Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Cancellation Looking Likely
While it’s still not official (and apparently won’t be until Fox announces their fall schedule on May 18th), Michael Ausiello over at EW is ready to pronounce the death of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox. The show’s second season just wrapped up last Friday, but according to a source, “It’s done… Everyone has pretty much known for a couple of weeks.” The second season ratings were way below expectations, and there have been reports that the studio sets are already torn down.
I haven’t been watching the show so I’m not sure if the season finale was open-ended or not, but I’m assuming they must have been somewhat prepared for the end. It does seem a little surprising that the show can’t sustain an audience when there are three more movies in the works to help promote it. Then again, maybe it’s better this way. The constant rewriting of timelines was confusing enough as it is, but maintaining a consistent chronology between the series and film franchise was bound to be a headache and a half. Were you an avid watcher of The Sarah Connor Chronicles? Did the show deserve to be canceled, or is it yet another casualty of poor promotion by Fox?
Comments (22)
I liked the show a lot. It got a little slow mid season but the last three episodes were excellent. The season finale left me looking forward to Season 3 so I hope the show will have at least one more season.
Posted by george on April 15th, 2009The show just got way confusing toward the end. The finale was a complete head scratcher in the last ten minutes and it was a complete twist from what you thought it would be. In hindsight it almost seemed like an ending that was written for a show that would be canceled. The way it ended suggested that any link in continuity to the upcoming Salvation movie is completely gone. I don’t think it failed (if it is indeed canceled) because of Fox’s promotion. I just think that it was because of the very complicated and inscrutable conspiracies and story lines that were going on on the show. Who was a Terminator, who wasn’t, who was from the future, who wasn’t. The number of Terminators who traveled back in time on this show kind of became ridiculous, I couldn’t keep track of them all.
Posted by Maopheus on April 15th, 2009I would honestly be more disappointed if this show gets canceled than I was when Jericho got the ax. In other words, if this Sarah Connor Chronicles is canceled then for me it’ll be the single most disappointing cancellation of any television program ever. I was iffy about the series in the beginning, having never been a huge fan of any of the Arnold films. (Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t dislike them…they just weren’t my favorites.) I’ve grown to love this series more and more with each episode to the point that it’s my favorite current show along with LOST and Heroes. I felt that the second season pushed a lot of boundaries in terms of what tv usually does and I loved that. The second season finale was pretty open ended, some questions aren’t directly answered but we’re given enough to speculate. I guess if the series is dead I’d be happy if there’s at least some form of tie-in with the new trilogy but I’m not expecting that to happen. I could see there being a new spin-off series picking up right where Sarah Connor Chronicles left off, focusing more on John Connor. That would make sense since the title of the show would logically be different if it wasn’t focusing or even including much of the Sarah Connor character.
Posted by Aaron on April 15th, 2009Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not canceled yet. There is still time to speak your mind to the powers that be. Read this: http://film-book.com/the-fate-of-terminator-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-is-in-your-hands/
And for those of you that didn’t see the last episode, I reviewed it here: http://film-book.com/tv-review-terminator-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-season-2-ep-22-born-to-run/
Posted by Film-Book dot Com on April 15th, 2009and you can watch it here: http://www.hulu.com/videos/search?query=Terminator%3A+The+Sarah+Connor+Chronicles
Oh no doubt I thought the show did a lot of cool things, a lot of things that were different from the run-of-the-mill, and in a way it fit into Fox’s profile of having shows that were off-beat and genre-stretching. I’d rather see it go on and not be canceled. I’m just saying that I expected some answers in the finale but all I got were more questions. I don’t watch “Lost” but I get the impression that that’s what that show is like. But if it is going to continue, then to paraphrase Ricky Ricardo, “Youse got some ’splainin’ to do!”
Posted by Maopheus on April 15th, 2009Poor promotion from Fox most surely.
the last episodes of the show were exciting especially the finale. i well look for this on blu-ray.
Posted by Vincent on April 15th, 2009I was a big fan of the show and really hope that it gets a 3rd series. Even if the Sci-Channel have to pick it up. It is slightly annoying that the writers made such an open ended series finale if they thought it wouldn’t come back.
