Out with a Bang
I have this issue with series finales. In case you're wondering why this is coming up, it's because "Buffy" is now ending...and Joss Whedon seems to be dead set on killing every character I ever loved...or at least changing them so much that they're unrecognizable.

I don't understand why writers/creators/directors seem to feel that they are obligated to destroy the world they've just spent all this time developing and making people love. Ya know? Us die-hard fans have spent 7 years watching Buffy and friends grow and change...be deliriously happy, and horribly sad. We've seen them die, go evil, feel inadequate, lose love, gain love...all these things that endear us to these characters and make us watch. So, why then do they then feel obligated to destroy what we've come to love? The show is ending, we know that...so they don't lose anything by letting our heros stay alive, hook up with someone and live a somewhat happy life. But, no, that's not what seems to happen. Too easy, I guess. Maybe these writers/creators are so obsessed with their shows, and so upset that it has to end, that they want the fans to feel the pain as much as they do. And if that's the case...I have to say...GIVE IT UP!! It's stupid. Give your characters a chance, for crying out loud! Obviously, after 7 years of averting apocalypse after apocalypse, Buffy Summers is not going to retire and go live in Alaska with Spike (where he can go out in the daytime...at least part of the year). It's not her style...or his. A little bit of happiness is all I ask...is that so difficult? Just a tiny bit. Preferably not complete destruction and death.

Examples of what NOT to do: Kill your main character after putting him through horrendous mental torture, a la "Forever Knight."

Put your main characters on the cusp of a happy moment, then turn them to dust, a la "Farscape."

All I ask is an ending with possiblities. A possibility of spin offs. A possibility of love. A possibility of change, of greater things...of POSITIVE things!! There's no need to kill everyone. There is nothing to gain there...just a lot of unhappy fans saying...why did I watch this show for 7 years if they were just going to kill everybody at the end? Why did I get involved in these relationships if nothing is ever going to come of them? Why are these writers so unimaginative that they can't give us just a little room to wonder, or hope?

So, here is my plea. It won't reach those at Buffy...I'm sure everyone who's going to die is already written that way. So, to the future generations of writers/creators/directors--please...if you're going to take a show away...at least leave the fans with hope. With somewhere to go, in their imaginations if nowhere else...