Cancelled TV Shows That Never Provided A Proper Ending

[anotherguyTN]

It's interesting that route 66 was taken out of commission with the coming of the interstates, while other similar highways have been left in service. Here in Tennessee, I live about a mile from U.S. highway 70, which parallels interstate 40 all the way through the state of Tennessee, yet it has still been left in service. Good thing, too! I don't know how I would be able to go anywhere if I didn't have highway 70!

(And I can hear I-40 traffic from here at my house.)

I've taken Highway 70 several times between Jackson and Nashville part or all of the way because of traffic being stopped due to wrecks or construction on I-40.

 

[ixnay]

And the other ironic thing with the 70/40 route matter--from roughly between Denver and Pittsburgh you have US 40 (the old "National Road") either parallel with or co-signed with Interstate 70!

Actually, I-70 and US 40 both parallel further east, to Baltimore.

I-70 and US 40 are *the same road* from just east of Frederick, MD to just west of Ellicott City (Baltimore suburb). And US 40 continues east of Baltimore to Atlantic City.

Doesn't US 20 go past Chicago all the way to Seattle?

ixnay

 

[azumanga]

Doesn't US 20 go past Chicago all the way to Seattle?

US 20 doesn't even go into Washington state -- it ends at US 101 in Newport, Oregon, southwest of Portland.

 

[KML0224]

It's Interstate 90 which goes all the way to Seattle.

 

[firepoint525]

It's my understanding that a mile or two of the abandoned route 66 still exists somewhere out in Texas or Oklahoma, but I don't know how true that is. Supposedly, an abandoned service station also still exists on this particular stretch. Maybe they left a mile or two of it in place so that some of us "youngsters" can still say that we have driven on route 66!

 

[Tom Wells]

Other chunks of decomissioned Route 66 still exist on the diagonal from Chicago to Springfield IL, notably near Dwight-Pontiac,
where two lanes are maintained as a state highway, and the two parallel lanes have been broken up in short segments, and blocked at access points to keep people from drag racing on them.

When I travel into St. Louis, I lke to get get off of I-55 north of Springfield and follow the old 66 through the city, then re-join
55 later. You go right past Abraham Lincoln's home from when he was Governor, and the old 66 flavor is largely maintained as a lot of more modern growth stayed away from this route, and happened over by the interstate.

 

[Ultimajock]

You go right past Abraham Lincoln's home from when he was Governor

...sorry, Tom, but Lincoln was never a Governor of Illinois. The only political offices he held were President of the United States, U.S. Representative from Illinois' 7th District, Illinois Representative from Sangamon County (his longest-held office, BTW), and Postmaster of New Salem...

 

[Mark Giardina]

You go right past Abraham Lincoln's home from when he was Governor

...sorry, Tom, but Lincoln was never a Governor of Illinois. The only political offices he held were President of the United States, U.S. Representative from Illinois' 7th District, Illinois Representative from Sangamon County (his longest-held office, BTW), and Postmaster of New Salem...

Let's not forget the luxury car he built either ;D

 

[Tom Wells]

Arg!
My bad. I well remember visiting this house when I was about 6 years old maybe 1967 or so, and we lived in Indiana, so my Illionois history is not perfect. Anyway, you do go past a fine big old house that was Lincoln's, in Springfield Il.

And if you're daring enough it's not too hard to get onto those blocked off portions of old 66.
There were more than a few re-routes....a lot of the old 66 went right through the middle of towns.
In Dwight and other Illinois towns the marked 66 route got moved more "off to the side of town" in a 4 lane bypass that makes a semicircle about a mile off to the side.
To make it easi(er) some towns have marked the route of the old original 2-lane highway that went through town.

I've tried to follow the original Lincoln Highway from Chicago to the east coast and it gets hard to find some places
as much of "US 30" has also been moved (replaced by newer sections). It gets pretty hopeless in urban Philly.

Same with US 40. There is only about one place to put a road in western Maryland going west....
You can follow 40, until you're in the place where it was wiped out by the construction of the interstate.

 

[spb]

How about "The Smurfs?" The last season on NBC (1989-90) was a significant departure from its previous seven seasons with some of the Smurfs ending up on a time traveling adventure. The show was canceled without the Smurfs returning to their intended time.

 

[mleach]

It's my understanding that a mile or two of the abandoned route 66 still exists somewhere out in Texas or Oklahoma, but I don't know how true that is. Supposedly, an abandoned service station also still exists on this particular stretch. Maybe they left a mile or two of it in place so that some of us "youngsters" can still say that we have driven on route 66!

Sounds like US Route 50 in eastern West Virginia ( though 50 goes through all of that state ) but for several miles until as recently as 10 years ago one can find besides closed gas stations ( one of which still had the words "Esso" on it....

