airali_glo

I'm going to reply to what you said later, first I just wanted to write my thoughts. I don't know if it's going to clarify things better about how I feel right now, I'll try. It doesn't make sense in my head, let alone written and in english even.

GG in any universe never brought me joy of watching. Never. Yes, I had my little NS scenes now and then, I liked NY, the fashion, but overall it's a show that always got me too much invested in it, especially shipping wise. I don't think I've never shipped anything the way I did and I still do with NS and Akimax. I would never say it was my favorite show. I don't know how and why, but GG in every universe always has a hold on me: I've never liked the writing, I found it terrible most of the times, my favorite characters and ships have always been written terribly, so it was always emotionally draining for me. You would ask then why you kept watching? well, that's the unknown hold it has on me, I guess or maybe it's the shipping itself who did it. This was real with the OG but it's also true with the reboot. And now I'm sad, but I don't really know WHY I'm sad because of the cancellation.

The reboot has/had so many problems, it wasn't perfect. Too many characters, storylines that never really deepened, its being "didactic" in the sense of always saying that the characters were friends or some were in love, saying it again and again, but never showing it with facts and proper storylines and developement. It never had that "it couple" like the OG did - yes, despite all the tries to make the throuple so, because most people hated it, like even the actors reading online comments were stunned at seeing how very few people liked the three of them together. It said it was queer, but the single characters' queerness was never developed, we just knew they were so - a bi, a pan. a trans. a lesbian, some gays. It looks like the beginning of a joke. Plus it had the claim to be "woke" and aimed at a gen z audience, it wanted to be more serious than the OG, more adult but at the same time always teen. Season 2 tried to fix some of these problems, but overall it didn't. It added more drama OG-style, but without solving all these S1 problems. Storylines kept being not much connected, characters who never spoke to each other in two seasons suddenly had to gag others (Aki and Julien in 2x09, for example). People loved it, it seems? I don't know. Critics for sure. Shipping wise I already explained how I felt in the Akimax thread, here I'll just say that I was and I still am deeply frustrated and mad because of how things went (even without the endgame, they could have been better written anyway) and this always brought me down after each episode - as I said, for me shipping is the main reason I watched GG, always.

So now I wonder: am I said because of the show itself or because of MY expectations? Is it because when I knew about the reboot, even though I didn't trust Safran, I hoped with all my heart that I could finally have a GG that I could love, enjoying NY, the fashion and characters I liked and ship I shipped? Am I disappointed and sad just because I didn't get what I wanted and hoped, while getting attached to it anyways? I feel that I wasted time and energy once again for something that revealed itself as unfortunate as the original, for me. I wasted even my actual time strolling around my city when they came to film here, frustrated because I didn't know where they were, missing them for an inch (even though you know I got lucky a couple of times). With my ship I'm left with nothing, no real romantic scenes to cherish, because they had none, while the OG at least gave me something I could remember positively. I'm left with the version of Akimax I created in my head in 1a, the parallel universe of the throuple never existing and also a way of them being together that was never showed, the version of them I write about and this makes me mad, so mad, because I always stick to canon in shows.

And I'm so torned because I want it saved but also at the same time I don't, because I miss Aki, Max, Julien but I know that it wouldn't be better with a S3. I wouldn't get Akimax scenes (I'm not even saying them as a couple, God forbid! Safran said they would have fixed that in S3), but still I hate to not seeing them again on my screen. I can't even really rewatch, because there's the throuple and I don't want to go through that again. If it had been renewed of course it would have been the same, but since there would have been continuity, I'd have probably just complained as I always did while watching. But with this cancellation or anyway a break, I'm like forced to think of this.

This new GG didn't reveal itself as what I hoped it to be: I want it back to closure at least, but I also don't want to see what I don't like to see. So I have this mix of sadness, frustration, disappointment, nostalgia and, as always happens with cancelled shows, the idea that it ended too soon. That it could have been better, but it never truly lived to its potential. I don't think it would have gotten better in S3 or more, but still! I don't know what to do. That's how I feel right now, I don't know if I'm sad because of what it was or what could have been with more seasons or even with a better writing. I'm here, thinking I'll never see Aki talking about movies again or Max or both maybe smiling at each other for a blink and you miss it moment even though I know it would never be as I hoped it to be.
I don't want to let go, but at the same time I'm aware that I'd feel like I did at the end of the OG, wondering why I didn't drop it at the end of S3.
It didn't have to be perfect, it just had to be something that I enjoyed deeply despite its being bad. It wasn't, but I'm sad anyway and I hate it, because it would be so much easier if I was happy to see it go, content with my headcanons. I happily created some with NS post series and I keep sticking to them, so it's not like I can't do that. Just.

