Wow! Worst finale ever? Really? What about Seinfeld? How I Met Your Mother? Maybe you didn't watch either of those shows but both had more disappointing finales as far as I'm concerned, and that's just 2 that I can think of off the top of my head.
The HOD finale was discussed extensively on this site and other discussion boards when it aired last March. I didn't love the musical number either (I was really surprised by how many people said they actually loved it?!?!) but it sounds like that's not an uncommon trick on the CW? I don't watch much (now any) CW shows so maybe that's why I wasn't prepared for it.
My bigger complaint than the musical itself, as corny as that was, is that it took up almost 5 minutes of show time that could have been spent telling/showing us things that matter, like the babies damn name!!!! It was such a waste of time! To me, it would have been better to end with a montage of more "real" scenes with music playing over it instead of the musical bit. I know they had a lot they wanted to try to cover in a short period of time, Lemon and Lavon's wedding, Zoe's mom with the baby, George and Annabeth, etc, so it would have been hard to have regular scenes with dialogue and fit all of that in but a montage would have been better than the singing and dancing number. It left me very unsatisfied.
Now, I really enjoyed HOD, especially season 4, so I have no doubt some of my disappointment was the fact that the show was ending but the way they handled it was a big part of it too. I've stated before in other threads and other message boards, I think a lot what happened on HOD after S2, a lot of things that were not handled well, can be traced back to the fact it was a show runner who was running a show for the first time. She had been a writer on other shows in the past but this was the first time it was her deal and I think she lost her way, so to speak, after S2 and didn't know what to do or how to do it. I think she pretty much knew what was going to happen S1 and then to an extent in S2 as well (for example, I think she knew as soon as she got Wade and Zoe together that she was going to have Wade cheat and that would eventually drive Zoe back to NY for a time), but beyond that I don't think she knew where she wanted the story to go or at least not how to get there. S3, specifically, the middle third or so of the season, was a train wreck that completely derailed the show and turned a lot of fans off. She messed the show up so badly she couldn't get it back even with the final couple episodes of S3 and then S4 being much better written and executed. Some of the blame for the show ending goes to the CW for wanting to take their programming in a different direction but a lot of it goes to Leila Gerstein and what she did to the show in S3.
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milliemay
9 years ago
OK maybe I exaggerated for effect ....I am a bit of a drama queen ๐
But I really hated the musical number .... and racing through all those story lines in the space of five minutes. I would rather they had left them open and finished it in the same tone as the rest of the series.
..... and what the heck is the baby's name? ๐ก
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dyseskytten
9 years ago
I think the musical number was very HoD and it tied a lot of story lines up in a neat bow. Imo it was the perfect ending especially since we did have a Zoe/Wade conversation to rap it all up.
Not knowing the baby's name isn't important imo. That is one of the few things people can make up themselves. Also there wasn't a clear choice. It couldn't be Harley. There already was a kid named Harley and one viewers would rather forget. Remember they never planned for Zoe and Wade to have a child together.
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allie106
9 years ago
As I said, according to the post after it aired, a lot of people did apparently like the musical number, I just didn't think it was the way I would have ended the show. It left me feeling like too much was missing or left up in the air. Of course any time a show I really like ends there is a part of me that wishes it could go on but an ending that is handled well, like Friends for example, feels more satisfying then what HOD gave us. I do wonder if they would have handled it differently if they hadn't had to hide the fact that Rachel was still very pregnant. The way they shot those scenes in order to hide her belly were comical.
As far as the babies name, well I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I just don't think you have your 2 main characters, the ones that the majority of the audience have wanted to be a happy couple for most of the series, have a baby together and then don't tell your audience the name. That's unprofessional, sloppy story telling as far as I'm concerned. As I mentioned in another post, this wasn't Wanda's baby (whose name we did get), or Annabeth's, or even Lemon and Lavon's, this is Zoe and Wade's baby, we deserved to know the name! Of course I can make one up for myself but this isn't fan fiction!
No, I have no doubt the reason we didn't get a name is because there was a fight in the writers room over using the name Harley. There must have been some who were strongly in favor and others who were strongly against it (I'm sure because that was Vivien's sons name) (I think there is also something in Jewish custom that you don't name babies after people? I'm not Jewish but I think someone told me that once. Zoe considers herself Jewish to a large extent so if that is true I can't imagine she would have named her son Harley for that reason either). Since they couldn't agree they decided to leave us with TBD. Bad writing!!!
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dyseskytten
9 years ago
It left me feeling like too much was missing or left up in the air.
Imo, it left nothing up in the air. Nothing important. Lemon and Lavon got married and AnnaBeth and George were together. Were they moving or did she just visit - that was on purpose. The crew members got to participate in the dance so they could be a part of the sent off too. But I guess you can never please everybody.
I do wonder if they would have handled it differently if they hadn't had to hide the fact that Rachel was still very pregnant. The way they shot those scenes in order to hide her belly were comical.
Rachel's pregnancy changed everything about the last season. Might even have changed the # of episodes but we won't ever know that. Gerstein have said the season changed because of the pregnancy and that ZW wouldn't have gotten together so soon into the last season.
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So you would have been fine if the baby's name would have been Peter?? Or another name with no significance to anything and they just left it at that? That would have been so bad. ZW not being able to agree on a name is very them. They argue and bicker over everything.
I'm sure the writers had discussions about a name but ultimately since there wasn't any name that would have made sense they left it up to us. It's not in any way bad writing just because you want to know. I am 100 % sure the fandom would have hated the name Harley because of Vivian's son. Maybe they should have thought of that back then but a ZW baby wasn't in the plans.
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allie106
9 years ago
They wouldn't have gotten more than 2 maybe 3 more episodes at the most if Rachel hadn't been pregnant. The reason they got a shortened season was because the CW wasn't willing to give them a full 22 episode order after the ratings tanked in S3. The CW only has 10 hours of programming a week which is less than any of the other networks and they decided they just didn't want to have lower performing HOD, which also didn't fit in with the kind of shows the new network head wanted, taking up one of those hours for the whole season. I do think Rachel also asked if she could have more time off than Jamie King had the year before when she only took 6 weeks, but I don't think she wanted the show to end. 10 episodes was the number they agreed upon because that's what they felt they could "safely" get in before Rachel had her own baby but it's certainly not the reason it was a shortened season.
Zoe and Wade not initially agreeing on the name is very them, I agree with you on that. The problem is leaving it at that. They could have slipped it in during the conversation on the bench at the end so we know they came up with something!
Yes I would have been fine with Peter, or Jack, or Wyatt, or Johnny or whatever else they came up with. I don't like the idea of using Harley but I would have been happier with that then nothing. I've watched shows where characters have given their baby a name I wasn't crazy about, but at least they had a name! It has NEVER bothered me as much as this showing ending with no answer to that.
Like I said, agree to disagree. It doesn't bother you that we didn't get a name and that's fine, that's your opinion. It bothers me and I know a lot of other people who were bothered by it too.
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debbie-iancu
8 years ago
Just FYI I'm Jewish and you don't name babies after living relatives, so no Wade junior, but you can name a baby after a deceased relative, it's even expected, my daughter is named after my grandmother and I know families with more than one grandchild named after the same grandparent, there is no restriction to naming cousins the same even though it can be confusing at family gatherings. So they could name him Harley and in a Jewish family that would be fine.
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