Traveler: Why the cliffhanger?
By fred | July 26, 2007
All viewers and fans of the great show that was Traveler now that, sadly, it is now over. They also know that the season/series finale was quite disappointing. And I was said before what pissed me off the most was that we weren’t given any answers really, only more questions!
Knowing that it was the “big finale”, why would they write it like that? Why slamming the door on the face of loyal fans that way?
Well, Creator/Executive Producer David Digilio gave same answers regarding this matter…
And the main answer is that, despite all indications of the contrary, they are still hoping to get picked up for a second season (or at least were by then), and so “certainly did not expect it to be a series finale“.
Sure ABC did not renew the show, nor did they cancel it. Not officially. But they did let contracts of the main actors lapse a while back already, which should be quite a good indication of the direction they’re going for. As Digilio admitted himself a few weeks ago, “while this is not a formal cancellation, we are meant to fade away quietly“.
I think this is a pretty done deal, especially after ABC president Steve McPherson did say that they “were disappointed with the way that show was creatively developed“.
But I will recognize that they did a good job at wrapping things up in two episodes, when they had the whole thing planned for five more. As Digilio explained, “the cliffhanger finale was part of the construction of the series, which is meant to pose one large question for each season. The first season asked, “Who is Will Traveler?” And the second asks, “What is the Fourth Branch?””
And in that way, they surely succeeded. By the end of the season, we did learn a lot about who was Will, where he was coming from and what brought him to eventually frame Jay and Tyler.
Forced to admit, too, that by the end if there’s one big question - as the quest of our boys continues - it is this one : What is the Fourth Branch ?
It is pretty clear to me that Traveler was a great show. And by that I do mean both it was, as in I seriously doubt it’ll come back, unfortunately ; and yes, it was great.
I am not sure what McPherson did not like regarding how “
It very sad to see a show as good as Traveler was leaving, especially the way it went, but of course we have to realize that when they were actually working and writing the two last episodes, they probably didn’t know all that. Not for sure. Hence their hopes, and the direction they went in.
Choosing to end the show by then was signing his death certificate without a doubt. Too bad that not doing so was putting all fans in the dark.
At least we can take comfort in knowing two things, first they are trying to have the show released as DVDs, for all fans to have. And second, once the cancellation will be official Digilio will reveal what was the Fourth Branch, and everything else they had in mind.
