To Be Continued... or Not

By: Jason Davis
Date: Monday, May 01, 2006

Last week, we talked about end-of-season cliffhangers that kept the audience glued to the their seats all summer in anticipation of the following season's reprise. This week, we turn our attention to those shows that went out on a cliffhanger never to return leaving us to wonder forever what befell our heroic protagonist(s). Spoilers abound, so proceed with care.

BLAKE'S 7 "Blake" (aired in the UK: December 21, 1981) As it happens, the third series finale "Terminal" was expected to be the end of Terry Nation's dystopic space opera about a group of rebels fighting a corrupt and repressive regime. In "Terminal," their super-ship, the Liberator was destroyed and Avon's crew found themselves stranded on a desolate world, presumably trapped forever. Alas, someone in the BBC commissioned a fourth series so the freedom fighters escaped to fight again in what most consider the most lackluster season of the series. Culminating in "Blake," whereupon Avon and company find their long-lost eponymous leader working as a bounty hunter, the season ends in a bloodbath with Avon gunning down Blake and the entire team being butchered by the evil Servalan's men. The final shot of Avon surrounded by Federation forces with an insane grin on his face cuts to black and gunfire is heard over the end credits echoing down through history as the final moments of the series. Ironically, a fifth series was fully expected with the members of the cast who signed on being survivors of the massacre.

DARK SHADOWS Episode 112 (aired: March 22, 1991) Based on the ABC gothic soap opera that ran from 1966 to 1971, DARK SHADOWS was a primetime revival produced by NBC in early 1991. Like the original, it told the story of 200 year-old vampire Barnabas Collins being released from his tomb to fall in love with his descendant's governess Victoria Winters, the reincarnation of his lost love Josette DuPrés. As in the original melodrama, Victoria finds herself propelled into the past where she lives with the Collins family in the late Eighteenth Century and learns of the witch Angélique and her wicked curse. As the First Gulf War (I feel like an old timer suddenly compelled, after the fact, to call "The Great War" World War I) continually interrupted broadcasts, DARK SHADOWS often lost screen time to updates from Iraq and, by the twelfth episode's airing in March, most of us were certain it was a goner. A tour de force force finale found Victoria using modern medical knowledge to save the last heir to the Collins name from death while learning of Barnabas' vampirism. In the climactic last moments, Victoria returned to 1991 and found herself face to face with Barnabasboth knowing what the other knows.


TWIN PEAKS Episode 222 (aired: June 10, 1991) There's no question that TWIN PEAKS had its ups and downs across its two seasons, but the David Lynch-directed finale was certainly one of the former. Kidnapped by Agent Cooper's insane mentor Windom Earle, the lovely Annie Blackburn is taken to the mysterious Black Lodge as bait for her beloved FBI agent. When Cooper enters the ethereal lodge, Lynch flings the well-written script by co-creator Mark Frost and producers Bob Engels and Harley Peyton out the window and begins to follow his own weird directorial instincts. Time flows strangely in the Lodge as Cooper meets faces from the past and seeks to reclaim Annie. By the end of the hour, Coop's being chased through the lodge by a sinister doppelganger intent on usurping his place in the real world. Freed from the Lodge, an addled Coop repeatedly asks "How's Annie?" before wandering into the bathroom and smashing his head into the mirror to reveal the specter of BOB, the sinister spirit that killed prom queen Laura Palmer.

NOWHERE MAN "Gemini" (aired: May 20, 1996) After a year-long battle over the show's identity with network UPN, creator Lawrence Herzog had effectively compromised by watering down his existential allegory into a pseudo-psychological suspense series. Photographer Thomas Veil began to unravel the conspiracy behind his erasure, but cyclical clues kept leading him back to stranger answers culminating in the revelation that he himself was responsible for erasing his existence that was, in itself, an assumed identity. Sadly, no answers were forthcoming as UPN quickly turned its attention to comedies and killed off any dramas that didn't have the word TREK in the title.

SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND "...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best" (aired: June 2, 1996) Returning to the bloodbath theme of BLAKE'S 7, co-creators Glen Morgan and James Wong had a pretty good idea that their war story in space was doomed and decided to literally go out with a bang. In the second half of a two-part story, the Wild Cards performed one last mission presumably costing the lives of Lieutenants Shane Vansen, Vanessa Damphousse, and Paul Wang and breaking the hearts of each member of the show's small, but devoted following. Damned Chigs!

