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“What Has Been The Biggest Middle Finger To Fans In The History Of TV Shows?” (31 Answers)
Watching TV is probably one of the most common hobbies people have. There’s a good reason for it – since it’s said that we’re living in a golden age of television, there are so many shows that anyone can find something that interests them, even if the interest is kind of niche.
At the same time, while most of the time, people enjoy various shows, there are times when they are more upset by them than entertained. Whether it’s due to poor storytelling, errors, or premature cancellations, the ways TV series can quickly lose their fans’ unwavering loyalty are numerous, and some of them are mentioned in this list. So, don’t be shy, check it out and see if you agree with the opinions or not by using your powerful upvote and downvote buttons!
More info: Reddit
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#1
Playing Firefly episodes out of order intentionally was a pretty big d**k move.
RELATED:
#2
"My name is Earl", I just wish the network didn't pull the plug.
Janelle Collard 14 hours ago
One of my favorite moments is when Earl was trying to quit smoking + someone told him told use carrots. Earl said. "But they won't stay lit!" 😂
#3
Canceling Saturday Morning Cartoons completely on free broadcast TV in 2014. I feel so bad for kids without cable or streaming, they can no longer wake up to Saturday morning cartoons.
Technically, there are still free Saturday morning cartoons on PBS Kids and MeTV Toons. But these shows are either for young kids, or grown ups who want something nostalgic.
It has been proven that people’s love for TV shows comes from the hormones the brain releases. To be more specific, endorphins, dopamine and serotonin are the chemicals that make a person feel good.
Yet, the pleasure of TV cannot be linked only to hormones; it also has to do with a person's mental health. What we mean by this is that TV shows tend to become an escape from reality and help us relax, forgetting all the stress that we have to deal with in our lives.
Then, there are captivating storylines, and all the aforementioned things combined create an irresistible and entertaining (to most) force.
#4
That time they wrote Dr Drake Ramoray out of Days of our Lives because the actor said something stupid about the writers and that pissed them off.
#5
Ted getting back with Robin after the Mother dies and his kids encouraging him.
Laura Lawson 6 hours ago
That last episode pissed me off beyond what a TV show should have. The ENTIRE PREMISE of the years of this show was that the 2 of them were fated to meet each other & be together. Then the whole thing was shot to oblivion by him going to Robin at the end?? It's like they got new writers for that episode that had never watched the show before.
#6
Pushing Daisies
I know it was affected by the Writers Strike, but that only cut the second season short. It could easily have been revived. Such a great premise and excellent cast.
At least give us a movie.
Still, from time to time, even the most enjoyable TV series disappoint their viewers, leaving them with a bitter taste in their mouths. Probably every person has an example of it in their minds.
That’s why when a Reddit user asked “What has been the biggest middle finger to fans in the history of TV shows?” over 10K people had something to say. So, we compiled their responses into today’s list.
As you’ll see, it mentions the infamous season 8 of Game of Thrones, which ruined itself by devastating many storylines, misusing characters, and making quite a few small errors. Or the ending of How I Met Your Mother, which undid almost everything it worked towards for nine seasons.
#7
Objectively GOT S8.
Surly Scot 9 hours ago (edited)
Worst ending ever f*cking done. I think this is an HBO problem, i've watched numerous shows on their channel only for them to absolutely destroy the ending, like they're annoyed they won't be getting the ratings from it anymore so they toss in a cr*p demise for spite.
#8
An old one, but on the last episode of "Little House on the Prairie", they literally blew the entire town up with dynamite.
#9
The Witcher…. Letting Henry Cavill go is such a massive mistake.
Surly Scot 9 hours ago
They should have stuck to the agreements made with him that they wouldn't change the story, he stated he'd leave if they did because it's his passion project. They changed the story, he left. Hope whomever had that happen got fired, Hemsworth cannot play Geralt, Caville IS Geralt, just like Ryan Reynolds IS Deadpool and no one else can play it.
Without mentioning anything more specific, we also have to point out that there were also people mentioning shows being canceled prematurely.
Basically, in the last couple of years or so, it has become a norm for shows to be canceled after one or two seasons, usually before the story can properly develop and find its fanbase. Sometimes it is even left on a cliffhanger, leading viewers to be even more upset about it.
