MovieChat Forums > Alcatraz (2012) Discussion > Being cancelled is the best thing for th...

Being cancelled is the best thing for this show


Let's face it, the whole secret to this show would have probably been outrageous and ridiculous. I am going to miss the Sam Neill grinch-face though!

reply

the whole secret to this show would have probably been outrageous and ridiculous.

Yea, most of the TV viewers want brainless entertainment rather than something that actually makes you think. I, for one, am disappointed as I was really interested in this show. It was a little slow but I could forgive it because it was only the first season.

If you see a message from me, read my biography first before making a post. Thanks!

reply

No - most TV viewers (at least the intelligent kind) want a story that ties up nicely and resolves any and all mysteries put forth in the course of said series in a TIMELY and realistic manner.

J.J. Abrams has yet to realize this. I have decided.

________________________
"I...declare...BANKRUPTCYYYYYYY!!!"

reply

lol the above poster is obviously still butt hurt about the lost ending...

reply

most TV viewers (at least the intelligent kind) want a story that ties up nicely and resolves any and all mysteries put forth in the course of said series in a TIMELY and realistic manner.

This is not "most TV viewers", and that's why reality TV is still so popular.

If you see a message from me, read my biography first before making a post. Thanks!

reply

Well said TheMasterPlan.

reply

If you are referring to LOST, I thought it ended perfectly. It came full circle and resolved all issues and questions that NEEDED to be answered. Other than that, all other things could be left open to viewer's interpretation. I have read the LOST Encyclopedia, which actually had some mistakes in it, but it cleared up some things but it wasn't really something to read to find out secrets the show didn't tell you. It was an interesting read as read it from front to back (A-Z). I don't regret buying it. I also don't regret owning the series on bluray.

Most questions people have had I can come up with an answer for and not because it was explained in the show or the encyclopedia but rather from stuff that was said in the show that can then allow other things to be inferred.

Like for example, a major question people ask is, what was will all the Egyptian influence on the island. I have an answer for that that I inferred from an episode in the 5th season of lost when Eloise Hawking explained something about the island. She claims that the island was ALWAYS moving through space and time. With this information you can infer that at one point several years ago before perhaps Jacob and the Man In Black were ever on the island or even Mother, it had been near Egypt. Egyptians got on the island and built the statue and the temple. As for the Dharma Stations using the Egyptian symbols, well it was obvious they were influenced by the Egyptian influence already on the island. You may ask well what happened to the Egyptians then? Well, my answer to that question is, does it really matter? Or they died off eventually, etc. My point is the show answered all the questions that were relevant and needed to be answered. Answering every single question people had I believe actually would have ruined the experience. Part the reason why people liked the show was the mysteriousness of it.

Feel free to ask another question, I am not sure I can answer it to your liking but I am willing to give it a shot. But if I don't satisfy you, maybe that is the very reason why the writers of LOST didn't answer every single question. They knew they wouldn't please everyone.

reply

Ferreira,
It seems like you were struggling to fill in the blanks and somehow inject some logical consistency into Lost which was simply not there in the first place.

You're right that many people enjoyed the mysteriousness of Lost - myself included. But when you go from "mysterious but with some logical overarching direction and meaning" to "this makes absolutely no sense and is entirely ridiculous and insulting" then it becomes disappointing.
It's not enough for something to be entirely based on mysterious unexplainable events - for me there has to be some meaning behind how the pieces of the puzzle fit together, or it may as well all be an acid trip.

Honestly, it felt like they started writing the final episode script 15 minutes before a hard deadline and just had to come up with something. I really don't understand why more people didn't feel let down by it.

reply

Because you don't get all the answers in life. And most people were actually more pissed of all the questions it didn't answer. Try watching the whole series again. It actually makes more sense. They hint at certain things in Season 3 that aren't actually really touched again until season 5 and 6. There are little tidbits here and there. You talk about something not making any sense and being entirely ridiculous. They were on an island that really didn't make much sense. And not one of the characters knew except for maybe Mother but she died before she could tell of the secrets if she even knew them. Jacob didn't even know. And to be honest the show secrets is what kept people watching but the secrets weren't actually what the show was about at all. They were just filler.