AMERICAN GOTHIC "Requiem" (aired: July 11, 1996) Former Hardy Boy Shaun Cassidy turned to TV writing with this compelling drama set in a South Carolina town ruled by the sinister Sheriff Lucas Buck. With more timeslots to its credit than possibly any other series in history AMERICAN GOTHIC had an understandably difficult time finding an audience. Adding the random order in which the episodes aired (and four of them didn't air until Sci Fi picked the show up years later) to the mix caused continuity nightmares with lead characters coming and going in nonsensical fashion. When CBS decided to burn off six episodes during the summer, the series finale was the last of the run leaving viewers with Lucas' illegitimate son Caleb inheriting his father's evil powers with an aim to wreaking his will in the town of Trinity.

POPULAR "Promblems" (aired: May 18, 2001) I've never actually seen an episode of POPULAR, but so many of you wrote in about its series finale that I thought it deserved to make the list. Milly says, "I think the show that probably left me hanging without any closure, because none could be given, was Popular, as Brooke gets hit by a car and as we fade to black, an ambulance is heard and then...nothing" while Leigh M. notes that "Leaving the show with the main character being run down" is "not cool." While we're on the subject of show's I didn't watch, I'd like to offer an honorable mention on behalf of JOHN DOE which met the sticky end reserved for all Fox shows on Friday night and left its fans clamoring for more...

FARSCAPE "Bad Timing" (aired: March 21, 2003) Of all the stories in this column, FARSCAPE undoubtedly boasts the only happy ending. Promised a fourth and fifth season at the end of its third year, the producers of the show set about planning an epic production marathon of 44 episodes. Halfway through, budget concerns and business deals threw a spanner in the works and the show was cancelled in the final shooting days of season four's pick-ups. There was no time to find an out and "Bad Timing," with its unintentionally appropriate title, was already in the can. John and Aeryn, it seemed, would never leave that boat in the middle of a lake where she had accepted his proposal moments before being blasted into crystal. Frell. Luckily, producer Brian Henson never gave up and, after extraordinarily complicated negotiations, FARSCAPE returned with a four-hour miniseries that put to rest one of the most notorious cliffhangers in TV history. It still would have been nice to have the full 22, though...

ODYSSEY 5 "Fossil" (aired: October 15, 2004) This show just barely made the list as I just finished watching the series two nights ago. Forgive the brevity of my account as this wound is still new and will take me a little time to get over. Five astronauts sent back in time to avert the destruction of the Earth uncover a massive conspiracy only to find themselves variously betrayed, dumped, kidnapped, arrested for murder, and soon to lose a child. I'm going to go away and pretend a season two is forthcoming now...I'll be back shortly.

CARNIVÀLE "New Canaan, CA" (aired: March 27, 2005) In all honesty, this could have been a lot worse. The epic tale of resurrectionist Ben Hawkins's cosmic battle with the demonic Brother Justin Crowe culminated in the demise of the latter only to reveal that his bastard daughter Sophie, Ben's lover, had been infected by Crowe's inherent evil. Sure, the show left us hanging with no knowledge of what would happen to Sophie and Ben, but there was at least a semblance of closure to the arc begun in the pilot. Of course, I'd be glued to my TV if HBO ever offered another episode because there are still plenty of questions to answer, though I fear that a show like CARNIVÀLE would inevitable pose more of the former than proffer an excess of the latter.

I want to thank everyone who contributed his or her memories of classic cliffhangers over the last few weeks. A number of you mentioned QUANTUM LEAP and ANGEL amongst the shows with unexpected ends. I thought I'd quickly address their absence from the list before leaving you for the week. QUANTUM LEAP had been hanging by a thread for a few years narrowly avoiding cancellation for two seasons before the dismal year five hit the air. Creator Don Bellisario's promise to never have Sam holding the gun in the Texas Book Depository (which you can find in almost every pre-1992 interview with the showrunner) had been forgotten with the network's desire to beef up the series and a season of "event" episodes culminated in the poetic "Mirror Image" wherein Sam leapt into a strange bar populated by faces from the past at the exact moment of his birth. The episode could easily have been the staging ground for the continuation of Sam's adventures. In fact, the script features the traditional arrival to the next story in its final unfilmed pages, but I personally believe the episode to be one of the best series finales ever committed to film and tacit conceit that Sam continued helping others for the rest of his life rather than return home made a wonderful epitaph for the character.

ANGEL, likewise, ended with the perfect summation of the team's quest to vanquish insurmountable evils. There could be no better ending than gallantly charging off to death for a show that was, if nothing else, about redemption. Martyrdom is often thought of as the apotheosis of that pursuit and, having spoken to writers Joss Whedon and Jeff Bell about the story, there can be no doubt that this was one cliffhanger never intended for resolution. Next week, we step into TV Wasteland time machine to draw parallels between the 2005-6 TV season and a season very much like it a few years ago... Until then, write me at wastelandjason@hotmail.com to tell me what, in your opinion, was the best ever overall season of TV.

