Post by theyankeeclipper on Jul 13, 2006 11:42:13 GMT -5
You ever notice that alot of Stephen J. Cannell's shows, although popular, always seemed to have cancellation thrust upon them, and usually had rushed series finales with a few words here or there, but not well done, usually because they only had enough time to throw it together. Many of these series actually got 2-hour movies for pilots, yet had a simple n' quick 1-hour episode for a series finale. Some shows didn't even have one.
"Hardcastle and McCormick"
Had a series finale, but a quick one. The overall plot had nothing to do with wrapping up the series, and seems as if the script was finished, and they went back and re-did it to put some closure in the show, and probably tagged it with another title, "A Chip Off The 'Ol Milt". I will say this was probably the best series finale of the Cannell shows.
"The A-Team"
Here's a series that single-handedly pulled NBC out of 3rd place. This show was in the Top-5 for the majority of it's run, usually only out done by the big soaps of the time, "Dallas" & "Dynasty". With the fact the series was so huge, started with a movie, had a movie every year, you'd think it'd get a good finale out of respect. They did get a series finale, but a regular one-hour episode. And much similar to "H&McC"'s from a year earlier, "The Grey Team" also seemed like the script was finished, but they did some tweaking, gave Hannibal a little speech for the end, to wrap the show up. But it was even quicker, and even more rushed than "H&McC"'s.
Other than that. I don't know of any other finales. Did "The Rockford Files", "Riptide", or "Greatest American Hero" have one? "Hunter", "21 Jump St.", "Renegade", and "The Commish" all of them didn't even have a finale, and "Wiseguy" was abruptly cancelled in the early part of the 1990-91 season. "Silk Stalkings" have a two-hour movie for a finale, but they had a different cast by the end, so I don't know how many cared.
"Hardcastle and McCormick"
Had a series finale, but a quick one. The overall plot had nothing to do with wrapping up the series, and seems as if the script was finished, and they went back and re-did it to put some closure in the show, and probably tagged it with another title, "A Chip Off The 'Ol Milt". I will say this was probably the best series finale of the Cannell shows.
"The A-Team"
Here's a series that single-handedly pulled NBC out of 3rd place. This show was in the Top-5 for the majority of it's run, usually only out done by the big soaps of the time, "Dallas" & "Dynasty". With the fact the series was so huge, started with a movie, had a movie every year, you'd think it'd get a good finale out of respect. They did get a series finale, but a regular one-hour episode. And much similar to "H&McC"'s from a year earlier, "The Grey Team" also seemed like the script was finished, but they did some tweaking, gave Hannibal a little speech for the end, to wrap the show up. But it was even quicker, and even more rushed than "H&McC"'s.
Other than that. I don't know of any other finales. Did "The Rockford Files", "Riptide", or "Greatest American Hero" have one? "Hunter", "21 Jump St.", "Renegade", and "The Commish" all of them didn't even have a finale, and "Wiseguy" was abruptly cancelled in the early part of the 1990-91 season. "Silk Stalkings" have a two-hour movie for a finale, but they had a different cast by the end, so I don't know how many cared.
