Over the years I’ve started to watch many TV series. While I aim to finish the things I start, there are actually a number of shows that I don’t finish. I simply let them fall to the wayside and I’m honestly fine with it. Then there are some other series that I really enjoy and I just never finish. There are a ton of reasons why I don’t finish series so I I’m going to go through some of the top reasons.
I don’t want the series to end
There are some series that I really loved like Buffy and Chuck. I plow through the whole series until I get to the final season. I tend to get partially into it and then I just stop. I simply don’t want the series to end. There are so many things that are hard to give up. However, by not finishing a series, I don’t have to reach the end. It’s like perpetually staving off an ending that I know is coming. I’ve done this with a number of shows. That said, it may just be one of the factors that occur with my way of watching.
I don’t finish final seasons
Unless I’m really pushing through and I don’t realize what is going on. I have a tendency of dropping off on final seasons. This can sometimes be a problem with the final season. There are times when shows change drastically and it isn’t that I no longer enjoy the show, but pushing through the last episodes feel difficult. In these cases, I’m often still intrigued by a show, but I’m no longer in love. As a result, I don’t have the urge to continue onward. This is what happened with Mad Men. I really enjoyed the first season, but I just didn’t feel rushed or the desperate need to finish it. I will one day, but for now it’s not on my TBW list.
Not for me
There are even more shows that I check out of after an episode or a few. I just realize that the show isn’t for me. Sometimes it just really doesn’t clash with my personality and what I like. Other times it is really just bad timing. Regardless of the exact cause for the taste misalignment, I find that these shows are best left untouched. For some, I will pick them up down the line. Others are wiped from my memory as efficiently as possible.
Bored with a show
There are other series that I just lose interest in for any number of reasons. If I am totally bored with a series I actually don’t find myself actually stopping. Instead, I’m just no longer watching. The show has become more tedious than enjoyable and when that happens I have no problem just dropping it. It doesn’t mean I won’t pick it up to finish it, but I just stop caring. Honestly, this is what happened to me with Lost. I started watching it after the whole show was over thanks to Netflix. The problem was that once we got to the end of season 2 we just didn’t feel like continuing on.
Checking out before it’s bad
There are times when shows are praised in their early seasons, but then the quality declines. That change in quality most certainly makes it more difficult to really enjoy a show. When this happens and I have the privelege of knowing that the show isn’t as good I will check out. This happened to me with Heroes. I watched it with my boyfriend and we loved season 1. Season 2 wasn’t quite as good, but it was still enjoyable. It was enough for us to see the writing on the wall. Once we learned that season 3 and 4 were not good at all, we decided to check out before our good memories of Heroes were sullied. As a result, I’ve yet to finish the series, but what I have seen I loved.
Those are just some of the reasons I don’t finish shows. I’ll admit that some of them aren’t that great of reasons, but they are how I feel. Not finishing series isn’t something I often do, but it happens enough that I have noticed my trends.
What shows have you not finished? What are some reasons you don’t finish shows?
So, I pondered... 
Usually for me I quit when I’m bored, lose interest or the show just isn’t good enough to be worth my time I guess. I admit I sometimes have a hard time quitting when I am deep into a show. If I put in say five seasons worth of time, it is hard to not finish it out, but I’ve been getting better at just letting it go these days. Can’t say I’ve ever stopped something so it wouldn’t end like you said in your first point. As bittersweet as a favorite show ending can be, I’d prefer to see how it plays out at the end.
It’s a weird quirk of mine, the whole not wanting to finish.
Learning to let go is one of the best things you can do. There are so many shows out there, some times you just need to accept that you’re checking out.