Now some stories from the cast about the cancellation. Evan and Thomas didn't post anything (yet?)


From Whitney



Jordan is the one who jokes about it, she's like let's live tweet for the funeral

From Savannah



From Aaron Dominguez



From Eli



Jason Gotay



Adam Chanler-Berat



-----------------------------------------------------

Now I'll reply to what you said I'll go in order.

True, but GG cancellation wasn't for the tax cutoffs they had in the previous months. That ended in 2021, they clearly said it last month. That's why I thought it was going to get a final S3 and I believed Safran was unnecessarily panicking when, a few episodes in, he made the fandom panic by tweeting that S3 was in our hands and to keep streaming it during the holidays. GG was probably cancelled because the numbers, even if they weren't that bad, weren't enough to keep up with the costs. HBO Max renewed SLOCG and PLLOS that were way way cheaper to produce. GG is rumored to cost between 100 and 120 million dollars a season.
Check the interview above: he doesn't exclude the merge, but he states that GG is expensive and they couldn't even find a way to make it cheaper, because of what it would have meant (shorter scripts, less luxurious costumes, less screentime for beloved actors, less beautful locations). I disagree, but

At this point I wonder if that's not the best solution, honestly. It's not good to watch, but at least you can have a closure just in case. Here HBO Max told them to add more drama and cliffhangers! What was the point if they needed stellar numbers to keep going? Not that HBO Max and Discovery care about quality or storylines, but still! They had the chance to cut some stuff, yes, but it's kinda sad anyway that they had to do it. It seems the finale was supposed to be 1 hour and 20 minutes long.

So every fan has their own unique experience & opinions on things. They will respond or grieve in their own unique ways. You can also enjoy something but be glad to see it over, support someone & still be glad that they're free. It may sound strange, but doesn't make you any less of a fan of something or their opinions invalid. Them having those feelings also doesn't invalidate the feelings of those who feel differently.
True, just it looks strange to me and personally it makes me harder to deal with this in general (and as you read, I have my own complicated way of seeing all of this), because I only see people who are celebrating and I'm like but if you really hated it, why you kept watching it? It's almost like the Smash hate watching.

I'll never watch another series of his ever again and especially ship any of his ships. I'd watch only a GG S3 because I'm a masochist asI said above, but other than that...NOPE. At least once he had the face to say that if Smash came back for a S3, he felt someone else should write it. He wrote a pilot for AMC and another one for another network, so watch out folks.

This has in no way affected me the way Smash did (that was my first cancelled shows ever, I wasn't prepared) and then Rise. I was absolutely devastated for Rise, it got cancelled too before the finale, the day the season 1 soundtrack was released and I watched the final episode crying from start to finish. I was so heartbroken that I almost wanted to not watch another show ever again. I think the last show I watched that wasn't cancelled was Nikita, which ended in 2013. It never had great ratings, every season they were on the verge of being cancelled, but the CW was amazing and they renewed it one last time with a fourth season of 6 episodes, so they could wrap everything.

He won't, someone asked him on Twitter, but he didn't reply, he just said some vague stuff in that VF interview:

- the throuple getting back together and being endgame, basically
- them graduating in S4 except for Zoya and Shan
- Aaron Dominguez becoming a regular in S3 (ANOTHER addition to the SMALL CAST ) presumably for Zoya? Even Grace (Shan) relied to someone mentioning him for Shan that stealing Zoya's boys was for S2 only. They have scenes in the finale, but most of them had been cut
- Shan would have had a love interest in S3, Grace tweeted it today

Then there's another plot that got cut but he didn't say what itr was about. I suppose the Monaki one? Where they "take down" someone or maybe do a little film and then get in trouble, because Aki was supposed to go to the police and Monet's dad was heard saying to some press that what they had done was bad and they were going to face the consequences. Let's see if they kept that in the finale.
Some people speculated that the plot he cut was Audrey's pregnancy that people speculated about since the pharmacy scenes were filmed (the one in episode 4 where Audrey and Max are following Aki).


