Fandom Life

****WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD****

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Firefly

Supernatural

Charmed 

How I met Your Mother

Angel

****WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD****

I hope you all forgive me for what I expect to be a long and rambling post. I was in the process of ordering past seasons of Supernatural on DVD, when I got to wondering about how long the show was going to keep going. That lead me into thinking about other shows I've enjoyed and sort of TV shows in general, and how they tend to end up. The whole thing got so heavy in my head, I felt the need to write it down. That's a writer's brain for you. Once we latch on to something we can't let it go until it's down on paper. And I have a lot of work to do, so I can't have this cluttering up my brain. 

Here's how I see it. Most TV shows tend to end in one of three ways; with an ending that disappoints the fans, canceled before they even get an ending, or dragged on until they're in the dirt. I want to talk about these three things, and my brain being what is I'll probably wander off into other tangents along the way. I have not seen every TV show out there, obviously. In fact, I don't watch a great deal of television, I have shows I like and shows I love and neither list is all that long. So, this is all completely based off my own personal opinion. I'm not stating facts here, people. I expect that if anybody actually reads this, most of you will likely disagree with what I have to say. You should feel free to disagree in the comments section. I'd love for this to evolve into an actual discussion. I appreciate opposing opinions, but if you get nasty you can expect to be deleted. 

Disappointing the fans: How I Met Your Mother. From things I read, I know I'm not the only fan of HIMYM who was pretty ticked off with the ending. Here we spent 8 Seasons anticipating Ted meeting "The Mother" only to have her killed off with very little screen time. Now, a lot of people loved the ending. It was certainly a surprise and a twist to have Ted end up with Robin after all. But it felt false to me. 

Canceled: Firefly. I know Firefly didn't have good ratings when it first aired. But since then it has certainly gained a solid fanbase who don't appreciate it having ended after only one season. Yes, we did get a movie that sort of tied things up. Yes, I did love the movie. But it was not really an ending to the series. Too many things were left up in the air (for example, we all know Inara was dying in the series and that was not addressed in the movie) for it to feel completely satisfactory to me. 

Dragged Into The Dirt: Here, I expect, is where I'll get the most dissension. Charmed. I really liked Charmed. But, for me, the series lasted entirely too long. It started its downhill descent after Prue died and suddenly the whole concept of the "Charmed Ones" was dismantled by the fact that the circle of their power could simply be recreated by another sister. But its descent really picked up speed after Wyatt was born. Whatever it was about the story that originally drew me in, was lost. And here is where I'm going to kind of wander off on a tangent, so bear with me. 

I've seen lots of TV shows who introduce the "baby" character and it rarely works. To me, this has always felt like a gasp of desperation. The "baby" character is a way to revitalize a flagging story line. This is not always an actual baby. Sometimes it's merely a new character introduced in order to breathe new life into a series. Most of the time, it's the sounding of the death bell.

Now, an instance where I believe the "baby" character worked, is the introduction of Castiel into the Supernatural universe. I know there are plenty of fans who do not care at all for the way Supernatural progressed after Season Four. I, personally, am highly enamored of the whole angels and demons, war in Heaven, story line. Of course, I'm also hopelessly in love with Cas, so I may be a bit prejudiced. My greatest fear for Supernatural is that they will keep pushing until the story is ground into dust. Some fans think that has already happened. I haven't seen Season 10 or 11 yet, so I can't say whether or not I agree.  

The "baby" character did have a detrimental effect on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Like many others, I'm not highly fond of Dawn. A lot of people think the series should have ended with Buffy sacrificing her life for Dawn after the portal was opened. I even think, I'm not positive about this, that this was originally meant to be the ending. Personally, I enjoyed the following seasons of Buffy and despite being extremely unhappy with Spike's beautifully heroic death, I was well satisfied with the series finale. That being said, I do believe they came dangerously close to ruining the show. I'm glad they ended it when they did. I think one more season would have been enough to run the series into the ground. 

Another series that seemed to do all right with the "baby" character was Angel. I don't think Connor's birth, odd as it was, hurt the show. However, I am not a big Angel fan. I liked the show well enough, but I've by no means seen every episode. So I don't feel as if I can debate this one too far. I do know the show was canceled and there seems to be a difference of opinion among fans as to the final episode. Personally, I kind of liked it, but again, not a fan, so I'm not emotionally invested in the series as I am in some of the others I've mentioned. 

If anybody has hung around all the way to the end of this thing, I hope I didn't bore you too badly. I would love it if you would leave a comment below about one of the shows mentioned above, or about your own personal picks for the three categories I mentioned. How do you feel about the "baby" character? What are your thoughts on your favorite TV shows? Whatever. I like to talk fandoms. You got ships? Let's talk about those too. But keep it civil, please. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.