Latest news with #R.I.P.TheWheelofTime
Sydney Morning Herald
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
In an age of endless TV reboots, do finales still matter?
It's rare these days for a show to actually finish properly instead of being unceremoniously cancelled by a flailing streaming service (R.I.P. The Wheel of Time). But this year we have some big series coming to an end, including Andor and The Handmaid's Tale, which both finished this month, and Squid Game and Stranger Things still on their way. The pressure is on for these shows to wrap up not only through a satisfying final season but with an all-important final episode. It's not crazy to say that everything relies on the final episode sticking the landing, or else risking being hated and mocked forever (see: Game of Thrones). In 1990 American comedian Bob Newhart ended his eponymous sitcom Newhart (1982-1990) with a stunt finale that managed to change TV history. In the final episode, after a Japanese millionaire buys the town in which the show is set and turns it into a golf course, Newhart's character wakes up in bed next to his wife from an earlier show (The Bob Newhart Show, which ran from 1972 to 1978) and says, 'You won't believe the dream I just had!' – and describes the entire run of Newhart. It was not the first show to use the 'it was all a dream' trope, with I Dream of Jeannie using it in the '70s, and soap opera Dallas using it in the '80s to retcon away their entire ninth season in a (successful) bid to salvage failed ratings. But the most memorable use of it was for a series finale, and possibly why it became shorthand for a 'lazy' way of ending things. Loading Increased scrutiny on final episodes – especially through the 'golden age' of television – has led to a handful of universally lauded finales. This month marked the 10-year anniversary of the beloved final episode of Mad Men, which ranks up there with finales of shows such as Six Feet Under, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. However, shows that don't stick the landing – Game of Thrones, Lost, Killing Eve, Dexter, Gilmore Girls – are often more memorable, sometimes so unsatisfying or trite that they taint the legacy of a once-loved series. The stakes are high – or at least they have been. Now there's always potential to just reboot a show a few years later and gloss over the finale's mistakes. In just a few weeks, as its name suggests, Dexter: Resurrection will literally bring its titular serial killer back from the dead. And it's not even the first time the franchise has tried to correct its course.
The Age
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
In an age of endless TV reboots, do finales still matter?
It's rare these days for a show to actually finish properly instead of being unceremoniously cancelled by a flailing streaming service (R.I.P. The Wheel of Time). But this year we have some big series coming to an end, including Andor and The Handmaid's Tale, which both finished this month, and Squid Game and Stranger Things still on their way. The pressure is on for these shows to wrap up not only through a satisfying final season but with an all-important final episode. It's not crazy to say that everything relies on the final episode sticking the landing, or else risking being hated and mocked forever (see: Game of Thrones). In 1990 American comedian Bob Newhart ended his eponymous sitcom Newhart (1982-1990) with a stunt finale that managed to change TV history. In the final episode, after a Japanese millionaire buys the town in which the show is set and turns it into a golf course, Newhart's character wakes up in bed next to his wife from an earlier show (The Bob Newhart Show, which ran from 1972 to 1978) and says, 'You won't believe the dream I just had!' – and describes the entire run of Newhart. It was not the first show to use the 'it was all a dream' trope, with I Dream of Jeannie using it in the '70s, and soap opera Dallas using it in the '80s to retcon away their entire ninth season in a (successful) bid to salvage failed ratings. But the most memorable use of it was for a series finale, and possibly why it became shorthand for a 'lazy' way of ending things. Loading Increased scrutiny on final episodes – especially through the 'golden age' of television – has led to a handful of universally lauded finales. This month marked the 10-year anniversary of the beloved final episode of Mad Men, which ranks up there with finales of shows such as Six Feet Under, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. However, shows that don't stick the landing – Game of Thrones, Lost, Killing Eve, Dexter, Gilmore Girls – are often more memorable, sometimes so unsatisfying or trite that they taint the legacy of a once-loved series. The stakes are high – or at least they have been. Now there's always potential to just reboot a show a few years later and gloss over the finale's mistakes. In just a few weeks, as its name suggests, Dexter: Resurrection will literally bring its titular serial killer back from the dead. And it's not even the first time the franchise has tried to correct its course.
