WTF is wrong with TV?

So last night was the season finale for Smallville.  I watched it, enjoyed it, yet somehow I was left ultimately unsatisfied.  The epic battle between good and evil (Clark and Lex respectively) was lame and the plotlines for this season were never really resolved.  They may have been dealt with (Brainiac and the like) but it was like a punchline without a joke.  I didn’t get it.

This has lead me to a startling realization.  Other than a few key people in the almighty TV land, nobody knows how they are going to end a show or even about the ultimate payoff that a season or series finale should bring.  I mean as a fan or at least a loyal watcher of a show, they are entitled to a decent conclusion. 

I have never been a fan of cliffhangers for season finales mainly because you never know (or rarely know) if the show will be back.  Even with an almost guaranteed renewal things aren’t always set in stone. 

Case in point: Fastlane.  I loved that show.  It was The Fast and the Furious meets NYPD Blue.  Awesome show.  Very stylish and witty while still being sorta kinda grounded in reality.  The show ended with a cliffhanger and was supposed to be renewed for the next season.  that was the reason they reshot the ending to the show and gave it the cliffhanger.  However, two weeks after the last episode ended, TV Guide had a very small write-up of the cancellation followed by an online message from Fox themselves.  Weak!!!!

Other shows were like this too.  I can name off a bunch (Veronica Mars, The OC sorta, Black Sash, Day Break, etc…) but I won’t to save space and my sanity. 

Look.  My point of this whole thing is that TV producers want to bring dramas, serials, and fictional families to television for the audience to enjoy and to essentially let them into their homes.  They want the watchers (you and I) to become part of the families or one of the gang when it comes to most shows.  They want us to actually care about the characters.  They want us to feel the tention and drama when a character is in some type of peril whether it be physical or pshycological.

Then why in the hell would they have us watch a show that essentially leads to nowhere.  I have no problems with leaving the characters how we found them, just smarter or better off (The Sopranos and The OC are good examples).  I just despise when conflicts that the shows or numerous episodes have built up only to fizzle out like a soda that has been left out overnight, unrefridgerated, and in the open.  Just flat.

To any TV person reading this (really, like they traverse my neck of the Interwebs) stop it.  If your going to pull the plug that’s cool.  Some shows need to stop (The Simpsons and Scrubs are done).  At least let us have closure to the shows that deserve and need it.  It makes the viewer feel less used and abused and would at least make most of the masses happy.  Props to CBS for doing that with Jericho.  I didn’t like the show, but at least they finished it for the fans that were out there before pulling the plug.  Why they are pulling Moonlight is beyond me though.  Add another to my list I guess.