Sorry for the long post, but I had a lot to say

shinebrighterxx

Because some networks/people believe that cliffhangers encourage people to watch the next one. You are left wanting more as you need to see what happens next. It is a strategic move to keep people invested in a program. Highly logical, however not so much for season finales when things aren't clear if a show will continue.

I will never understand people who hate watch. That's a whole different story. Some people still respond to almost every post NCIS makes on social media about how the show was better with original or previous characters & they should bring them back. Or hate on one of the spinoffs because they have a same sex relationship. My only solution there was to limit reading comments on posts. Because you can say 'don't like it, don't watch it' but people are always going to hate & critique things. But of course that isn't always possible to just drown things out, especially when something major occurs like a show cancellation & it all explodes. Then unfortunately hate can be louder than love. GG is one of those things which can call for people to love to hate. Reboots/remakes can also do that. So it did get left in a bad position there.

Shows can frustrate you & still draw you in. Shows can also disappoint but you still want to watch or can hold hope for things to be better. No one has to explain or should need to try explain what a show means to them or have to explain what they're feeling when that show is lost.

airali_glo

But so are promos, for example. In S1 not only we had each episode synopsis, but we also had weekly promos that aired after the episode and also later, even during other shows. We got little teasers now and then (that usually made people believe things were going to happen differently, like when there was Audrey and Max naked in the chapel and everyone believed they were having sex without Aki, but they weren't. Aki was there too).

In S2 we got the first trailer, then a promo after 2x02 I think, but it had scenes of all the other episodes, it wasn't like the 2x03 promo. Then they stopped. I think Canada had a slightly different general trailer. Sure, they used more the GG IG account to post clips, but they were almost with stuff we had already seen.

I guess they really believed they could use the S1 buzz and fame or maybe the budget had been all spent for filming and there was nothing left.


Yeah, it's almost impossible to avoid such comments, especially now. It was difficult even when I looked for spoilers, because of a certain website where people uses to spread hate anonimously. Hate towards the actors, the characters, the shippers. It was easier to avoid them before social media, even though with Smash as you surely recall, they found a way to spread anyway, even from critics.

I just wish it was easier. I wrote it down mostly to try to understand myself. I hate to feel this way, like GG gave me my most beloved ships, but it also made me pretty much unhappy. I hate I had expectations and I believed they could be true, yeah, even if I couldn't know by then. I also kinda feel stupid, because it's fiction, it's not real, those aren't real characters.

shinebrighterxx

It wouldn't surprise me if budget had been spent. However I also think that first seasons get better production than later seasons. Shows should have elements within episodes to encourage people to keep watching. A continuous storyline that makes you want to know what happens next. Then weekly promotionals can assist with this, however this may be less of a thing for streaming services? I'm not sure as I don't follow what they do as I don't watch things on them. Paramount+ usually just advertises things on the CBS owned channel here as they add them new on there, & it is just the same promo. It isn't a new one for new episodes. But we also no longer get promos for the shows on that channel to encourage us to watch the following week (sometimes during the week they air some, but usually it is just generic ones) so that may just be a CBS/Australia issue. It is possible that HBO Max was doing a similar thing with hope that a generic promo would be enough to make people check it out.

So what if it is fiction? It can still own a piece of your heart.

airali_glo

Someone created a petition for Hulu to save the show. Wondering why Hulu, I mean okay it's Disney, but aren't Netflix and Prime richer? Netflix is untrustworthy, because it cancels everything that doesn't get 13135436468 million of views in the first 10 minutes a show is released, but they had the OG in the past. Prime isn't the right target, but fun fact: in Italy Prime has the OG GG but not the reboot, which is on Sky and a streaming service called NowTV as all HBO Max stuff except for PLLOS, which is on Prime as well.

I don't believe in petitions, plus this should get like million of signatures to be taken seriously I think, anyway it's here

https://www.change.org/p/save-gossip...3-52ddea328030




They got to do a lot of more stuff in S2 and they got more expensive clothing. True, some fashion designers even sent them items before they went on sale (what a power)! Then they built a whole giant set for the Met Gala, to replicate the original location. They went a week in Italy and the actors stayed all in a 5 stars hotel. They rented a giant mansion for the episode 9 on a private island in Manhattan and they filmed there for like a week or something. So I feel they really used it all for the show. I can imagine them being like to Safran: do you want Italy or wekly promos??"
Anyway streaming have promos weekly. SLOCG - another HBo Max show that waa renewed for a S3 - had them every week. So they didn't do them for GG on purpose, clearly. Yes, they probably thought they could use the S1 fame - they had bragged that it was the most watched show on their platform, in S1, renewing it after one episode - and believed one or two trailers could work fine, leaving everything to the social media buzz (GG is very popular on TikTok).

