Any reference to a certain “scary robot” show that i love is purely coincidental but if you want to read what showrunner Josh Friedman had to say about TSCC cancellation, read his article on his blog.
link : https://hucksblog.blogspot.fr/2009/06/boy-in-bubble.html

I wonder why the show failed, wrong network? Wrong advertising for the wrong type of viewer? People thought it would be more action intense like a Star* series? Or people are unable to follow a non-episodic format unless it’s on cable?

Even when they DO resolve a cliffhanger, often it just wasn’t worth the wait for it. The “NCIS” season opener left me thinking “I waited all summer for THIS???”.

I’ll tell you what else I think of cliffhangers….. but it’s the mid-season finale for this post, and you’ll have to come back in April to see what I’m going to say!

As per your one disagreement with my comments, I will agree that I was too over-reaching with the blanket condemnation of cliff-hangers as rabble-rousing devices. I will amend it to, “Too many of them exist today …”

Appreciate your kind words and the effort you and your fellow writers put into this site. Thanks. GM

But we both obviously agree that we wish we’d see more shows end with some level of closure.

Our editor Keith McDuffee has been real fortunate to set up a couple of interviews with the showrunners of Defying Gravity and Persons Unknown to get the low-down on what would have happened.

I was actually going to get him to reach out to the SGU showrunners for a similar type interview, but found that Joe Mallozzi had already written a blog that answers some — but not all — of the questions left open in the finale:

https://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/may-12-2011-stargate-universe-beyond-season-2-what-might-have-been/

And IF that all doesn’t work, how about a text article, novella, full-fledged book or a comic book series to tell we too-few devoted fans what was coming next. For instance, I would have liked to know what the Stargate: Universe creators had planned for Eli and the stasis-frozen crew of the ship in season 3. With apologies to dedicated fan creationists, I’d want to hear the plans from the creators. Joss Whedon has done extremely well in adapting his Buffy-verse to the comic format. It CAN work. And while it might be more difficult to go that route with say, Dallas, prose alternatives also work fine.

Networks should either hold to the social contract I’ve outlined above, or go to the dedicated mini-series format popular in most of the rest of the world, where any particular season’s set of episodes might be the last ever seen. The Elementary progenitor, Sherlock, over in Britain, could have ended after each of the two three-episode series shown so far. The late lamented Crime Traveller had two four-episode series and then never graced the airwaves again. Or you get a 50-year run like that enjoyed by Doctor Who. And isn’t The Bill somewhere around 30 now?

Cliff-hangers are cruel. They exist today to spur fans to appeal to networks for continued episodes. We pay enough in commercials, cable bills and our time already. We shouldn’t be slave lobbyists too.

Man, I loved that show

I take it you’ve read Keith’s post on his follow up interview with James Parriott?

One of the worst that has been grating on me was Mercy’s (and again, damn you stupid “demo”… ). “Hart of Dixie” was a close call as well…

But I think showrunners nowadays should always script their first season with the notion in mind that it’s going to get cancelled. Like you said, it’s just a sad fact of life nowadays that shows don’t get 2-3 seasons to find their footing anymore. They are lucky if they even get the whole 13 episodes (poor Pan-Am…)