TV shows that ended up DISAPPOINTING you [SPOILERS]

[Comic-Reader Lad]

LOST

It might be hard to believe, but I never watched the series LOST when it was on the air. I bought the DVD sets as they came out and only just now got around to watching them. Even though the series ended in 2010, I have been able to spend the last 8 years successfully avoiding spoilers, so although I knew the basic premise of the series and that it involved lots of mysteries, I really didn't know any plot points.

Well, I've just spent the last 3 weeks binge-watching the six seasons, and I have to say that I feel sorry for the people who actually watched the series in real time and thus wasted a full six years of their lives with this claptrap.

Now, the reality is that Lost did do a lot of things right. It had great production values, exciting moments, intriguing plot twists, and employed interesting narrative techniques in telling its story.

The problem is that it failed to deliver a satisfying and conclusive ending. When you stoke people's curiosity with so much mystery, subtext, allusion, and synchronicity, and then basically abandon all of it to give a schmaltzy ending that favored amateurish tearjerking over resolving your own mythology, then you have betrayed the fans and crafted one of the worst finales in TV history that actually rises to the level where it invalidates all the good things that came before it. Basically, nothing that happened on the series really mattered except Jack plugging up the light hole in the finale and then dropping dead.

Further, the flashforward at then end of Season 3 where the bearded Jack tells Kate that they "have" to go back to the island turned out to be kinda wrong. If they never went back, things actually would have been better for all concerned. Now, this could have been a great dramatic point, but it really wasn't made out to be as such.

Also, when you look back on everything, the fact that everything was so mysterious was really more the writers jerking the audience around than anything else. There really was no reason for all the characters to speak in riddles. There really was no reason for the Others to be as violent as they were. The only justification for that was given in Season 6 in the Jacob origin flashback episode: "they are bad people."

It's fairly obvious that in spite of the writers protestations that they had the whole story mapped out in advance so that the finale wouldn't be a cheat like "the snowglobe" of St. Elsewhere (and, by the way, St. Elsewhere was a much better and more satisfying show than this), the writers really didn't have each and every nuance decided upon because later revelations sometimes contradicted earlier events and were clumsily brushed aside with a half-assed explanation like "I lied."

Umm, exactly why was Walt kidnapped anyway in the Season 1 finale? His psychic abilities really played absolutely no part in the series, and since The Others and the Dharma Initiative were revealed to be two different unconnected entities, it doesn't make sense that The Others would be conducting experiments on people or even know how to do so.

Why did Mr. Friendly need to wear that fake beard? Why did the Others often dress up like backwoods hillbillies? Just to make people afraid of them? Why was this necessary especially when the Others could leave the island and travel either to Hydra Island or back to the United States pretty much any time they felt like it? What were the Others so desperate to protect that they had to go through all the subterfuge? Lots of cryptic hocus pocus that added up to nothing since it was later revealed that Ben never spoke to Jacob anyway, so what the hell did Ben really know about the purpose of the Island?

And where did that wheel come from that could shift the island in time?

Tons of other questions remain because the writers chose style over substance and didn't really have any indications of what the answers were or how everything tied together themselves.

The whole series amounted to a bunch of English majors / film geeks lounging around their college dorm room engaging in pseudo-intellectual discussions about fate vs. coincidence, faith vs. science, and six degrees of separation just talking to hear the sound of their own voices.

Again, on a micro level, Lost did create an exciting, often compelling show with lots of great characters, but since it was part of the premise that it would all add up to one big, great macro story, the series fails because it definitely did not deliver that. There really is no reason to ever rewatch the show now that you know it all adds up to nothing.

So, what are your feelings about Lost and what are your candidates for shows that ended up disappointing you?

[Starter Set]

Lost is such a perfect example of Abrams' deficiencies as a writer/director.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Lost is such a perfect example of Abrams' deficiencies as a writer/director.

Well, to be fair, Abrams didn't really have much to do with the show on a day-to-day basis especially after Season 1.

This was really the baby of Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

[Indian Ink]

I didn't finish the first season of Lost. I thought even then, that they were making it up as they were going along and weren't going to be able to tie it all together. Latter I thought about getting back into it as it had so many fans, but then I heard about them hiring writers who weren't in the know with where it was heading. And I thought, well with this type of show that's got to be a mistake.

