TV series that died without closure. Series that were just cancelled, leaving their various and sundry casts of characters in eternal limbo.
Twin Peaks, hands down. Also, I do not recognize “Fire Walk With Me,” as far as I’m concerned, it answered nothing!
Soap!
Jessica was getting executed by a firing squad, Danny was about to be shot by his biological dad Chester, and Burt was about to be whacked by gangsters.
I quit watching X-files at some point just because it was too much hassle to understand the ongoing plot. Did any of that shit ever get wrapped up, or was it just infinite permutations of “Great Scott! He’s *really *been working for the… <insert shadowy group> all along!”
I think “Surface” counts… Last scene of the last episode… both groups of central characters of the series (who up to this point have never encountered each other before) seek refuge in a chuch’s bell tower as the a huge wave is about to flood the city. the wave hits they look outside… the whole area is flooded with only the belltower and the very tips of other structures are above the water… several of the sea-monsters swim around them.
“It’s a whole new world.” … that we will never get to see more of… canceled.
You do understand that FWWM was a prequel and not designed to answer any unresolved questions from the series, right?
The recently canceled nvasion comes to mind. We end with a cliffhanger on the fate of Larkin and her unborn child, along with wondring what’s going on with the hybrids in general and the hybrid fetuses in particular.
Sean Cassidy’s other short-lived series, American Gothic. I ended up missing the last several episodes because of various scheduling issues so I don’t know how cliffhangery it was but I doubt all the questions were wrapped up in neat little bows.
ABC (and we do seem to be picking on ABC quite a bit, aren’t we?) had a cool little show called Eyes this season, with Tim Daly as the head of a private security firm/private investigator. Killed after something like four episodes.
Wonderfalls had some closure in the final ep but the grander question of who or what was behind the muses was unanswered. Also, the producers had story arcs planned out to the third season.
Firefly left us hanging on some pretty big issues, most notably the secret behind Book’s past. The movie wrapped up River’s story but Book’s will never be answered.
Tru Calling (I guess we’re going to pick on FOX as much as ABC). I never even knew it had returned for a partial second season so I don’t know how much wrapping up was done. I’m guessing not much.
Playing It Straight was a FOX reality show that got canceled a few episodes in. FOX said it would burn off episodes of the show but never did, although they did announce the winner at some point.
Carnivale ended on a cliffhanger on HBO.
Some might put Angel in this category, but i was thoroughly satisfied with the ending and am opposed to the idea of Spike/Illyrea movie that’s been floated.
The producers of these shows ought to have it written into their contracts that id the network kills the show they have to pay for and air a two-hour wrap-up movie.
Let’s close them out. Ignoring the usual array of cheats: movies and such, sketch your desired endings.
I would have like to have seen David Banner actually get either cured/killed. Somehow, the Thor/Hulk TV movies didn’t help in a series that actually took itself seriously.
I would have liked to have seen Sam Beckett leap home.
[Guiness guy]Brilliant![/Gg]
DD
I don’t know…if you have a planned story arc, or at least an idea of how the info should be released, two hours might not be enough to do it well.
You really, really don’t want to know.
Maybe I’m being wooshed, but that was pretty much the tagline of “The Death Of The Incredible Hulk” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099387/
“For 12 years, he’s been running. Tonight, it’s over. Tonight, David Banner will find freedom . . . or death.”
IIRC, it ended with The Hulk falling from a helicopter, reverting to Banner, and dying.
You must not have seen the last Hulk tv movie. It co-starred Elizabeth Gracen, was directed by Bixby, and was aptly titled
The Death of the Incredible Hulk
The ultimate “left us hanging” series cancellation: Oddysey 5.
Can I pessimistically say that ‘Lost’ will eventually appear here?
Don’t forget Joan of Arcadia.
I’m still annoyed that this excellently-written, intelligent show got cancelled and replaced with The Ghost Whisperer!
cerberus specifically noted in his post that he was ignoring the follow-up Hulk movies.
Sir Rhosis
Yes, I saw it, it sucked, it was not compliant with the tone of the series. I guess that Bixby needed a swimming pool, or maybe braces for his kids.
I’m not interested in the (usually crappy) ending tv movies/specials, frequently done as an afterthought, and usually done … badly.
Had to go digging a little while, but I found “Cliffhangers,” an obscure little series consisting of three stories, The Curse of Dracula, Stop Susan Williams, and The Secret Empire. Each week, the stories would end on a different cliffhanger. I remember them being pretty good, but that might just have been because I was in second grade at the time.
The Curse of Dracula was the only story to end before the series got cancelled. I remember being particularly ticked, because Stop Susan Williams got cancelled one frakking episode before the last one in which everything gets wrapped up!
Oh well, if the world suddenly began to make sense, I doubt it would start with TV networks. 
Alien Nation, though they later made a TV movie to tie it up.
Galaxy Quest
The worst instance of premature closure that I can remember was the abrupt cessation of a 1967 show called “Coronet Blue.” The show was about an amnesiac who woke up not knowing anything about himself, but remembering the phrase “coronet blue.” When the show ended, we still didn’t know who the guy was, or what the hell “coronet blue” meant. Many years later, the show’s creator explained the meaning, but by then few people cared.