Have you noticed that TV shows just don’t bow out with dignity nowadays? Instead of ending a show with a masterful finale, they instead go on and on and on until the viewership gets so low the show gets cancelled. 

My favorite show ever is “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Anyone who knows me knows that. This show aired in 1997, before I was born. I jumped on the Buffy-train in 2015 and by that time the show was well wrapped up. The finale aired in 2003. It concluded the story very well. I don’t think I could have asked for a better finale. 

Another show I enjoyed for a while was “The Walking Dead.” I was also late to that party and began watching it around 2016, about six years after the show aired. I loved this show. I binge-watched it on Netflix and eventually got caught up to where I could watch it on cable with the rest of the world on Sunday nights. From what I understand, when the show first aired it was an event. People had watch parties. It was all people talked about at work. It was everywhere. I recently watched a video on YouTube about the downfall of “The Walking Dead” and in it, they said the show used to have 17 million live viewers and it only pulled about one million for its season finale in 2023. 

I haven’t even seen the finale of this show I used to love. I gave up on it around the beginning of season 10. It was no longer enjoyable. The YouTube video I watched mentioned it lost a lot of people due to a method called “boomerang storytelling.” This is where one week you focus on one group of characters, the next you focus on a different group with a different storyline, then another group and story and then it circles back to that first story a month later. Fans did not like this type of storytelling, especially when they left audiences on a cliffhanger and did not resolve the cliffhanger until a month later. 

I wonder if I had watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” when it aired (you know, if I was alive at that time) if I would have loved it as much. I think the show has incredible storytelling and pacing, but I have always had all 144 episodes at my disposal whenever I wanted. I wonder if having to wait a week for a new episode and nearly a year for a new season would have tainted my love for it. I know many fans who did watch it as intended because there was no other way back in the day. I wonder if streaming and binge-watching has ruined how shows are supposed to be watched. 

Another thing showrunners need to understand is that sometimes shows just need to die. I love “Grey’s Anatomy” and kept up with it for quite a while, but that show quite literally has two original characters left and lost my interest years ago. This was another show that had everyone’s attention at one time. When a show makes its point and has nowhere else to go, it is time to end. Keeping a show going just for the sake of it only tarnishes the final product and wastes everyone’s time. 

Standard reporter Bethany Porter can be contacted at bporter@southernstandard.com