As a writer, I understand the need for a good cliffhanger ending as much as the next guy…especially when writing a serial that requires an ongoing story arc. The beauty of these ongoing story arcs is the room that they give to develop characters, and myriads of plots and subplots that can run their course and segue easily into new twists and turns. This is an advantage inherent to all serial story lines, television programming and comic books alike. With television programming, the cliffhanger ending becomes a bit more important at the end of the season. The viewer has to be on the edge of their seat, crying out with the cruelty of being left without resolution to what they have just seen, and knowing that they will be thinking about the potential outcomes of the situation constantly over the next few months until they finally discover what happens next.
The writers for Bones attempted this at the end of last season, and failed miserably. The writers of Haven have very recently succeeded for me (in moments of quiet, my thoughts frequently drift back to the two main characters, weapons drawn, staring down Audrey’s doppelganger, and I wonder, “now what?”).
In the last week, I was left hanging by the ending of Stargate: SGU. This is the only installment of the Stargate series that’s ever been worth a consideration as serious television, in my humble opinion. While I understand that fans of the other Stargate series have been mostly disappointed with SGU, I’ve been riveted by its dark explorations of interpersonal dynamics, ethics, and social governance. I’m aching to find out what will happen to Chloe, and I’m simultaneously disturbed and fascinated by Rush. And, I’ve been left hanging at a critical plot juncture for (wait for it) four months!
That’s right, four months. Much longer than the average break between seasons, and this wasn’t even the season finale. This is a mid-season break that occurs with programming on the SyFy network. This is because a shift from it’s regular programming occurred when, for some reason I can’t explain, SyFy apparently acquired WWE Smackdown. Apparently this occurred after a channel with programming known for great writing that inspired thinking stopped thinking itself about the English language, and began pandering for how much money it could shamelessly make.
And, of course, that same pandering for money has led to the cancellation of SGU, because Nielson ratings aren’t yet intelligent enough to track anything other than the dinosaur that is cable television.
Really? WWE Smackdown???
I’m just disturbed, because there’s precious little intelligent programming left on American screens to begin with. So, when a well-written and thought-provoking program (read: unpopular, because the average viewer has no desire to actually think) is put up against a wrestling program that requires nothing more of the viewer than drooling and shoving corn ships into his mouth, then well-written and thought-provoking loses.
And, we’re one step closer to the world envisioned in Idiocracy. Because that’s what happens when quality art is subjected to the whim of corporations interested only in their profits: Another amazing story dies an ignoble death.
Ironically, that’s exactly what we couldn’t afford to have happen.