AMC Responds to "The Killing" Finale Backlash
Jun 24, 2011
by Natalie Abrams


AMC president and general manager Charlie Collier is finally speaking out about the backlash against the season finale of "The Killing".

The show came under heavy criticism when, after 13 episodes, viewers were left without the answer to the series' most burning question: Who killed Rosie Larsen?





Collier tells Entertainment Weekly that AMC was unprepared for the response to the finale, and wishes the network could've prevented viewers from expecting a resolution.

"We underestimated the passion of viewers have for closure within this season," Collier says. "It was never our intention to misguide the viewer. The audience has an important voice, we heard them and don't take them for granted."





However, Collier says he stands by showrunner Venna Sud's decision to end the first season on a cliff-hanger.

"Cliffhangers are a staple of TV and a huge part of mysteries," Collier adds. "If I could do anything differently, it would be to manage expectations."





Sud has already promised viewers will find out who killed Rosie Larsen next season.

"We asked the question, 'Who killed Rosie Larsen? But we never said, 'Tune in and by the end of 13 episodes you'll find out who did it,'" Sud recently told TVLine.com. "I want to assure the fans that they will find out who killed Rosie Larsen in Season 2."

http://www.tvguide.com/News/AMC-Killing-Finale-1034578.aspx

AMC Gets More Flack for "The Killing"
Jul 28, 2011
by Denise Martin


If you have not gotten over "The Killing's" controversial season finale, you're not alone. At AMC's fall TV preview session Thursday, reporters continued to demand answers about the show's arguably frustrating cliff-hanger.



Asked whether network executives were concerned about ending the season on such a polarizing note, AMC Senior Vice President of Original Programming Joel Stillerman said:

"The major takeaway for us starts with the headline: For everyone who was frustrated, we hear you. It was never intentionally meant to mislead anyone.

Our goal was to create a brilliant, if I can be so humble, piece of character-based storytelling mixed with a genre we all love, which is the murder mystery... We think we got there, but we didn't manage expectations the way we should have."






AMC's decision to renew the show for a second season, in fact, came before they committed to "the highly controversial episode" — but no one at AMC is second-guessing it.

Says Stillerman: "It would have been a shame to leave it at that... But also we're incredibly proud of the show as a whole... I think the feedback was largely positive leading up to the finale, but we always hear feedback of all kinds...

I think it would have been a very different scenario had people not been so convinced they were going to find out who did it by the end."




The series writers go back to work in August, and Stillerman promises, "You will find out who killed Rosie Larsen, definitively, in Season 2."

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Killing-Finale-AMC-Hell-Wheels-1035794.aspx