Part of the reason for this spree of cancellations is the phenomenon called “shiny object syndrome”. Its technical definition is that it is a continual state of distraction caused by a belief that there is something new worth pursuing, which ends up hurting the ideas that were already planned or halfway executed.
#12
Adult Swim cancelled Metalocalypse, and when fans launched a letter-writing campaign to bring it back, they aired a segment where they were feeding all the fan letters into a paper shredder.
So, in terms of shows and streaming services, the companies cut off the projects that they deem to be relatively unsuccessful in order to relocate the budget to a new shiny idea. For instance, here’s a full-blown list of various shows that Netflix has canceled, some of them mentioned in our list too.
What you may notice in this list is that some of these shows weren’t that unsuccessful, and were pretty widely loved, like I Am Not Okay with This or Fate: The Winx Saga, but when you compare their numbers with Netflix’s giants like Squid Game or Stranger Things, the views of the former are lower and were deemed unsuccessful by the streaming company.
#13
Dallas: Bobby Ewing waking up in the shower and them writing off a whole season as just a dream.
#15
I think the way the original Roseanne went off the rails with winning the lottery which actually was a dream because Dan died of a heart attack, etc.
Even though fans of the shows tend to express their disappointment loudly online, for example, by creating petitions to get the shows back, sadly, all of this usually leads to nothing, just a new show that gets released and cut short, like a never-ending circle.
This dashes people's hopes that the situation will get better and they'll be able to watch a story reach a proper conclusion, leaving them feeling as though streaming services are giving them the middle finger.
What cancellation is your “Roman Empire”? Or maybe you have some other grievances about your beloved TV shows? Share with us in the comments!
#16
"Who has a better story, than Bran the Broken"
It was already dead by that point. But jeez, they really had to twist the knife with that line.
#17
Bringing Palpatine back. One of the most famous stories of a heros journey, and the tragedy of his father was basically made irrelevant because their epic success, turned out to do absolutely nothing.
Luke saved his father and together, they defeated this evil that had been infamous for like 50 years, and within 30 seconds of turning on The Rise of Skywalker you realize Luke and Anakin actually failed and everything they did was for absolutely nothing. Not to mention Han, Leia, and Luke werent in a scene together..... This isnt even creative choice it was pure stupidity.
DennyS (denzoren) 14 hours ago
I don't hate the new star wars and I like that new generations are getting new shows to watch but gosh, I just hoped the old story remained the same and they started new.
#18
The ending of True Blood, One of the best parts of the show was the back and forth of who Sookie would end up with, only to end the show randomly>!showing the back of the head of her new "true love" at a dinner table, a random guy nobody had ever seen in the show before until the last literal last second of the show. !
#19
Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy. I reupped my Netflix sub just to watch it and it was poopoo.
Surly Scot 9 hours ago
It should have ended at season 3. Season 4 felt like it was just for ratings.
#20
Sherlock Holmes with Benedict Cumberbatch.
"Oh, you wanna try and piece together clues to solve the mystery of how Holmes survived? Literally f**k you specifically you nerd, look at all of you and your nerd friends trying to solve mysteries like a nerd. But keep watching because maybe Sherlock, Moriarty, and Watson will all have a big thr***ome. You'd like that wouldn't you, you f*****g pervert".
#21
The cancellation of Carnivale was the first. Travelers was also a big one for me.
#23
[Unaliving] Dexter multiple times, then being like JUST KIDDING.
Marnie 2 hours ago
Someone commented here that Rita was whiny. Of all thing to complain about, this seems strange to me. She seemed largely not whiny to me. She was dating a serial killer who was very selfish and self centered (not always, but most of the time). She seemed to be mostly tolerant. And when she had a problem, she discussed it rationally. She was a victim, not a whiny shrew, imo. I have watched this at least 6 times. I see problems with it. It has flaws. Yet, I have been a big fan, despite those flaws. I never saw anything in this show that could be considered giving the middle finger to fans (imo of course).
#24
The ending, almost the whole last season, of Killing Eve was a big one.
#25
The first season of Our Flag Means Death was hugely successful. It had great ratings and was one of HBO Max's most popular shows at the time. Yet, the network decided to cut the budget and reduce the number of episodes for season 2.
The second season of Our Flag Means Death was even more successful than the first. 45 times more successful than the average HBO Max show, in fact. It elevated the series to the status of most popular Max Original. So naturally, the network decided to cancel the third season.
