To feel genuine grief over a TV series ending?

[maytocay]

I've lost my own DC before so I'm familiar with taking the term 'grief' too literally here

But it does feel like a genuine, sad loss.

I'm not even finished the final series yet... there are 6 series and I'm on the final one

I feel so sad I won't get to carry on escaping to this TV series every time I watch it. I'll miss it all so much

AIBU? Has anyone else felt similar over a series?

I felt like this when I finished Schitts Creek!

'Call The Midwife' is my favourite comfort watch. I've lost count of how many times I've been back to the beginning of the very first season and started all over again!

I feel the same. There are soooo many shows I watched and at the last episode I felt down. Friday Night Lights, Six feet under, The Shield, Dexter…I felt a sense of loss at the end of them.

We watched the first 5 series like that, weekly, then watched the whole lot again before doing season 6. I agree, absolutely the best thing I've ever seen on TV. Breathtaking. After writing that yesterday, I told my husband I'm watching season 6 again again. It's only logical, it's the only season I haven't seen twice. He's not joining me (the fool) but I get Jimmy & Kim to myself ❤

Best TV show ever ever ever

We were gutted when Suits finished. Then of course, Friends. That’s definitely never coming back 😢 😢

We're watching Saul at a rate of about 1 series every 2 years so we can savour it 😃

I was gutted when The OC ended. Buffy less so, as I hated everything post-Glory and Dawn.

It’s disappointing when a series you like ends but grief feels a bit strong.

If you liked Friday Night Lives you might like Kingdom (free on Prime) - it's not about football but it's a similar series but about MMA.

About football- Last Chance U is a great docu series

Friday Night Lights

Thanks for the suggestions I will check those out esp since I’m struggling to find a series to watch☺️

Have any of you watched the Bay? Just started it series 1. Seems daft. Should I persevere?

Apparently that sense of loss is a known psychological reaction @maytocay

It's because if you binge watch a long running series you have having an out of the ordinary experience - in the sense that you are actually spending hours intensely "in the company of people" - the characters in the drama - and you "bond" with them - or feel like you do.

If you think about in real life how you make friends and how often you see them and how long it takes to make a friend - even if you are seeing someone at work every day, it will still take a while. You wouldn't normally be seeing a friend every day or even if you do, spending more than 1+ hour in their company just focussed on them.

On the other hand, if you are binge watching even if just in the evening or at the weekend, it's possible to be spending anywhere between 2 to 6 hours A DAY in the company of these fictitious characters so you feel like you get to know them.

Losing that is a loss.

Remember that box set addiction this is a relatively new way of consuming television - historically you'd have to wait for the next episode or even if you got into a series, then wait for the next series.

If you discover a long runner late and you have 5 or 6 series of 1 hour long episodes with 10+ episodes a series, that' s a lot of time.

I've recently discovered The Last Ship after a MN recommendation and despite reservations about S3 have pressed on. I think I am in love with Captain Tom Chandler (the character not the actor). Yes I am embarrassed!

For me I'm still sad The Big Bang Theory ended

I feel like that with Yellowstone, really bereft :(

@Hydrangeatea
At least there will be more episodes in the summer though 😊

I definitely understand this, I get way over invested in tv shows.
Grey’s I also stopped watching before Karev left as I just felt I couldn’t take another loss.
my favorite shows are probably:
the 100
prison break
vampire diaries
bones
criminal minds- the new revival of this is absolutely amazing though, so glad they brought it back.

also eagerly awaiting the new season of virgin river

my go to comfort/fall asleep is big bang theory which I have seen so many times I could talk along

to the poster asking what to watch with a teen, I did the 100 and lost with my teen ds and he really enjoyed both

I liked The 100 but then it got really dark and I didn't like it any more.

Never watched Bones, but everyone I know raves about it, so I might put that on my watchlist for when I need a "Comfort food" series.

I made an absolute show of myself at the end of the last ever episode of Holby City. Sobbed for about an hour! I was also bereft when we finished Schitt's Creek and I'm desperately trying to eke out This Is Us!

It’s fine to feel sad. It’s wrong to compare this to real grief, that you feel when an actual person dies.

It’s wrong to compare this to real grief, that you feel when an actual person dies.

@bridgetreilly There's no right or wrong when it comes to feelings. Who are you to say for the world "it is wrong" about anything? Why is your view of the appropriateness of feelings any more right or wrong than @maytocay ? Minimising anyones feelings about anything is cruel and unnecessary. People feel how they feel.

Besides, grief just means sorrow at a loss - it doesn't have to be when someone dies. You can grieve for your life before you were injured. You can grieve for a relative who has dementia but is still alive. You can grieve for a pet. You can grieve for a friend who ghosted you. Just because something is not important to you doesn't mean it isn't to someone else.

I totally agree. I have felt grief over a number of situations, not necessarily just death, the feelings are very real and possibly unlike anyone elses feelings in the same situation as we all deal with things so differently.

I think the feeling of sadness, when a series ends, also comes from the fact that if tv series are designed well, then they'll address some real area of life, some real problem, that people deal with. For example, in Better Call Saul, even though the situations were amped up because of the Breaking Bad world that they were working in, at its root it's about someone who just can't help ruining things for himself. And I think many of us have struggled with self-defeating behaviors. So it's something we recognize in human nature, even though it's done in this very unique imaginary world.

I think a good series will work towards a story ending isn't a purely happy ending. But an ending instead that accepts that things are not always easy in the real world that we all live in. If things were easy, we would have solved all our problems already! Schitt's Creek is a wonderful example: even though it's a fantasy world, the ending felt earned and real.

I totally understand. I honestly know every line from every single Friends episode. Nearly 20 years after it finished I am still gutted it isn't on anymore.

I get very attached to characters and struggle to distinguish between art and life.

All you can do is rewatch which is what I do constantly!