You can just let the show die out

Photo courtesy of ABC/Wikimedia Commons

It has become a common phenomenon for shows to continuously release endless new seasons, adding in new characters and plotlines to keep the show alive. But sometimes these creators take it too far, and the show simply just needs to die out. They need to accept defeat, and write that series finale. 

I recently had this realization when reminiscing on shows that I used to watch, one of them being Manifest (2018-2023), which I began watching in 2021 when some of the episodes were actively coming out. The show centers around the crew members and passengers of a plane that was missing for five years. Everyone on the plane is presumed to be dead, until one day they show up, all exactly the same age as when they got on the plane, despite five years passing.

This concept was initially very interesting to me, reminding me a little of Lost (2004-2010), which centers around survivors of a plane crash who begin to notice odd things happening on the island where they were stranded. I imagined the show, Manifest (2018-2023), uncovering paranormal activity occurring on the plane leading to their disappearance, or something similar. 

But, I never found out how the show ended. When the fourth season began releasing episodes in 2022, I tried to start watching them, but I was quickly confused. There were so many ongoing plots and new characters that were created in the previous season, that I forgot approximately half of them. The show had expanded from the original plane disappearance to an entire new world of issues that I no longer understood.

The show should have wrapped up in the third season, and if people were still intrigued a spinoff could have been crafted with the world that they created. Instead, they dragged out the show for too long, completely losing the concepts that they introduced so long ago in the pilot. 

This is not the only show with this problem. Another prime example of this is Grey’s Anatomy (2005-2026) which currently has 22 seasons, about 12 seasons too many if you ask me. The show originally started with a cast that fans grew to love and cherish, until Shonda Rhimes, the creator of the show, decided to either kill off almost half of the original or make them somehow disappear. 

I am sure the new characters are played by fantastic actors who add to the dramatic nature of the show, but I do not care about them! Some of them are obviously attempting to fill the shoes of an original cast member, or are just straight up annoying. The show has been going on for far too long, and definitely could have been wrapped up long before the show turned 20 years old. A show that is almost my age should not be anywhere close to producing new episodes. 

I believe that this epidemic stems from many companies' desire to continue making money off of a television show that they know is beloved by fans, instead of putting in the effort to create a new spinoff or series. Creators and all other relevant television personnel need to realize that sometimes it is just time to let the show die out. It may have had a fantastic run and have many fans, but it may start to lose them if they do not know when to call it quits.