Huh. I find framing wishing a show would end as a selfish act kinda..... odd. I frequently wish that shows would end before they jump the shark or become unpalatable to me in some way (hello, SPN). It would never have occurred to me to think of that as a moral or immoral action (which, to my thinking, is irrelevant anyway because what I wish as a fan, as you say, has no bearing on what actually happens in the show).
Right--to me it seems like it's just the flipside of wanting it to continue when other people prefer for the story to end, you know? It's one of those things fandom disagrees on with neither side being right. Some people really always want more information no matter what it is. Some people would rather not know. But I don't think one's inherently more respectul of the work than the other, even if one is telling the creator to stop talking.
Okay, I would never ever have thought of either of those angles. First of all, if my fandom wishes were magical, I'd have already used my power for a whole bunch of things! This reminds me of the discussions we've had about serial publishing and decisions being based on financial choices. Also the employees know that is the way things go - series get picked up and series get cancelled. That's part of the nature of their chosen profession... A bit OT but I was reading something with um... Julia Roberts the other day. And she was discussing how sad it was that young actresses didn't get more support, I think, upon entering the industry. Someone else pointed out that yes, it would be nice if all young people did, in all industries, but that's just the way things are
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Actually, in the conversation I read the person specifically said it was okay to complain about the show. It was just wishing that it would end that crossed the line. Which is part of what made it interesting to me. Because it was almost like...I don't know. Like wanting the show to end was getting to real about things in a way? Bringing real people into it in a new way? Or wishing bad things on other fans if they wanted it to continue
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Yeah, the equivalent of a fan campaign to get the show cancelled is probably just people not watching the show. And to be fair, people certainly do often say they're doing that. Usually to the amusment of other people who laugh at them for announcing that they're not watching the show. But I think usually when people talk about wanting the show to end they're separating it from really wanting to campaign for other peoples' jobs to end. It's more that they'll just say "It should have ended in X season" when they look back. And there are plenty of times you can see natural ending points that got ignored in favor of making more money.
I'm not with you here; if you don't like the show but keep watching, I don't get the wish for it to be cancelled, I would imagine that your wish would be for it to get good again? If it's only wishes and you don't actively seek it out, why prefer the first one to the second one? I'm not sure it sounds selfish, but there's a sort of bitterness I don't understand.
Maybe I just can't, because I never had the problem "it's not longer good but I'm still watching". I'm more used to the opposite "It's still decent, but I don't have the time, and there are too much shows I like more." ^^
I can understand people both watching and wanting it to be cancelled--though I think sometimes they've stopped watching as well as hoping it's cancelled. They just still know about plot developments that bug them. Like in the show I'm referring to I haven't watched it for years. I've attempted to end the story to myself in my head. But occasionally I still get info on something that's happened that messes with that because it's related to stuff I followed when I watched
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Quite often, I want canon to end so that I can still enjoy the fandom! I stopped watching Supernatural when I stopped enjoying it, and if the canon had also stopped around that time, I'd still be in the fandom. As it is, the fandom now has lots of new characters and plots that I don't know and can't follow so I drifted away.
I think that's a different feeling to retrospectively wishing a show had ended earlier, though, when the end is distressing. I wish X-Files had ended with Season 7, though while it was actually on, I enjoyed parts of Season 8 (Doggett!).
Oh, so true. Especially with something like the X-Files, actually. I liked Doggett a lot, but even at the time I saw it as dragging out the show--I can't even remember if I made it through season 8. I remember being underwhelmed by the ending. With something like SPN there's also just a lot of different concerns that change things and makes it hard for people to read fic that's set in S3 or whatever. Unless it's S3 in a way that's obviously aware of all the seasons that came after it.
Of course, I should admit that there's also an excitement to knowing there's more to come that ends when the canon does. Endings are always sad just because they're endings for me, even if they're perfect.
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Maybe I just can't, because I never had the problem "it's not longer good but I'm still watching". I'm more used to the opposite "It's still decent, but I don't have the time, and there are too much shows I like more." ^^
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I think that's a different feeling to retrospectively wishing a show had ended earlier, though, when the end is distressing. I wish X-Files had ended with Season 7, though while it was actually on, I enjoyed parts of Season 8 (Doggett!).
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Of course, I should admit that there's also an excitement to knowing there's more to come that ends when the canon does. Endings are always sad just because they're endings for me, even if they're perfect.
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