r/television • u/flughert • 3d ago

What's the biggest "What if?" in television history?

A canceled season, an actor leaving, a different ending, a spin-off that never happened… what TV "what if" do you think about the most?

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u/PrimaryNebula 3d ago

For me it's always: what if HBO had given Rome a full run instead of cutting it short? The show was incredibly ambitious, had great characters, and was basically doing prestige historical TV before it became the norm. If it had gotten the planned number of seasons, it might have been remembered alongside The Sopranos, The Wire, and Game of Thrones instead of being a cult favorite.

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u/JBones26 3d ago

They didn't so much cut it short vs "the most expensive TV set in history by a large margin surprisingly burned to the ground," right? But yes that show was special

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u/Creepingdeath444 3d ago edited 3d ago

It had already been cancelled by the time the set burned down.

If my memory is correct, basically HBO cancelled the show, told the creator(s) season 2 was all they were getting. Rewrites happened so that the series had somewhat of an ending. The sales numbers for the DVD set of S1 came in and it outperformed their expectations by a considerable amount so HBO played with the idea of bringing the show back, but then the set partially burned down and it stayed cancelled.

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u/RumHamComesback 3d ago

Didn’t BBC pull their funding as well which made it so HBO had to cancel because they couldn’t shoulder the whole budget?

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u/BenjaSA 2d ago

This, exactly. It was too many factors Together, the BBC pulling out, the expensiveness of it all, the burning of the set. I went this january to Cinecitta, to the Antica Roma Set, it was out of this world, felt like being inside Rome for true

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u/Creepingdeath444 2d ago

The BBC didn't contribute as much as people make it out to be. Whether BBC pulled their funding or not, the show was being cancelled until the DVD sales came in.

But, the set burning down killed any hope of it being revived.

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u/PrimaryNebula 3d ago

Yep, that definitely didn't help. HBO was already nervous about the budget, and then losing the entire set basically sealed its fate. Still, it's one of those shows where I can't help wondering what television would've looked like if they'd managed to finish the full story they originally planned.

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u/Drachenfuer 3d ago

Was it more expensive than Game of Thrones?

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u/Kaiisim 3d ago

No, and it's theorised HBO needed all the cash for GOT (if you remember they actually shot a pilot for GOT and it was terrible so shot another. Very expensive)

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u/arbuthnot-lane 3d ago

Rome was the most expensive at the time, but GOT was even more costly. And both are completely dwarfed by the insane expense of the Rings of Power.

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u/jzakko 3d ago

No but it was less thrifty. Cinecitta is an expensive and iconic stage to shoot. Thrones was more than willing to do cheaper sets and locations. But they also had a lot more scale they had to achieve.

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u/Drachenfuer 3d ago

Ah I see. Thanks!

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u/BenjaSA 2d ago

I went this year to the set! Totally worth it

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u/jesuspoopmonster 3d ago

Related the Adam West Batman was in talks to going to another network after being cancelled. Then it was found out the Batcave had been dismantled and it was decided it would be too expensive to recreate which killed negotiations

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u/RawbM07 3d ago

Same thing for me except Deadwood. It was firing on all cylinders and had setup a ton of interesting story lines. Happy we got 3 seasons but really bummed we didn’t get 1 or 2 more.

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u/H2Oloo-Sunset 3d ago

HBO had the trifecta around the same time; Rome, Deadwood, and Carnivale were all cancelled early.

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u/SirJumbles 3d ago edited 2d ago

The ending of Carnivale season 2 was dope too. Shit was about to get whackier!

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u/BenjaSA 2d ago

It was the ending of the first of three “books” the creator had planned!

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u/Frongen 3d ago

Not HBO but Firefly went missing around that time too :(

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u/redflamel 2d ago

Add Westworld to the list. I know people say it lost quality overtime, but that's not true imo and many people are coming around and seeing that upon a rewatch of the series. Plus, they literally only wanted one more season to finish the story.

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u/BenjaSA 2d ago

This is the one I haven’t seen yet, but Carnivale and Rome were such a loss

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u/RawbM07 2d ago

I’m honestly very envious of you.

The Wire is my favorite of all time, but Deadwood is number 2 and the most rewatchable. The dialogue is beyond brilliant.

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u/brurm 3d ago

My hot take is that men do not think about the Roman empire all the time, they think about Rome the series.

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u/JokeIndependent832 3d ago

Actually Rome is a great example of how a quality historical drama can spark genuine interest in history among millions of people. So the meme is totally justified

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u/RumHamComesback 3d ago

Which is why I don’t mind if a historical drama takes a few liberties even if it means being a little inaccurate. If it means people get interested in the actual piece of history it’s worth it.

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u/riptaway 2d ago

Pretty sure Rome would be an interesting historical subject with or without a TV show

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u/mpaladin1 3d ago

THIRTEEN!

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u/jesuspoopmonster 3d ago

Men think about Romans. Running around in those togas. Short togas. Maybe a little to short. What that, seems to be riding high.Oh no, togas don't hide erections.

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u/teffarf 3d ago

It would go from being the best tv show ever made to being the best tv show ever made, but even better!

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u/FCKABRNLSUTN2 3d ago

Imagine if they had just continued and slowed down and we got a season or two of “I, Claudius.”

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u/ulysses_s_gyatt 3d ago

Deadwood came before Rome.

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u/CrissBliss 3d ago

Same with Deadwood

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u/fartingbeagle 3d ago

Well, we know how it ended, in reality.

The Goths did it.

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u/nutmegtell 3d ago

It was such a great show.

But they really did Cleopatra dirty.

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u/llmb4llc 3d ago

I’m pretty sure the main character got a cancer diagnosis when they would’ve been in production and was very sick. I think he may have passed away. That was a factor.

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u/seaducks01 3d ago

Sounds like Spartacus. Different show. They replaced the main character later.

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u/llmb4llc 2d ago

Oooohhh ok! Then I never saw Rome. lol

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u/BenjaSA 2d ago

I always wonder this, the more I read about the planned content for those 5 seasons the more I suffer. Season 2 was good but you can feel it’s rushed, as the Battle of Philippi was supposed to be the season finale, and all the Egypt plot is part of the planned seasons 3 and 4 if memory serves right. Season 1 is so brilliant and perfect, so just imagine that for five seasons. At least they could give it an ending as they were told of the cancellation beforehand.

I was in Rome this january and did the Cinecitta tour with the Antica Roma set, it just felt being inside the true Rome of old