Also, the series and the movies are totally separate. The series doesn’t count the events of T3 and it is it’s own separate timeline.
Posted by Stephen on April 15th, 2009never watched it, couldn’t get into it, but one thing is for sure
that is one sexy cyborg
Posted by rick on April 15th, 2009I think the main reason this show never caught on was because of the lack of original cast members making all people that hate remakes/reboots instantly become naysayers. Many people can’t accept canon (and/or worry to much about that sort of thing) and can’t handle the timeline. The second season was better than the first!
The horrible thing is that if the series ends now then the cliffhanger season finale will never be resolved. I’m hoping Fox will stick it out to see if Salvation does well.
“The finale was a complete head scratcher in the last ten minutes and it was a complete twist from what you thought it would be.”
Don’t you think it would be lame and boring if you predicted exactly what is going to happen?
Posted by Ryan M. on April 15th, 2009“The series doesn’t count the events of T3 and it is it’s own separate timeline.”
T:SCC is supposed to portray the events between T2 & T3….so a true series finale would have Cameron being destroyed, Sarah dying of cancer, and John riding off on a motorcycle.
Posted by Ryan M. on April 15th, 2009It is one of the best sci fi shows on TV, one of the themes they were exploring was the idea that the current actions of John Connor & co. was making changes in the future on an ongoing basis. So I think from each possible future Terminators were coming back to protect their individual potentialities, very much like Keith Laumer’s time travel books. I am looking forward to this third season. Because it is dealing with the possibilities when John Connor changes the future I think as Stephen said that the series can be reconciled with the movies by thinking of the movies as one possible future.
Also Summer Glau is great and I can’t wait to see that relatonship going forward.
Posted by Ted on April 15th, 2009You make some good points Ryan M. That would have been a pretty spectacular ending to any season of T:SCC.
Posted by Film-Book dot Com on April 15th, 2009This and Heroes are my current favorite TV shows. I hope like Hell that something happens in the off-season that causes FOX to renew it for one more year. They could even plainly state that it’s got one more year, as a time limit has forced ingenuity in a couple of recent shows (Lost, BSG). I really liked where the show was going, and the season finale left me with my jaw hanging open, wondering where they’re going from there. Damn, this is bad news. Come on, Fox, give it one more year.
@Aaron,
Did you not watch Firefly? Pushing Daisies? Those two shows were bigger disappointments to me when canceled, but this is a bummer.
Posted by Deven Science on April 15th, 2009I loved the show. It started out kind of slow and I honestly expected utter crap. They delievered for awhile and then a funny thing happened, just as Fox seemed to lose interest the show started getting really, really good. So now a show that I didn’t mind losing is going away when I’m 110% on board!
Posted by Paul on April 16th, 2009I think you knew that things weren’t going well when the show got moved to Fridays.
Posted by Maopheus on April 16th, 2009Really two seasons? I thought the show went off after the first episode. Someone may miss this show. But, most people could care less.
Posted by Hugo on April 16th, 2009I’m sooo done with this Terminator coming back to our time junk. It’s time for Judgement Day and the War against the Machines. Salvation will bring hope back to the Terminator franchise.
Posted by RichPea on April 16th, 2009None of the Canadian TV over-the-air stations in my area picked up T:SCC, so I was only able to watch the series until the US Fox station stopped broadcasting over-the-air. The series had potential, but it failed to really grab me.
If anyone cares to hear my solution for how the machines could defeat the humans without having to go back in time, then please listen to the next Cantankerous podcast. Jay might edit that part out though. (I think he may be part of the human resistance.)
Posted by Reed Farrington on April 17th, 2009I think Fox would be crazy not to do a 3rd season. The show has a very loyal audience.
Posted by Christopher Nadal on April 19th, 2009We def. need a season 3, on FOX or on a cable network. Doesn’t matter really, but season 3 is a MUST!
Best show on TV bar none.
Posted by Augustus on April 25th, 2009If John traveled in time to the future how does he appear in real time in T3?
Posted by sam on April 30th, 2009Its as if T:SCC has gone straight to Salvation and scipped straight past T3.
Bring it back!
Posted by Reticuli on October 9th, 2010Leave a Reply