There's an expression in my country "Yeah, nah." ("I have considered it, and my answer is no.")

[Vworp Vworp]

I used to have only answer to this question. Now there are two. Sure, there's probably been a fair few TV shows over the years I've got bored with or moved on from but only two have made me legitimately angry.

First and always. Chuck. Now understand that I loved seasons 1 and 2 of Chuck. It quickly became one of my favourite shows of all time. And oh, how I laughed when season 2 ended with Chuck getting the new Intersect and instantly 'knowing kung-fu'. What I didn't anticipate was how that would effect the show going forwards and more importantly, the hugely detrimental effect it would have on Sarah. Because it wasn't long into series 3 that Sarah was transformed from a formerly capable kick-ass spy to an all too regular damsel in distress.

As a result of Chuck gaining what were essentially superpowers, Sarah's role became that of victim. Sure, she had the occasional moment of agency, but for the most part she was simply Chuck's love interest. And not one but two season finales (OK, technically one of them was a mid-point finale in season 3) saw Sarah helpless and needing Check to save the day (and her) whilst she was out of action. Indeed, it was finding out how the last couple of episodes of season 4 were going to play out that I stopped watching the show. And haven't seen the conclusion to that season or any of season 5 to this day.

I did however spoil myself about season 5, in the faint hope that the series might fix all of it's previous mistakes and finish on a high. But nope. Instead, the story is again about something happening to Sarah but the actual impact is ultimately about how it effects Chuck. Sarah is once again rendered a plot device and nothing more.

And on a similar theme, hello Supergirl. Now Supergirl wasn't quite as high in my affections after it's first season, but I had really enjoyed it and was very happy when it was renewed for a second year. Of course, that happiness was tempered by the fact that the show was moving to the CW, where the Arrowverse had a pretty horrendous record with female characters across all their shows, whether it be killing them off randomly and using them very poorly in the meantime. But I hoped that with much of the same production team behind the scenes, we'd get more or less the same show. And things did start of well, with the Superman arc not falling into the trap of having Supes save the day and Kara simply be a bystander.

Unfortunately, it turned out that was just a slow burn. Because whilst Kal-El turned out to be one of Supergirl's only unaided victories, against almost everyone and everything else she seemed to need help. And not peripheral help in the way that the Arrow sidekicks help Ollie, whilst he still gets to do all the butt-kicking and day saving. Oh no, Kara needed actual physical help in almost every episode from one character or another.

And then came Mon-El. Who's character arc in seasons 3+4 has basically been 1) Douche 2) Douche that Kara is now in love with because reasons 3) Noble hero who will now mostly take over the show, be in every single episode, give Kara more angst to deal with, save her from stuff she shouldn't need saving from and add to the general feeling of Kara now being little more than a passive supporting character in her own show!!!

See, I don't know which of these annoys me more. I preferred Chuck as a show in general, but Supergirl is supposed to be the lead in her show. One of very few superhero shows with a female lead. Not that there was any real excuse for how Sarah's character was treated on Chuck but she was a supporting character. How anyone could write a female-led series and not look at the scripts to most of this year's Supergirl and think "Haaaang on a mo. This is genuinely awful, it's written like we don't care for the character at best and hate her at worst!" genuinely boggles my mind.

[Scott Taylor]

Gonna go with Stargate SG-1, because I've been re-watching some of them lately. It had such a cool concept but was far too predictable.

[DennisTheMenace]

I didn't finish the first season of Lost. I thought even then, that they were making it up as they were going along and weren't going to be able to tie it all together. Latter I thought about getting back into it as it had so many fans, but then I heard about them hiring writers who weren't in the know with where it was heading. And I thought, well with this type of show that's got to be a mistake.

There's an expression in my country "Yeah, nah." ("I have considered it, and my answer is no.")

You weren't really wrong. I read an interesting story about Lost a few years ago. The writers were so convinced that the show wouldn't make it past season one, they decided to throw all this crazy stuff in thinking they would never have to explain any of it. That's why we had a polar bear, smoke monster, etc in the first season.

[Indian Ink]

So many shows that one could mention in the broad sense. Lately I've been disappointed with The Flash and Super Girl. They've turned from light things of fun, to (still shallow) long arcs of doom, gloom, betrayal and stupidity.

