As television shows have matured artistically, 'til a number of them today arguably outshine their cinema brethren, they have become more complex. Most series employ intricate story arcs and characters whose personalities and relationships can undergo drastic changes through the run of the show. Gone are the days when you could skip a couple of episodes, or a season or two even, and jump back in without missing a beat.

Of course in these days of downloading, both legal and otherwise, and even the most obscure television shows being released on DVD the day after the season finale, that's not as big a problem as it once might have been. There are plenty of ways to catch up.

But that still leaves the biggest Bogeyman of all, as far as avid fans are concerned, lurking in the shadows, the studio and network Grand Poobahs, ready to pounce on their beloved show and bludgeoning it to a sticky pulp with a rolled up print out of the Nielsen's ratings, just as the screen flashes, "To be Continued".

While viewers might feel a reluctance to get emotionally invested in a show these days on regular networks, for fear of the bean counters pulling the narrative rug out from under their feet on a cliffhanger that would forever go unresolved, the cabel titan HBO seemed like they could be trusted not to leave their viewers hanging. But that was before they picked up some bad habits from their network siblings.

The cancelling of "Carnivale", without resolving almost any of its myriad plot lines and mysteries (if such a thing was even possible), was a bad omen. Then it looked like "Rome" was done for, though that has now been renewed for another season after all.

When word leaked out that the critically acclaimed potty mouth Western show "Deadwood" had been given the axe, a lot of viewers felt that it was the last straw and threatened to discontinue their subscriptions to the channel. But all is not lost, it seems. At least the show will go out with some closure.

HBO and the creator and executive producer of the series, David Milch, have reached an agreement on ending the show with two two-hour movies. HBO had originally offered to pick up a fourth season of 6 episodes, only half the number of episodes in previous seasons. But Milch declined, as it would break up the narrative structure of the show.

Milch was said to have not been in favor of a six-episode final season because of the show's emphasis on each episode representing a day in the life of the lawless camp in late-1800s South Dakota, where the show is set. The shift of the final "Deadwood" installments to a two-hour movie format will allow for a clean break with that day-in-the-life format and allow the rest of the story to unfold on a broader narrative canvas.

So, all in all rather good news for fans of the show.