The show dealt with more grounded things. Love, Good vs. Evil, Happiness and what happens if you choose to be pissed off all the time. There was other things to get out of the show. I spent a day and a half after the show ended coming to conclusions of what the show was trying to tell people for six years. I was happy with the ending.

You expected answers to questions that no one could really give without taking away from the rest of the show. I saw someone do a whole analysis of how LOST should have ended. And I asked him one question. That's all fine and dandy and cool but who was supposed to explain all that? He couldn't answer the question. The show left a lot of things open for the viewer to decide what happened with the unexplained events. I didn't mind that. And the certain things they did explain like the numbers for example. They just happened to be mere coincidence. Had no real importance. Was that unbelievable? No. It actually made sense. I laughed when that was revealed.

And for me, Everything in the show made sense for its Universe. Now making sense in reality no probably not. But for its universe it made perfect sense.

Plus, could you imagine how much different the show would have been if The Others and the Survivors had started out being up front and honest with one another. How much could they have accomplished together. A lot of hostility came from lack of communication. The lack of communication of Goodwin and Ethan caused a lot of things. You come to find out that The Others didn't mean harm, they were trying to figure something out. It may have been alot for the survivors to swallow at first. Could you imagine in Season 4 when the people from the Freight came how if the Survivors and The Others had worked together that they might have been able to overcome them and no one would have got hurt other than perhaps the freight people.

Alot of what you find problems in the show actually comes from the actions of the characters in the show based on distrust of others and refusing to work together. You can't just have that theme for 4 to 5 seasons and then just change it. That theme remained throughout the whole series. None of the flash sideways stuff in the final season ever actually happened but everything else did in the context of the show. I just think how things would have gone if The Others hadn't tried to remain so secretive about what they were doing from the beginning. Things could have flowed completely differently. I still think that everything that happened to the Dharma Initiative would have happened anyway cause lets face it, the only thing missing from the show regarding them was actually seeing Razinkski blow his head off like is mentioned in Season 2. Oh I wanted him dead and he is the main reason for the Dharma Initiative being taken out. Because he was paranoid over everything. He needed to just smoke some weed and all would have been well lol.

reply

Fereirra, tell me one thing, what the heck was the black smoke?

reply

The Black Smoke was what the Heart of the Island turned the Man in Black into that allowed him to shapeshift into different people and animals (I think he did that at least once). It wasn't fully understood how exactly it happened. But it happened. And in life you don't get the answers to every single thing that ever happens. So yeah.

reply

But, Journeyman1, the show DID make me think! Many, many times, it made me think,"My Gawd, what a horrible excuse for a televison show." Or, "Damn! Sam Neill is really scraping the bottom of the career barrel with this show." Or, "Jesus....not Hurley AGAIN already. I was sure his 15 minutes were up by now."

The show caused me to think often!

;)

reply

[deleted]

yes it made me think too - things like Were all the alcatraz prisoners insane? And if so, why did they have this batman-villain urge to leave quite simple clues to help their capture? I didn't know Arkham Asylum was based in a real life prison - well perhaps the number of letters both names share was something of a hint?

I also don't know why tv now presumes all super intelligent men love superhero comics. After all those comics are not super intelligent.

reply

I stopped watching after about 7 episodes I think, probably a bit harsh but I really hate the episode formula that so many American TV series use, I understand they need to get viewers for every episode, but when it comes at the expense of the bigger story I just find it hard to sit through. Felt the same way about "Fringe".

absolutely tons of great shows that don't use a horribly rigid episode formula AND were a massive hit ratings wise. The Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica, Breaking Bad etc.

happy it was cancelled, that way I don't have to go back and watch the rest to see if it really got any better.

reply

[deleted]

I'm ready for Season 2

reply

hmm i actually liked Alcatraz. Was a bit disappointed that it was canceled. Would of liked to see what happened.

reply