Anyway I see that they're keep updating the GG social media account as normally. Usually those accounts get abandoned as soon as the cancellation is announced and, if it's before the last episode, they just post one more time that day and that's it. Also the tone changes, it becomes more formal. People is suprised, like I see a lot of comments being like "you've been cancelled why are you still posting".


Safran today replied to some people on Twitter, in the thread that advertised the petition I linked above. In the VF interview he had said that they had tried to imagine a cheaper show, but it wouldn't work and wouldn't be the same. In the Twitter replies he said that yes, on Hulu it would probably be a different show, but not necessarily worse. Then a few replies later he said again that he believes everyone would come back to do it if it was picked up, but if it would end up being "too diminished", they - himself included - wouldn't agree to even make it. He just said one thing and the contrary at the same time unless with "too diminished" he means "they pay us too little"
Oh he also added that the petition to being considered should reach 1 million signatures


True, but sometimes I feel like I take it too seriously. I always get so passionate at shipping, it's like I care TOO MUCH and if things don't go as I like or hoped, that can really affect my mood.
Anyway GG always made me pretty much unhappy, but it gave my two of my biggest ships, at the end of the day I can be grateful for that, even though the fact that for the second one I ship more their potential/my version than what I saw after 1a still is kinda sad to me. Once I saved this from Tumblr and I admit I reread that often, lately.

shinebrighterxx

I wouldn't want Netflix. They have something against LGBTQIA+ shows & this should come under that. So Hulu makes the most sense imo

HBO Max is strange then. Or simply didn't have the budget anymore.

airali_glo

They renewed Heartbreak High, though and that's very queer. Same for Heartstopper. I guess they like queer shows when they like the numbers they get? Still they cancelled that vampire show with wlw. They cancelled Warrior Nun after two seasons (the fandom still manages to make it trend on social media, I forgot how to be in such a big fandom feels like).

I always felt that Hulu is not that rich, even though is owned by Disney. They bought another Safran show that was cancelled after 1 season, Soundtrack, months (years?) after Netflix removed it from its catalogue. They didn't renew it, though, they just bought the only season it had.
Does Hulu have the same target of GG, then? I can't figure it out its target, when I think of Hulu I imagine a mix of a lot of various stuff.


I feel it was because of the budget, although how much can promos cost? Oh also about the GG social media accounts: they keep posting stuff as before, as I said earlier - so clips, polls etc. - but they stopped interacting with people in the comments or tweets or liking comments. Their last interaction on Twitter for example is a quotes retweet of a user three days ago, five minutes before Safran tweeted the cancellation news and Deadline tweeted about it too. Even on IG they used to reply to a few of the first comments each post got, but now nothing.

Wondering what will happen to the IG accounts. NBC for example deleted the Rise one months after the show was cancelled. I'd hate to see the same for the characters' and the GG one






You know I kinda hate that people online have always to assume things about how actors behave. Like people desuming how actors feel about the GG cancellation based on what they post or not post. Like I read some saying that since Thomas had said nothing (he only posted a not on set pic with Evan and Eli yesterday), he surely already packed and didn't give a damn and couldn't wait to be free and so on. Also that Jordan, since she's the one with Grace that joked about it on Twitter: a "clear" sign that she hated the show and what she had to do in it and is celebrating the cancellation and the fact she's now unemployed because she doesn't care. That they wouldn't even bother to come back if the show was picked up, especially Thomas and Evan, who didn't post anything since Thursday except for a not GG pic of a friend.
Sure, it can be true. But why can't it be the contrary? That they're sad because of that? Yes, even if they were maybe aware of that for a while. Why everything has always to be negative and so the cast now "hated" the show and couldn't wait for it to be cancelled? How do this people know, how do we know? We don't know them and the way they feel about their job.

I should stop reading comments, I know.