*a small but abandoned amusement park with a collasped ferris wheel ( it fell onto a rather rusted tilt-a-whirl )
*an abandoned McDonalds AND a Tastee-Freeze
*two closed motels
*an abandoned middle school
*remains of a drive-in theatre

...yet people drive down this stretch of 50 every day.

 

[KyDXIn]

You go right past Abraham Lincoln's home from when he was Governor

...sorry, Tom, but Lincoln was never a Governor of Illinois. The only political offices he held were President of the United States, U.S. Representative from Illinois' 7th District, Illinois Representative from Sangamon County (his longest-held office, BTW), and Postmaster of New Salem...

I'm not sure how political, but Lincoln became a surveyor in Illinois in 1834. There is a document containing the earliest existing signature of Lincoln's at the Lincoln Library in the Fort Wayne/Allen County Public Library.

 

[Mark Giardina]

One show that didn't have a proper ending was Now and Again.

It was about a man (played by John Goodman) who gets killed by a subway train. His brain is then transferred to a much younger and stronger man as part of a government experiment.

The show starred Eric Close and Dennis Haysbert

Anyways Close, who played Michael Weisman (aka Newman) is told to stay away from his wife and child; but he can't. The final episode shows all three of them running away from Haysbert.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

One show that didn't have a proper ending was Now and Again.

It was about a man (played by John Goodman) who gets killed by a subway train. His brain is then transferred to a much younger and stronger man as part of a government experiment.

The show starred Eric Close and Dennis Haysbert

Anyways Close, who played Michael Weisman (aka Newman) is told to stay away from his wife and child; but he can't. The final episode shows all three of them running away from Haysbert.

I believe the premise of a second season was to have the husband, wife, and daughter, running from Haysbert every week. But since the network (CBS I believe) canceled the show, there was no need to have a final episode.

In retrospect I can see where having a final episode could have been a problem for the writers.
Either the Weisman character goes back to work for the government, with the promise of being allowed to stay with his family; or the family are like The Fugitive, running from the government, meanwhile Weisman using his super-human abilities to help strangers.

 

[Bob1370]

"Actually friend, Steven Bochco said that He was going to write that Doogie got burned out by medicine and decided to retire from it and become a writer."

Who changed his name to Barney, moved to Manhattan. hung around in bars with his friends every night, acted like a pig to the women he dated...and signed a long term deal with CBS,
;D

 

[Mark Giardina]

There was once canceled show that did provide a proper ending. ABC's Life on Mars, which was the American version of the BBC series.

Spoiler Alert! - The detective who thought he was trapped in the past comes to find out he's on a mission to the planet Mars with some of the people who were in his dream-like state as the crew were in a comatose-sleep during the trip from Earth to Mars.

If memory serves me correctly, in the BBC series the detective couldn't cope with returning to present day and took his own life; ending up back in the past. Did I get that right?

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Regarding Branded:

Apparently the underlining plot of the show was that Chuck Connor's character, Capt. Jason McCord, was protecting someone named General Reed who apparently was responsible for the massacre at Bitter Creek. So Connor's character took the blame to protect this general's reputation.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Regarding Branded:
Apparently the underlining plot of the show was that Chuck Connor's character, Capt. Jason McCord, was protecting someone named General Reed who apparently was responsible for the massacre at Bitter Creek. So Connor's character took the blame to protect this general's reputation.

I think you're correct. Unfortunately the show never really went into detail as to what happened at the battle and why McCord would risk his own career in the Army for a general.

 

[Ultimajock]

Regarding Branded:
Apparently the underlining plot of the show was that Chuck Connor's character, Capt. Jason McCord, was protecting someone named General Reed who apparently was responsible for the massacre at Bitter Creek. So Connor's character took the blame to protect this general's reputation.

I think you're correct. Unfortunately the show never really went into detail as to what happened at the battle and why McCord would risk his own career in the Army for a general.

...actually, there was a flashback sequence in the second episode (31 January 1965, guesting Claude Akins and June Lockhart) that showed what happened at Bitter Creek, and a later sequence in which Connors and Lockhart discuss why he's keeping the facts a secret. It's just that the remainder of the series didn't dwell on it...

 

[Mark Giardina]

Regarding Branded:
Apparently the underlining plot of the show was that Chuck Connor's character, Capt. Jason McCord, was protecting someone named General Reed who apparently was responsible for the massacre at Bitter Creek. So Connor's character took the blame to protect this general's reputation.

I think you're correct. Unfortunately the show never really went into detail as to what happened at the battle and why McCord would risk his own career in the Army for a general.

...actually, there was a flashback sequence in the second episode (31 January 1965, guesting Claude Akins and June Lockhart) that showed what happened at Bitter Creek, and a later sequence in which Connors and Lockhart discuss why he's keeping the facts a secret. It's just that the remainder of the series didn't dwell on it...

Okay now that my curiosity is piqued what did happen at Bitter Creek and what was discussed between Connors and Lockhart?