackadder survives (as an ersatz George IV). ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/96 "2009-06-01T13:14:04Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > And the second. It’s only the third series in which Blackadder survives (as an ersatz George IV). And the one-off specials. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/97 "2009-06-01T13:14:24Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > The CBS show **Now and Again** was awesome. It featured John Goodman getting killed in a subway accident and having his brain brought back to life in an artificial body (played by Eric Close) designed to be a super-soldier, with super-strength and super-speed (and super-healing). But he could never contact his wife and daughter, or the scientist who created him (played by the guy who played the president on season 1 of **24** … Dennis Haysbert or something?) would kill him and replace the brain with somebody else. It lasted one season and was cancelled on the ultimate cliffhanger. Grrr. This is the show I was just about to mention. “They’re coming!” “Who?” “Men with guns!” Damn, that was a kickass season finale. A shame it was the series finale. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/98 "2009-06-01T16:23:34Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > That’s how I feel about the **Carnivale** cliffhanger and proposed third season. (Full disclosure: I haven’t seen the finale with mine own eyes, but I’ve read about it, and even doing that was enough to make me rage.) When I heard where they were planning to take a certain character in the third season, I said a heartfelt prayer that the show never made it that far. Which is _blasphemy_, I know, but good goddamn, that was one stupid idea. Just gonna spread the gospel as I know it here; Knauff had the entire storyline as a single season (and from some of the canon he’s dropped, it was a heck of a story), but HBO said, “Oh no, this needs to be strung into 5 seasons so we can get people really excited and hooked on it!” Dutifully, Knauff put in some other plotlines and filler, so that 5 seasons could be reached. Then they pulled the plug at the end of season 2. Made me quite mad, but as I’ve often told people, “If you cut out the last 5 minutes of season 2, it’s actually pretty self-contained. Not all of the mysteries are solved, but it comes to a decent ending.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/99 "2009-06-01T16:40:45Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > That was the end of season 1. The nuke exploded destroying the city. Season 2 started with a recap, then a message that the season is set 5 years earlier than season 1. Yep. The producer of the show, Alan Spencer, didn’t expect Sledgehammer to be renewed, so Season 1 ended with the nuke going off. When the show was, in fact, renewed for one more season, the writers worked their way out of it, as you say, by starting Season 2 earlier. I seem to recall that the title screen for at least the first episode of Season 2 read: “Sledge Hammer! (The Early Years)”. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629/100 "2009-06-02T14:36:48Z")
Well, we can add Medium to the list. The show was recently canceled to make room for Jay. Allison has a brain tumor, she has surgery which removes most of the benign tumor but she suffered a stroke before the surgery and the show ends with her in a coma. The doctor tells her husband that they have no way of knowing if she will ever wake up. The final scene of her in her hospital bed has “To be continued” on the screen, oops, no it’s not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-canceled-after-cliffhanger-episodes-spoilers/497629.md?page=6)