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We also saw that Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Richard, Miles, and Frank got off the Island via Ajira flight 316. Presumably, Claire would go back to being a mother to Aaron, and Sawyer and Kate may well have attempted, at some point, some kind of relationship (though what with Sawyer still mourning Juliet, and Kate professing her love for Jack, it’s doubtful that anything would’ve worked). But what of Richard Alpert? We know now, or are given hints, that he’s become mortal by the end of the series. Still, it’s not like he has any solid idea of how to live off the Island. Yes, he may have had the hook-up when he was aligned with Jacob, but what about when he’s his own man? The main problem with any Lost movie would be a strong, interweaving narrative. How to bring all of these characters together in some fashion? Maybe Hurley and Ben have to travel off Island to help their friends, providing action and adventure in the real world. Either way, I’ve turned the corner from loving the show so much I never want it to continue, to wanting it to never end, so let’s figure something out.

Deadwood

Any fan of the late, lamented HBO series Deadwood knows that the ending wasn’t really supposed to be the ending. And, any true fan knows that me putting this show on the list is the very definition of a pipe dream. The three-season revisionist Western was supposed to air for one more season. The show’s creator, David Milch, had explicitly seen the series as running for four 12-episode seasons, but there were business problems between HBO and Paramount, the production company, so three seasons were all we got. There had been rumors directly after this troubling news that the series would be capped off with two two-hour movies in the near future, but with every passing day, it became clear that this was extremely unlikely. What a tragedy indeed; HBO gets to keep showing Entourage, but we’re stuck with no more Deadwood.

I highly doubt that a feature film of two hours would do well enough to turn a solid profit or be enough time for Milch and the great cast of the show to wrap everything up in a tidy bow. I’d be fine with a series of two-hour movies on HBO or any other network willing to air them. This is a case where the movie is almost necessary, helping further the stories of these characters that we all so dearly loved. What happened next to Al Swearengen after George Hearst left the camp of Deadwood? What would happen to Seth Bullock? What of Sol Star, Trixie, and on and on and on? The mark of a show that deserves a follow-up isn’t just the story, it’s the characters. Great stories are only made so by the characters, and this is a case where it’s the characters I want closure on. Maybe one day, the necessary executives will get their heads out of their collective asses, but don’t count on it.

Veronica Mars

Here’s another show that manages to feel like it got a bum rap even if it got a lot luckier than some other shows. Veronica Mars is one of those network television programs that should have never aired on network TV; the catch-22 is that the show could have only been picked up by a network, because of the setting and characters. It seems unlikely that a teen drama of any kind would survive on HBO, if only because the cable channel prides itself on airing that which would not be on normal TV (see upcoming shows like Boardwalk Empire and A Game of Thrones). Veronica Mars was too adult for the young girls that UPN and the CW wanted to cater to, so even though the show made it to the CW for a season, it was a death knell for the show. Veronica Mars concluded with the title character walking away into an uncertain future, but it was ripe for following up on.

Since the program was ostensibly a detective show, creator Rob Thomas (not the guy from Matchbox Twenty, mind you) could easily craft a cinematic noir, while providing Veronica (the luminous and ever-more-popular Kristen Bell) a great story. Of course, this show had some brilliant characters, from Veronica’s dad, Keith, to her on-again, off-again, love/hate interest Logan, to the cheerfully amoral private detective Vinnie Van Lowe. All of them could return, or none of them, but it wouldn’t be a great movie without Bell’s narrative style (yes, Gossip Girl fans, her voice was used to a better, richer extent on this CW program), her spunky attitude, and some truly intricate, suspenseful mysteries. Veronica Mars is another show that likely wouldn’t bring in huge box office, but it has a motivated fanbase, and we’re all willing to throw down a few bucks for a movie, right? Right?

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