Roush's Take on"Season Finale-itis",&Question of "Cataclysmic Incident-posted by Mary on 30/05/2008

Well, this Q&A was published together with the one contemplating the reasons for Z-lash. This one focuses more on finale tendencies where story lines seem to finish off with drastic events, with climax.

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Question: My wife and I like to watch several shows, and on every single one that we watch, one of the lead characters has been killed, shot or blown up in the last few weeks. The list: Bones, CSI: Miami, CSI, Criminal Minds, House (OK, Amber is not a lead character, and didn't get killed/shot/blown-up, but she did get seriously injured) and Supernatural. What's up with all of the death and destruction? Is this just a combination of season finales and luck of the draw, or is there some sort of determined push here on the part of the writers? Is it maybe because of the writers' strike, and the writers feeling the need to keep people's attention? — Flint D.
Matt Roush: Basically, you're suffering from a bad case of season finale-itis. I surely wish the idiots who make TV would someday wake up to the fact that they don't need to end every season of every show with some cataclysmic incident (although as noted above, sometimes — like with House — they're done exceedingly well). It just tends to make them look silly, and us feel stupid for having watched.



I don't know. I don't completely agree with him. I believe if showrunners aim to get back their viewers and extra viewers in front of the TV after a long hiatus, and I am positive they surely do, a dramatically life-threatening event could enhance and generate more interest. But this is just my idea. We'll see how it'll work with BONES.

And just one comment on Roush's choice of words. "Season finale-itis". Hilarious! I mean how could he come up with this ridiculously appropriate naming. Just perfect!

By Sarah9488

Couldn't have said it better, mary. Moreover, I like these dramatic finales. Most of the time season finales are the best (or among the best) episodes in one season

by Magic star

i am coming to terms with the loss of zack lol,..and sometimes it is good to shake things up...i just dont care for the sloppiness....but that was due to the strike. HH had to make a descision and he was very brave for making the descision that he made. I would have personally like to have seen gormagon carry on to season 4 so it could be explained properly...but what is done is done...lets sit back and count down the days to S4 , which im sure will be awesome!!!!

by starbuck

I agree with you, Mary. I believe that these finale dramas generate more publicity which draws in more casual viewers.
I personally like this finales stoked with so much drama.

And I agree with you, too, Magicstar, despite the carelessness the Zack- plot was told, HH made a gutsy step by not killing him off.

by lena152

don't know. i get the publicity argument, but i actually always kind of liked the less dramatic bones' finales. the quality of writing does always suffer when they're aiming at making it the biggest, baddest, most dramatic, shocking whatever.
alright, and this season everything's been messed up anyways i guess. i'm willing to cut them some slack, and i've actually almost gotten over the finale, but i really hope they'll go back to focusing more on the characters and the consistency next season.