Also how things change: the previous news thread was us being excited about S2 coming and the second thread is about the show being cancelled.

shinebrighterxx

They like m/m more than f/f but I still wouldn't trust them with anything

I have no idea what Hulu's target is. I barely know what it is. It isn't a thing here

You wouldn't think promos would cost much given it is using existing material

My advice is exactly that - get off social media & stop reading it.

ds44

Hulu is basically a dumping off point for abc shows.

airali_glo

Still they never got Galavant (cancelled by ABC after two seasons) and Still Star-crossed. Thy do have their originals, though? I don't know because I only hear about it when people wants them to save a show. I used to contact them when it was about Rise - which they didn't save, despite having worked with Jason Katims in the past for a series with multiple seasons.


The problem with netflix for me is that in general they cancel everything unless it gets billion views in the first ten minutes a show is released. Even being simply popular isn't enough. The only two Netflix thing I watched are Country Comfort (only because Kat was in it) and Heartstopper. CC got cancelled, but honestly it didn't surprise me, like a Nanny-style comedy with country music? They didn't even bothered to release the songs.

Yeah, like I know there's some editing to do, but still! I got that we didn't get them with 1b, because it was released in two batches, but having a weekly show without promos, especially when other shows on the same platform have the is nonsense to me. Or even intrigue people with episode synopses, that's another thing they didn't do this time.

Yeah, even though I'm so used to that by now



You know I was thinking, can you imagine if Hulu picks it up (or anyone else), but then asks Safran to step back? And find another showrunner for it? Do you think he'd do that and the actors would accept to do the show without him?





Why GG Twitter account liked this tweet, two days ago? the intern forgot to log off and use their own account?

fall into your smile

insta isn't showing up for me.

shinebrighterxx

^ There seems to be an issue with IG posts. Hopefully things clear & all embedded posts return soon

airali_glo

I just saw others have the same problem here on ff. let's hope it gets fixed soon, we use that A LOT to say the least


The petition is slowly growing, although it's not like a hit petition or anything. I don't believe in petitions, but they can be a sign of people's interest. There's also this ticket to vote, if you happen to have an Hulu account. Hulu says that when a request gets 100 notes, they sent it to the proper team.

https://community.hulu.com/s/idea/08...UjpbAAC/detail



Jordan suggested to live tweet the episode tomorrow with Grace and Whitney. I wonder why they never thought to do so, with the other S2 episodes. I know that live tweeting for a streamed show isn't easy, but still it's a nice idea for those who can watch and live comment. Rise did it every episode, sure not all cast and it was a broadcast show, but still it was nice.

I think we could know news about a possible pick up next month, maybe? Or in the next two months, usually that's the time. Shows with more episodes and broadcast ones it may look shorter, but I think in those situations the talks began months prior, like it happened with Brooklyn Nine-Nine that was saved a week after it was cancelled, but it seems talks had already started months prior.
They can't even wait too long or the actors will sign other contracts and move and they would have to recast.

airali_glo

Some interviews of Safran about the finale. They of course contain spoilers avout what was going to happen in S3.



https://tvline.com/lists/gossip-girl-series-finale-ending-explained-season-3-spoilers/

‘Gossip Girl’ Boss Josh Safran Explains How He Re-Shaped The Season 2 Closer As A Series Finale & What He Had Planned For Season 3

‘Gossip Girl’ Boss Talks Original Series Star He Tried to Get Back for Finale


This article is about the Met Gala looks, it's interesting to know how they were created. Apparently the theme was the same of 2022 real Met Gala.

xoxo
How Gossip Girl Recreated the Met Gala for an Epic Farewell—Its Own Way



It seems that those managing the GG accounts didn't even bother to edit the caption of the post, which still says season finale. Also it looks kinda funny to see them posting about streaming the full season now, since who cares? I get that all these posts were planned months ago, but still...a little bit of common sense...

(posting for when it will show up)

shinebrighterxx

What common sense is needed?
Why would they pay or ask someone to edit an image or caption, especially when the word season is still correct? I presume they had all posts preset up from the start if they can. Or at least a timing & script. Changing things from season to series is unnecessary work.

Of course they would post about streaming. They still want to make money from it if they can. Plus it is an option. Even shows which have been off air for years get promotions on social media about being able to stream full seasons. Just because you may not wish to watch again, doesn't mean others will feel the same way, so it is good to promote saying they still can.