Do you like cliff hangers?

[Kyphael]

Thought this thread would be about story cliff hangers.

[Polarthief]

Sometimes in television shows it's okay. I just hate when they end a season on one. I hate it in movies. Pretty much anytime I have to wait a long time to get next part I hate them.

Basically this. That "one more episode" feeling, ASSUMING they post the entire season and not a weekly/biweekly episode, is a good feeling at times. I do it for video games, idk why TV should be any different assuming I can always just watch another one/play one more round.

When they do it at the end of a season though (or even worse, the end of a movie or series), they can eat my fucking ass. That just pisses me off and usually makes me less likely to watch or give a fuck. If you want to do a light cliffhanger, that's fine, but not a fucking bombshell that you now need to wait a year+ to find out. Lots of things can change in a year. A series can get canceled, for example.

[La]

I think cliffhangers are bad storytelling. If you were a good writer and you weren't sure if something was ending for whatever reasons, you would end it in a way that it can be continued, but if not then it is still a good conclusion. If you purposefully create a cliffhanger with the complete knowledge that your work continues, you're a shit writer who has no clue how to provoke emotion, except the horror movie equivalent of a jump scare.

The idea that it creates some great suspense, or hype, or whatever you want to call it is just ridiculous. The most obvious thing to bring up here is TLJ, or TWD season where we didn't know who Negan kills, although TWD was FILLED with these types of things and we all know how that show ended.

[breadisfunny]

Its super annoying when they happen just before something super cool like a battle or other significant events, but I suppose that is the point, to leave the viewer wanting more.

What sucks even harder are cancelled shows ending on a cliff hanger.

or cancelled games....

[Uko]

Every now and then a cliff hanger is

[TEHPALLYTANK]

No, I dislike cliffhangers. I also hate ambiguity when it comes to endings, Inception being a movie I wound up hating entirely due to the ambiguity of the ending.

[Doctor Amadeus]

No, I dislike cliffhangers. I also hate ambiguity when it comes to endings, Inception being a movie I wound up hating entirely due to the ambiguity of the ending.

Yeah, I agree I hate that pretentious bullshit. I get it and understand where and when it happens it fits, say maybe LOTRs sorta, but some do it just to try to be complicated.

[Puupi]

Cliffhanger was a good movie.


Somebody had to.

[-Nurot]

Honestly, I can see the argument, my issue is that it should be the standard expectation; come in planning 3 seasons and only 3, that's what you're getting, tie up all lose ends in that time. That's not how they're running it, though; they make it seem like you COULD get another season, but then invariably pull the rug even from successful shows after 3.

Right, I agree. They need to give the show-runners some indication early enough for them to tie up loose ends. That's what really makes this bad trend even uglier.

Not without buying rights from Netflix, at least, which is what that's meant to ensure.

Which that's understandable, but do we even know if, these 2 and 3 season shows that are originals and not pickups, Netflix is even willing to sell them? They'd almost be helping their competitors at that point. They'd be better off sitting on them for 10 years (From their view point) than giving it to a competitor at any price. Can you imagine if they sold Stranger Things after 3 season to AMC. I imagine Disney would have picked up the Marvel properties for a decent price and added them to Disney+ otherwise. I can see they'd be worried about losing customers to cable TV or other streaming services. (Of which there are already so many of, with more coming up.)

The only property that was an original (That I heard of) being shopped around was American Vandal. CBS is the producing studio on that and was looking at other streaming services to pick it up. I don't know if Netflix was asking for too much or just refused, but CBS gave up on that one.

[Donald Hellscream]

or cancelled games....

I haven't played many videogames that ended in a unresolved cliff hanger but Mass Effect Andromeda ( I liked the game, sue me.) and Dante's inferno springs to mind.

[Granyala]

Do you like cliff hangers for movies or tv show series?
How do you feel about time gating a series, near as I can tell like HBO's GOT or CBS Star Trek Disc, do you like your series all when you want to watch them in a season, or would you rather be portioned out over a period of time?

Hate it passionately.
So I am always waiting till entire seasons are out, still end of season cliffs are annoying.

[Ghostpanther]

I hate movies which end with a cliff hanger. A cliff hanger in a on going series is ok however. And I want a series I am watching to come all at once with all the season episodes available for me to watch them when I choose to. Such as the recent Jack Ryan series on Amazon prime.

[avitush]

Not usually, but I don't mind them if they're not long cliffhangers. "Wait until next week's episode to find out what happens!" is not so bad.

I don't like season finale cliffhangers. Negan's intro in The Walking Dead (where they pulled "in 7 months when the next season's first episode airs, you'll find out what happened!" shit) was a good example of a cliffhanger I don't like.

[Adam Jensen]

The whole thing about cliff hangers is