Could a show like this really have lasted much longer?
I thought that the content of the show was great but I hated the way it was distributed to us. The first complaint, of course, was the long gaps in between episodes. I don't mind if there was a long gap in between seasons but to have a long gap in between episodes was very annoying. That would be like someone giving you a delicious meal but then telling you that you could only have one bite of it every hour. However, as many people have mentioned, it was Disney's fault and not the creators fault. The last episode was actually finished last April. If Disney aired them right away, the last episode would have aired at least six months earlier.
The second thing that annoyed me was that they didn't announce that the show would end until the second to last episode. According to Alex's twitterfeed, he said that he knew that season 2 would be the last season before he began writing it. That means that he knew the show was concluding for over two years but only told us about it recently. Again, that was not his fault but Disney's fault because they would not let him announce it since they were hoping that he would change his mind.
The last thing that bothered me is that the show only lasted two seasons. People asked Jerry Seinfeld why he ended his show when it was so popular. His answer was that he wanted to go out on top but Seinfeld lasted 9 seasons before it ended so I could understand, while Gravity Falls lasted just two seasons. Sometimes I feel like if someone creates a show, they should plan on it lasting at least four seasons. Otherwise, it would end just as you really start to get into it.
On the other hand, I feel that this might be a show that just can't last too long. This is a serialized show and I like them better than episodic shows because I feel that it makes the show have a richer plot. I liked that there was a mystery to solve but once you solve it, then what should happen next in the show? There was a main villain in the show, but once you defeat him, then what do you do? Do you have him constantly coming back, defeat him again, and then fight him again? That gets a bit tiring over time and makes the villain's death a comic book death. Do you have a new villain show up each season, defeat him, and then have a new villain for the next season?
If you make a show where there is a villain that threatens to take over the universe every year then the threat starts to lose its dramatic effect on the audience. The truth is that although I wanted the show to last longer, there was just no more story to tell. It reminds me of the quote from Avengers Age of Ultron, " Yes... but a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts." However, what do you guys think? Should it have ended now or should it have continued? If you think that it should have continued then what should happen in the next season?