Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ending a long-running series

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #26
    Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
    The absolute worst last series award has to go to Scrubs, though. I remember watching the first few series when they aired and liking them. I watched the rest years later on a box set binge again and the quality tailed off into catchphrases and recycled plot lines. Then they tried to reboot with a new intake of medical noobs and it was disastrous.
    I don't think it was the worst. I like a lot of that season - especially Eliza Coupe's character. And it helped launch the career of Kerry Bishe, who's excellent in Halt and Catch Fire and Narcos.

    My recollection from an interview with Bill Lawrence (fellow W&M grad, dontcha know*) was that all of that didn't go the way he'd hoped at all.

    Scrubs moved networks from NBC to ABC after season 7. ABC/Disney produced and owned the show and NBC cancelled it to make way for something they owned. But that was before they'd reached the natural stopping point for the original characters. Or at least, they really wanted to do another one. So the last "real season," number 8, was the first one on ABC.

    I think his original plan for "Scrubs 2.0" was for it to be a whole different show - possibly with a different title - with all new characters.

    But ABC wanted to keep the old cast involved to build on that fanbase. In fact, I think that ABC may have insisted that they agree to keep it going after season eight in order to get a chance to do an eighth season at all. So their choice was between ending too soon or going too long and they picked the latter. They agreed to end the way they wanted to in season 8 and then bring the old characters into the "new" show part time and fade them out over time.

    But then Scrubs 2.0 or Scrubs: Interns, as it was called, only lasted a season. As I recall, they knew it was coming so the finale was written as a finale, but they weren't really able to pay-it-off in a way that did justice to the whole series. And it didn't last long-enough to really fulfill whatever potential the new cast had. So ultimately it just felt like a disjointed and unnecessary coda to a beloved long-running show that had already had a good ending.

    At least, I think that's how I recall the story going. Either way, I know it was about commerce and it wasn't an artistic decision to tack on that last season with the interns. Because, of course, that would be dumb.

    But if you want to remember it as it should have been, you can just watch season 8 as the last season and forget there ever was another season.
    Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 20-11-2018, 19:19.

    Comment


      #27
      Originally posted by Southport Zeb View Post
      Blackadder was only alive at the end of the third series (and even in that one "Blackadder" was officially dead as the character had swapped identities with the Prince of Wales).
      I stand corrected - it's been a while since I saw the end of II.

      Comment


        #28
        In what way were the Blackadders long running?

        Comment


          #29
          The theme of Blackadder always seemed to me to be that, whether he was dead or alive at the end of each series was immaterial, as various descendents from the family could pop up anytime in history.

          Re: Blackadder Goes Forth, that's a fascinating detail that he was originally supposed to escape – huge if true, as they say.

          Comment


            #30
            Originally posted by Stumpy Pepys View Post
            A wag suggested the entire set [of Lindenstrasse] collapses in the final episode and it ends like the Truman Show.
            Y'know I'm half-watching this at the moment and said joker was not way off the mark. It' s gone very Truman Show.

            Comment

            Working...
            X