With lives getting busier no one wants to feel they are wasting their time in front of the TV

Nobody has time to waste. There are so many things to do. So, when it comes to sitting down and watching a film or series, nobody likes to feel they’ve wasted their time. Before committing to anything we look up reviews, hear what others say and if the pros outweigh the cons then we are all in.

For some it is just watching the show and for others it is watching the show, rewatching, joining a subreddit to obsess over details, theory-crafting and subscribing to YouTube channels with people talking about that show.

What? Just me for that last one? Ok.

Having spent that kind of time, it’s a punch in the gut when the studio unexpectedly cancels it, failing to resolve major plot lines or deliver on future promises.

More and more viewers are holding back on watching shows in fear that they will end abruptly and I don’t blame them. This industry has proven again and again that it cannot be trusted.

Or it may be just me venting.

Here are series that really shouldn’t have been cancelled and left us hanging.

The Acolyte (Disney +)

If you are a regular reader you know my feelings about the Star Wars universe: love it to bits but got turned away by a fan base that has become unbearably toxic and a company that has proven time and time again it could not care less about the quality of the product. The name of the game is money and Disney is churning out Star Wars content at an industrial pace. If they can slap on a Star Wars label and sell toys, they will do it, artistic integrity be damned.

The Acolyte dropped earlier this year to much fanfare, promising a new interesting take on the universe and a storyline that would move away from the Skywalker saga.

The series was… ok, I guess. It suffered from the usual Star Wars fatigue, boring tropes and predictable plot lines that fans could see coming a mile away. Still, it was a decent attempt.

Not for the hardcore fans though. They slammed it so the company axed it. Instead of giving the producers some breathing room to tell the story they wanted to tell, Disney unceremoniously dropped it despite previous assurances that such a thing wouldn’t happen.

Our Flag Means Death

The pirate comedy about an unlikely pair of pirates finding love together was fun, uplifting and genuinely funny. It was one of those series that I just knew it would end on a 4th season-high note, the way all great series do. I fell in love with it and as it happens in all cases where that happens, I got my heart broken.

Our Flag Means Death returned for a second season after a hugely successful debut but got cancelled almost immediately. A concrete reason for the cancellation has not been given by HBO Max and it appears that running for two seasons was the original intention. Wish I knew that before I became so emotionally invested on the hijinks of a gay pirate duo in the high seas.

Halo

Halo is a prime example of a show leaving people hanging. A live-action adaptation of the beloved Xbox franchise, Halo failed to impress but producers and the studio were adamant: season 3 is going full steam ahead, even strategically leaking plot info for multiple upcoming seasons. Rumour has it that the show was cancelled due to staggering budget costs, leaving the series with unresolved plot lines after the second season finale. It was a blatant attempt to fool viewers into watching it, instead of packing it in after the first season and admitting defeat.

Dead Boy Detectives

Paranormal investigation, teenage angst and horror. What’s not to love? Well, a lot. Dead Boy Detectives is a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and an unofficial spin-off of the successful Sandman debuting this year only to be cancelled after only one season. The show wasn’t a flop, it garnered a fan base and some critical acclaim but Netflix came out axe-swinging anyway.

To be fair though, the cancellation might just be damage control, as Gaiman is currently amidst a sexual assault allegations scandal. This might just be Netflix distancing itself from a potential PR disaster, or it could just be an excuse for them to axe a show that wasn’t as successful as it hoped.

Whatever the case, this is yet more proof that blindly committing to a show just isn’t worth it.