Are shows without and ending bad for the bottom line?

General Discussion Movies & TV
#1

I was reading about a new Grimm hitting tv which got me to thinking I haven’t collected that one on DVD yet. The series has an ending and my collection only consists of shows that end. Is anyone else like me in that you won’t touch a series you know doesn’t have an ending?

I think it’s bad for the content providers to do that. I can understand ending a show if it doesn’t perform well, but there is the after market I guess they give no thought to.

There are some older shows I may have watched if they concluded, but I happen to know they don’t. So I won’t bother with them. Same is true of adding to my collection. I won’t re-watch something that doesn’t have an ending.

I would think a savvy company would at least include a closer episode for a cancelled series. So that the entire run doesn’t become toxic to fans who are the most tempted to buy the DVD.

#2

Na, it depends on the target audience. I take it you like a good long form story, some people love sitcoms. Most people like both.
Take the Simpsons for example, definitely no “ending” because the premise is as simple as the day-to-day happenings in the town of Springfield through the protagonists, the Simpsons. There is a fairly strong continuity, but no over character arcs that beg to be finalized. Now look at Breaking Bad, a very clear cut problem that only gets worse, but you know it WILL end, it is essentially part of the plot. He is aware the end is coming, his problem to overcome is that he doesnt want to leave his family in financial ruins. People invest in both shows, but for different reasons.
Then theres the merchandising and ad-revenue. Simpsons definitely has their logo on more products, but Breaking Bad was probably being viewed by more eyes per episode which would boost the cost to advertise on that channel at that time. Then there’s HBO which pulls it money mostly from direct consumer subscriptions, hence no ads and limited merchandising.
So their “bottom line” isnt measured strictly by DVD sales, it’s one small facet.

#3

It’s kind of what’s keeping me from watching Constantine. That show doesn’t have a satisfying conclusion because CBS sucks and cancelled it.

#4

Well it was never on CBS.

#5

You’re right it was NBC, my bad. I forgot about that one. I thought it was ABC at first, but then I remembered that’s a Disney company, and the only other one I remembered was CBS.