Several years ago, when I was just
starting to blog seriously about TV, I wrote an article about to need for
closure when a series came to an end. At the time, I was talking about the
necessity for a satisfying ending as a constant viewer. I had worried about the
end of series such as Lost and 24 providing enough information for fans
to let go. However, I didn't even have the slightest idea what was coming.
Over the past few years, more and
more networks are trying to reboot or do new episodes for series that have been
gone for years. I have had something of a mixed relationship with such ideas. I
didn't quite approve of the graphic novel continuations of such series as Buffy, Angel, Charmed and Smallville, because it seemed an
unnecessary adjunct to series that had, more or less, come to a suitable
conclusion, and were eventually fouling the memories of good shows. But it was
comic books, and I didn't think it mattered much as canon. Then came the fourth
season of Arrested Development. That
series had been killed way too soon, so I had no objections there. I didn't
even mind that much when The X-Files was
granted new life, first in comic book form, then on television. There was still
a loyal fanbase out there, and there had been a movie before, so it didn't seem
to matter that much.
But now it seems, we are being
drowned in reboots of series that wrapped up in more than satisfactory ways
years earlier. First, we got more adventures with Jack Bauer in Live Another Day, and now 24 is set to return on Monday, albeit
with a new cast. Twin Peaks is due to return in May, this time on
Showtime. We've already had a Heroes reboot, a Gilmore Girls addendum, and God help us, Fuller House, which is coming back for a third season, even though no one liked the previous two. Still come
is a fifth season of Prison Break and
new episodes of Will & Grace. I
could keep going, but I don't have the heart.
Now, things seem to be getting more
and more out of control. I realize that the networks, desperate for bigger hits
in the era of fragmented TV viewing, figure that bring back old successes might
work. But so far, it hasn't. Live Another
Day's ratings were weak even compared to 24's final season. X-Files ratings
were barely above ten million (big numbers today, but nothing compared to what
the series had in its peak) Heroes couldn't
even manage decent numbers in comparison to its final season. Yet despite all
evidence to the contrary, and with limited space on TV schedules already being
filled with film and comic book remakes, we keep getting more of them. The fans clearly don't want them, and new
viewers aren't interested, so why do we have to keep seeing them?
More to the point, I fear what this
may mean for showrunners who want to try and end a series, and yet now have to
consider the inevitable reboot and movie franchise a few years down the road.
Will this affect their overall planning to bring a series to a definite end?
One may have thought series finales for The
Sopranos and Lost were ultimately
divisive as to whether they work, but at least David Chase and Darlton made
clear they were finished with the
work they had been a part of. Some of the best episodes of series have been
their last episode - Six Feet Under, The
Shield, and Breaking Bad come to
mind.
Already one gets the feeling that
such finales may be hedging their bets. The
Good Wife's finale was such a bizarre hodgepodge that one wonders if the
Kings hadn't already decided to work on The
Good Fight a few months later. But its been proven you don't need to write
a bad finale to make a spinoff - Vince
Gilligan has already demonstrated that with Better
Call Saul (although, to be fair, this is a prequel) Will this kind of
thinking forestall showrunners coming up with a conclusion that is fitting for
everybody in case someone might offer them something down the road? It doesn't
seem to include logic - Prison Break is
restarting even though the series ended with its protagonist dead and buried.
I will admit that I crave some of
these reboots as much as the next one - I want to see the new Gilmore Girls, the next Twin Peaks , and if the Bluths ever do a season 5,
I'm in. But if the overall consequence is that we get series were nothing ever
ends, I think we will have sacrificed something vital to a viewing experience.
I may not have liked the way Dexter or
Mad Men ended, but that's no excuse
to revisit those worlds that their creators have wrapped up. Some doors should stay closed.
I realize the world will little
note nor long care about my opinion, and that not long after this review is
published we'll probably get word that ER: The Next Generation is a go. But in
a world where there's so many options for sparkling new entertainment, do we
really need to revisit old ones? Especially if they weren't that good when they
finished the first time.
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