#26
Pretty Little liars fans spent years creating blogs and coming up with theories and basically doing the writer's jobs for them by coming up with all of these incredibly well written directions that the show could take. Well it seems like the the writers absolutely hated that, and decided to mesh a hundred of the worst theories together to create a final season so horrific I can't even re-watch it.
#27
Penny Dreadful.
It was like John Logan sat down to write a season finale and halfway through said "S***w it! I'm done!".
Surly Scot 9 hours ago
This one was devastating. I spent my nights drooling over Timothy Dalton and being mesmerized by Eva Green. To this date she's done the best spirit/demonic possession i've ever seen.
#28
South Park's revealing of Cartman's dad was an April's fools joke on the fans.
PeepPeep the duck 6 hours ago
Yeah but they made up for it in season 14 thank the Canadian gods. I just wish they would release it on dvd, cos they never do, and it’s not like Mohammad wasn’t present in the super best friends episode in season 5 already.
#29
Poochie left for his home planet in the second episode. And they never got to the fireworks factory.
Peter Parker 8 hours ago
That was not a middle finger to Poochie's fans, because he didn't have fans. Well, except Homer..
#30
House of the Dragon takes the cake IMO
Season 1 : PREPARE FOR WAR NEXT SEASON!
Season 2 after 1 fight sequence : PREPARE FOR WAR NEXT SEASON!
Surly Scot 9 hours ago
Another HBO piece of cr*p. It's all ratings at this point, they're not interested in quality anymore.
#31
The last episode of *Star Trek Enterprise*.
WindySwede 6 hours ago
It was a bit strange, especially since when I first saw it, I haven't seen tng..
What do you think ?
Jessica SpeLangm 10 hours ago
Didn't I see this exact post, or something VERY similar in the past few months on here? Is it really that bad, BP, that you can't create brand new content>
Surly Scot 9 hours ago
BP's become like the nagging spouse who won't stop bringing up arguments from 5yrs ago.
Load More Replies... Doctor Strange 13 hours ago
Infinity Train. The first three seasons were incredible. Amazingly funny, yet at the same time incredibly powerful and moving. And with incredible attention to detail. So naturally they cancel it, ending it on Season 4 which had all the impact of an episode of peppa pig.
Reset Game 2 hours ago
Drop dead gorgeous. The last season was really lazy writing and unimaginative
Jonathan Labelle 7 hours ago
riverbale its was ok but they started pullind surnatural thing out of there a*s
Miss Tinker 10 hours ago
Beauty and the Beast (the original 80’s series). Linda Hamilton fell pregnant & wanted to leave the show so instead of ending it with Season 2 in a way that would have respected the fans & the characters they decided to make a ridiculous Season 3 that totally ruined it & devastated me. I’m still upset more than 30 years later 😭
Apatheist Account2 10 hours ago
If you're talking Linda Hamilton, killing her off in Terminator 3 then bringing her back for Dark Fate looked very desperate. Not bothering to de-age Arnold also looked cheap.
Load More Replies...
Jessica SpeLangm 10 hours ago
Didn't I see this exact post, or something VERY similar in the past few months on here? Is it really that bad, BP, that you can't create brand new content>
Surly Scot 9 hours ago
BP's become like the nagging spouse who won't stop bringing up arguments from 5yrs ago.
Load More Replies... Doctor Strange 13 hours ago
Infinity Train. The first three seasons were incredible. Amazingly funny, yet at the same time incredibly powerful and moving. And with incredible attention to detail. So naturally they cancel it, ending it on Season 4 which had all the impact of an episode of peppa pig.
Reset Game 2 hours ago
Drop dead gorgeous. The last season was really lazy writing and unimaginative
Jonathan Labelle 7 hours ago
riverbale its was ok but they started pullind surnatural thing out of there a*s
Miss Tinker 10 hours ago
Beauty and the Beast (the original 80’s series). Linda Hamilton fell pregnant & wanted to leave the show so instead of ending it with Season 2 in a way that would have respected the fans & the characters they decided to make a ridiculous Season 3 that totally ruined it & devastated me. I’m still upset more than 30 years later 😭
Apatheist Account2 10 hours ago
If you're talking Linda Hamilton, killing her off in Terminator 3 then bringing her back for Dark Fate looked very desperate. Not bothering to de-age Arnold also looked cheap.
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