Thank you for answering that for me.

> Cara's very public meltdown

I'm way out of the loop what was the meltdown about?

I can see it from both sides, writers want to set up big events and are pressured to by studios/producers, but often are doing that when the studio has not firmly committed in ink on paper for next season is bad for business. Doing this abuses the trust the fans have with the show to not leave them hanging. Once that trust is broken, it's hard to regain it. Just like with trust in real life.

Plus their was the "ALF" show where the writers and show staff tried to force the studios to give them another season by having the show end on huge cliff hanger, while knowing that was going to be their last episode. They scorched the bridge over the river and the villages on both sides of the river with that poorly thought out plan. The studios got the hate mail, the fans felt burned and a show that could have went out with an epic ending, went being known for "What not to do with your series" lesson.

I'm a fan of each season being a Chapter or "Book Ends" per each season, you can still have long running story arcs and themes but each season has a beginning, middle and end.

Take the series Showtime/ J.J. Abrams "Roadies" (think of it like tv series of the film "Almost Famous"), great series but got the Ax. Luckily Cameron Crowe wrote the season to be a complete story in case they weren't picked up for the second season. The story of the characters would easily go on, but that was good ending point. In case they didn't get the seasons they were promised.

Compare that to Carnival Row (yes Covid issues...) that they left it on such a cliff hanger then took 5 years, that they will have to spend multiple episodes rebuilding up the story universe as people have forgotten and moved on. Fans were pissed off on how they were treated. On short seasons or low episode per year you shouldn't pull major cliff hangers, that you won't come back to for 10-12 months to shoot the next parts. In a show that has episodes all year(20-ish) that is already back filming before the last episode(s) in prior season runs, the show can pivot and bring it for landing. Like how the series "New Amsterdam" did.

Take "Grey's Anatomy" , I can't stand to watch it because canonical universe is so bad. That hospital has had so many of the worst world tragedies at it, no one would want to work there and no would want to do their residencies there. Because every year the worst shit happens in the world at that one location, its like volunteering to be in first wave on suicide charge in war.

Ever since that "Who shot J.R." from "Dallas" big post season public & media obsession, shows have been trying to do a re-capture of that with cliff hanger season endings much to fans frustration. So much that many viewers just wait until the show's season is out before investing time and emotional buy in, and this may even take there being multiple seasons. Which without those viewers studios are fast to kill off show and the wonder why shows get less and less viewers, when they treat the fans(viewers) like crap and do story lines just to screw with their emotions for ratings.

The good thing is we have a whole generation of people coming into power in the industry as producers, directors, show runners that grew up with that and many of their favorite shows jerked out from under them. Ones people are still talking about years/decades later. They see their viewers and fan base as part of production something to treat with more care instead of something to jerk around for their amusement because look at all the online conversations.

Compared against say Kirkman of "The Walking Dead" he was an ass as the comic's writers and even pushed out the endingof the series issue while release covers and summaries of the next issues into the trade industry news sources for pre-ordering.... With the series he has only become worse towards the fan base, as his puppets to make dance around, because he thinks he can do no wrong with all the cash... When his franchise burns out finally, I'll be sad for some of the characters and their actors but happy he is out of the picture.

The Wire is good show, not my cup of tea, but I see why people like it. I wish it would have clicked with me. I had the same issue with "Fringe"

That is always gift, many studios finally get this about letting shows have an ending and/or doing each season as chapter with beginning middle and end. In case they don't get picked up, more people would be willing to invest into new shows if they knew they were likely to get killed off and the story left with major hanging plot questions.