My wife and I just deleted what we had left of the last season of the 1970's Wonder Woman. At some point it turned into the Diana Prince IDAC agent show where once or twice she'd very briefly change into the costume to breakdown a door and then change back. It wasn't terrible, but it was losing it's fun factor while still remaining silly.

[Knightmare10880]

My wife and I just deleted what we had left of the last season of the 1970's Wonder Woman. At some point it turned into the Diana Prince IDAC agent show where once or twice she'd very briefly change into the costume to breakdown a door and then change back. It wasn't terrible, but it was losing it's fun factor while still remaining silly.

I can understand where you are coming from on that as my own opinion of the last season of Wonder Woman has gone back and forth several times. I guess what bothers me the most is how Season 3 was stripping away all the main parts of Wonder Wonder and turning it into a generic 70's action show. And had that's especially telling with what they were planning for Season 4 with Diana moving to the California IDAC getting a "cute wise cracking kid" added to the cast.

[Powerboy]

I can understand where you are coming from on that as my own opinion of the last season of Wonder Woman has gone back and forth several times. I guess what bothers me the most is how Season 3 was stripping away all the main parts of Wonder Wonder and turning it into a generic 70's action show. And had that's especially telling with what they were planning for Season 4 with Diana moving to the California IDAC getting a "cute wise cracking kid" added to the cast.

I remember the first season of WW when they had the alien Andros played with sophistication, subtlety and acting skill by Tim O'Connor. I thought a sad indication of what the modern version was going to be was shown when Andros returned but now he's a boring 20 something action hero and presented as if that's what he had always been.

[Powerboy]

I can understand where you are coming from on that as my own opinion of the last season of Wonder Woman has gone back and forth several times. I guess what bothers me the most is how Season 3 was stripping away all the main parts of Wonder Wonder and turning it into a generic 70's action show. And had that's especially telling with what they were planning for Season 4 with Diana moving to the California IDAC getting a "cute wise cracking kid" added to the cast.

I remember the first season of WW when they had the alien Andros played with sophistication, subtlety and acting skill by Tim O'Connor. I thought a sad indication of what the modern version was going to be was shown when Andros returned but now he's a boring 20 something action hero and presented as if that's what he had always been.

[numberthirty]

Well, to be fair, Abrams didn't really have much to do with the show on a day-to-day basis especially after Season 1.

This was really the baby of Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Abrams wasn't that involved with Lost. It was really more Dindelof's baby.
He only directed the pilot.

I lost interest during the final or penultimate (don't exactly recall) season.
Acually, I think I lost interest a lot sooner than that and just watched it out of habit.

I have greatly enjoyed other Abrams shows like Alias and Fringe.

Yep/Yep.

Trying to put the blame on Abrams for that is like trying to pin the blame for the Saw franchise on Wan/Whannell. You can try doing it, buy it doesn't really hold up when you take a closer look at it.

[Carabas]

Lost is such a perfect example of Abrams' deficiencies as a writer/director.

Abrams wasn't that involved with Lost. It was really more Dindelof's baby.
He only directed the pilot.

I lost interest during the final or penultimate (don't exactly recall) season.
Acually, I think I lost interest a lot sooner than that and just watched it out of habit.

I have greatly enjoyed other Abrams shows like Alias and Fringe.

[Sacred Knight]

Season 6 had some disappointments (it ended up being way too much focus on the sideways world once we found out what it was; it would have benefitted from less of those and more "island" flashbacks instead of just the one we got). But other than that, its still my favorite show of all time. By a large margin. Nothing compares in my eyes. Its like it was made specifically for me.

As far as the mysteries quite frankly I'm glad some of them didn't have straight-up answers. To this day I like imagining my own origins and history for the Island and whatnot.

[feenix219]

Abrams wasn't that involved with Lost. It was really more Dindelof's baby.
He only directed the pilot.

I lost interest during the final or penultimate (don't exactly recall) season.
Acually, I think I lost interest a lot sooner than that and just watched it out of habit.

I have greatly enjoyed other Abrams shows like Alias and Fringe.

I've heard rumors that part of why Lost stumbled its landing, is because some of the sci-fi aspects were removed to be used as the focus of Fringe. Shrug.