MONDAY, MAY 1

24 (8 PM PST, Fox) "Day 5: 2:00AM 3:00AM" With only six hours to go, Jack Bauer imagines relaxing in the warm comforting water of a bubble bath. Actually, he probably doesn't, but it would certainly make for an interesting change of pace.

PRISON BREAK (9 PM PST, Fox) "Tonight" Michael is pressured to accelerate his plans, but obviously can't accelerate too much as there are two more episodes this season.

MEDIUM (10 PM PST, NBC) "The Darkness is Light Enough" Has anyone else been driven to paroxysms of hysterical laughter by the NBC adds trumpeting the additions to the cast of "Molly Ringwald and Kelsey Grammar as the angel of death?"

TUESDAY, MAY 2

SCRUBS (9 PM PST, NBC) "My Fallen Idol" Picking up directly from the tragic end of last week's episode, this installment finds Dr. Cox drowning his guilt in alcohol.

THE UNIT (9 PM PST, CBS) "Eating the Young" The team must track down a shipment of surface-to-air missiles after negotiations with a drug lord fall through.

HOUSE, M.D. (9 PM PST, Fox) "Euphoria Part 1" When a policeman with a gunshot wound to the head arrives laughing uncontrollably, House and company have only a short time to diagnose the hysterical condition.

VERONICA MARS (9 PM PST, UPN) "Happy Go Lucky" If you understand the relevance of the following, may God have mercy on your soul: "Yatta, yatta, yatta!" In the interest of clarification, it has nothing to do with Seinfeld...

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3

ALIAS (8 PM PST, ABC) "30 Seconds" Rambaldi's mysterious Page 47 reappears quelling the columnist's fear that the show would never mention the prophetic renaissance inventor again.

HOUSE, M.D. (8 PM PST, Fox) "Euphoria Part 2" Last night's story continues and I think Jack Nicholson's Joker is responsible.

LOST (9 PM PST, ABC) "Two For the Road" An exhausted Michael returns to the camp where he reveals what he's learned about the Others. Isn't it ironic that the castaway's main source of intelligence is the biggest moron in the bunch? The probably infinitely more interesting B-plot involves Hurley's courtship of Libby, his former psych clinic neighbor.

INVASION (10 PM PST, ABC) "Run and Gun" Russell and Underlay must work together as another storm approaches Homestead.

THURSDAY, MAY 4

MY NAME IS EARL (8 PM PST, NBC) "BB" Earl attempts to reunite a girl he once shot with a BB gun with her estranged father.

SMALLVILLE (8 PM PST, WB) "Oracle" Images of Yvonne Craig in a wheel chair illuminated by the soft glow of a computer screen spring to mindany of you imagining Alicia Silverstone should be ashamed of yourselves...

THE OFFICE (9 PM PST, NBC) "Conflict Resolution" Michael takes on the responsibility of diffusing workplace conflicts and all hell breaks loose.

SUPERNATURAL (9 PM PST, WB) "Devil's Trap" The Winchesters visit an old friend of their father's for advice on capturing a demon in the season finale of this freshman series.

FRIDAY, MAY 5

GHOST WHISPERER (8 PM PST, CBS) "The One" A tragic plane crash leaves Melinda to help hundreds of passengers cross over. Heck of a way to end your first season, Love.

DOCTOR WHO (9 PM PST, Sci Fi Channel) "The Empty Child" Do not miss this episode! If you've been holding off on checking out the new DOCTOR WHO, this is the moment you've been waiting for. This is the kind of hour the TV was invented for.

NUM3ERS (10 PM PST, CBS) "Backscatter" Online identity theft brings guest star Will Patton back into the fold as Detective Gary Walker.

SATURDAY, MAY 6

DOCTOR WHO (7 PM GMT, BBC1) "The Girl in the Fireplace" The writer of season one's best story returns the night after its U.S. premiere with his second season offering. A firm believer that Steven Moffat rules, I expect a work of genius.

SUNDAY, MAY 7

THE WEST WING (8 PM PST, NBC) "Institutional Memory" The White House senior staff reflects on what they'll do next as Bartlet's administration comes to a close. Hopefully, this episode will give viewers some time with the original cast who, aside from Josh and Donna, have been underserved of late.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (9 PM PST, ABC) "I Know Things Now" It's all about the Sondheim titles this week and next. Where's the big bad wolf?

THE SOPRANOS (9 PM PST, HBO) "The Ride" My guess is as good as yours on this one... Story lines are hard to come by in this final season.

BIG LOVE (10 PM PST, HBO) "A Barbecue for Betty" The Henrikson's plan a party to celebrate the advent of Don's fourth wife, but Margie's secretly fending off suitors behind Bill's back.

HUFF (10 PM PST, Showtime) "So...What Brings You to Armageddon?" Huff's dad, who's now bearing a striking resemblance to Tom Skerritt, decides to extend his stay.