Unresolved television dramas

[snopes]

What U.S. dramatic television series can you think of that ended with the central dynamic which drove the show still unresolved?

A good example of the type of show I'm thinking of would be The Fugitive: The dynamic of the series was Dr. Richard Kimble's efforts to evade capture long enough to prove his innocence by tracking down the one-armed man who had killed his wife. (But ultimately that dynamic was resolved, because in the series' last episode Dr. Kimble finally managed to trap and kill the one-armed man.)

An inbetween example would be the series Nowhere Man, which revolved around Thomas Veil's efforts to recover his identity after it was suddenly and mysteriously "erased." (Oddly, that series could be considered either resolved or unresolved: Veil eventually learned who had erased his identity and why they had done it, but he also found out that his previous identity had been a sham. Since the series didn't continue to a second season, Veil never got the chance to find out the truth about who he had been originally.)

An example of a completely unresolved series would be the obscure 1967 program Coronet Blue, in which police fished an amnesiac out of New York harbor who could remember nothing about his previous identity other than that he was mumbling the words "coronet blue" when police found him. Since the series was a mid-season replacement that wasn't picked up for the following year's schedule, it ended without the main character's recovering his memory or finding out the significance of "coronet blue."

So, what other examples of unresolved television dramas can you think of?

I'm not sure if this would be considered a "drama" but the HBO show Carnivale ended without resolution. And I'm still disappointed. I loved that show!

[AnglRdr]

A very recent one would be The L Word, in which Jenny's killer was never revealed, even though the final season premier was Jenny's death, and the entire season was in flashbacks, attempting to muddy the suspect pool. The finale did not reveal who did it, even though everybody had reason to kill her.

[CSGirl]

Well, not really central dynamic, but Las Vegas ended with a cliffhanger. Which sucks, I just started watching the reruns, and was excited about catching a whole season while it was on when it wsas cancelled.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

A very recent one would be The L Word, in which Jenny's killer was never revealed, even though the final season premier was Jenny's death, and the entire season was in flashbacks, attempting to muddy the suspect pool. The finale did not reveal who did it, even though everybody had reason to kill her.

But that isn't really a valid example, since the premise of the series wasn't the hunt for Jenny's killer. That's simply a plot point within the series that went unresolved.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by CSGirl

Well, not really central dynamic, but Las Vegas ended with a cliffhanger.

That the series ended with a cliffhanger is irrelevant, because it wasn't related to any central dynamic that drove the show.

[mags]

I'm still upset that Drive was cancelled midseason. The central premise was an enormous illegal cross-country race. Each contestant had their own reasons for joining.

The reasons different main characters joined were only barely broached, and it was obviously ended before we found out who won the race.

Man, I am still so angry at Fox about that cancellation. It was really starting to get interesting.

I was disappointed when Traveler got canceled. They had a couple seasons worth of plot outlined, but they got canceled after 8 episodes. It was about three Yale students that decide, after they graduate grad school, they'd go on a road trip across the country. Two of them end up getting blamed for a terrorist attack on a museum, while the third one disappears. So now they have to clear their name and find their other friend. It was so in depth and they could've gone in so many directions.

[hambubba]

Invasion. Earth is invaded, a few people have a handle on it, then... wham! no more show.

Dead Like Me. I know they are allegedly making a movie to tie up the loose ends but the series just stopped.

[rhiandmoi]

My Own Worst Enemy - Edward/Henry (Christain Slater) never learned how to control their personality switch.

[Mr. Furious]

Journeyman was never adequately resolved. We never learned why Dan was jumping back in time, though we were given tantalizing hints about it here and there. It seemed like we would eventually learn why it was happening, much like we're going to find out why Sam Tyler is in 1973 on Life on Mars.

I'm still really bitter that it wasn't given a decent chance at survival.

[faceless007]

It's debatable whether it counts as the series' single defining conflict, but Firefly spent several episodes setting up the Blue-Handed Men and the Blue Sun Corporation's search for River Tam, which tied into the central plot thread of River and Simon being constantly on the run. The series' cancellation left virtually every question about them unresolved until the comic series several years later, which revealed that they were ultimately killed by Serenity and their mission passed to the Operative (as shown in the film "Serenity.")

Carnivale ended on a massive cliffhanger that left open the show's central good vs. evil conflict--or so I heard.

[Beejtronic]

Originally Posted by Altered Statesman

Dead Like Me. I know they are allegedly making a movie to tie up the loose ends but the series just stopped.

The movie's been out for about a month now, actually. I haven't seen it yet, but the reviews seem to be very "meh."

[Hero_Mike]

"High Incident" ended with a cliffhanger - it was a cop show and the cliffhanger season finale mirrored a real-life incident of highly armed bank robbers with body armour, taking on regular bat cops. It looked like much of the cast would not survive but the series never continued.

I think that "Judging Amy" had an unresolved ending where the return of the show was in doubt - and it did not come back.

"Bablyon 5 : Crusade" was supposed to have a multi-season story arc. It lasted one season and episodes were broadcast out of order. I think there may be novels and/or comics which resolve it.

[FullMetal]

I seem to remember Quantum Leap ending with Dr. Sam Beckett re-entering the quantum accelerator and continuing to leap for eternity.

it's been a while since I've seen it though. now that being said he did make it home which was the central conflict of the show, and he did resolve his swiss-cheesing of his brain in later episodes... But in the end he continued to leap...

[Ramblin' Dave]

JAG sort of fits here. Harm and Mac finally get together, but they flip a coin to see who will resign from the service and we never know who wins the toss.

[Johnny Slick]

Originally Posted by Beejtronic

The movie's been out for about a month now, actually. I haven't seen it yet, but the reviews seem to be very "meh."

I thought it was pretty okay, but I was a huge fan of the original show. Warning: no Mandy Potenkin.

Did they ever figure out who killed Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks? I don't think they did.

Firefly, of course, ended with all kinds of issues not resolved, not the least of which was the whole thing revolving around the crazy girl.

I'm pretty sure that Hogan never did get rescued. Neither did Gilligan and co.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

Did they ever figure out who killed Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks? I don't think they did.

.

Yup. It was Leland inhabited by the spirit of Bob, as revealed in the second season as well as in Fire Walk With Me.

[Beejtronic]

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

I thought it was pretty okay, but I was a huge fan of the original show. Warning: no Mandy Potenkin.

Actually, this thread reminded me that I hadn't seen it, so I started watching it, but I've not been able to see the end yet. I'd heard that Rube wasn't in it, but I was pretty unimpressed by the recasting of Daisy.