History Main / TheChrisCarterEffect

''If the fans conclude that the writing team will never resolve its plots, then they will probably stop following the work.''

It's said that no one ever went broke [[LowestCommonDenominator underestimating the taste of the viewing public]], but sometimes a show comes along that promises stories so complex and subtle that they'll make ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' look like ''[[Literature/FrogAndToad Frog and Toad Are Friends]]''. If it's [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything done right]], then this is catnip to [[TroperDemographics a certain sector of the viewing public]], who will often give such a show a surprisingly long time to set up its plot arcs before getting antsy for a resolution. The catch for the creator is that the longer an arc runs and the more complicated it gets, the more awesome its payoff must be for it to feel satisfying to the fans. It's much easier for a writer to [[KudzuPlot keep kicking the can]] -- piling mysteries on top of mysteries -- rather than finish storylines.

That said, most audiences are savvy enough to recognize a framing device when they see one. Plots resting on a single DrivingQuestion (Where is [[Anime/SamuraiChamploo the Sunflower Samurai?]] Who is [[Series/HowIMetYourMother Mrs. Mosby?]]) are [[StatusQuoIsGod allowed some leeway]]; otherwise, the production team would be out of work and the story would end. The Chris Carter Effect happens when a work is wholly focused on twists or not building up to a satisfactory resolution, or the plot gets so bloated that there no longer ''can'' be a satisfactory resolution. Another contributing effect could be the unsatisfactory resolution of long-running side plots. At this point, even the most ardent fans will start to feel jerked around, or perhaps even channel flip to something else.

If fans doubt that such a show will even ''survive'' to finish its story and don't bother tuning in, that's TheFireflyEffect. Compare WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants, which does not focus on how the audience reacts to it.

* ''Manga/{{Nana}}'' was going on at a steady pace, until Ai Yazawa's leave due to disease, which put the series in hiatus. That was in 2009. She recovered the following year, but seven years later, she's yet to pick up the story and resolve details such as, who is really the father of Hachi's daughter, whether she will stay with Takumi or break up with him[[note]]about this, the only thing that is known is that, while not divorced (yet), Hachi and Takumi are estranged[[/note]], whether someone will find Nana O. in Europe or she will get in touch with her friends first, and so on.

* ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'' is a prominent example of the UnresolvedSexualTension variant. After about 300 chapters, the relationship between Kazuya and Chizuru hasn't progressed much since when the story started, and every major step they get in the relationship would be quickly met with StatusQuoIsGod, with a lot of the CharacterDevelopment either of the two would get usually being gone once the following arc starts -- Chapter 218 in particular being an [[NeverLiveItDown infamous example of this]]. As such many fans have given up on the manga, feeling the UST is never going anywhere, and that Kazuya and Chizuru will never be allowed to fully improve as people for as long as the series can keep milking their romantic tension. It's pretty telling that there's numerous videos on YouTube from people stating that they used to like the series until they lost interest due to the constant employment of StatusQuoIsGod.

* ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'' is a prominent example of the UnresolvedSexualTension variant. After about 300 chapters, the relationship between Kazuya and Chizuru hasn't progressed much since when the story started, and every major step they get in the relationship would be quickly met with StatusQuoIsGod, with a lot of the CharacterDevelopment either of the two would get usually being gone once the following arc starts -- Chapter 218 in particular being an [[NeverLiveItDown infamous example of this]]. As such many fans have given up on the manga, feeling the UST is never going anywhere and that Kazuya and Chizuru would never be allowed to fully improve as people as long as they keep milking the romantic tension. It's pretty telling that there's numerous videos on [=YouTube=] with them telling that they used to like the series, only for the constant employment of StatusQuoIsGod causing them to lose interest.

** As of 2018 and the series returning from a long hiatus caused by Aoyama having health issues, it's rare for a story arc to ''not'' advance the plot. Maybe it's been realized that if the series ends because the [[DiedDuringProduction mangaka died]], it would be hard to keep selling the volumes?

It's said that no one ever went broke [[LowestCommonDenominator underestimating the taste of the viewing public]], but sometimes a show comes along that promises stories so complex and subtle that they'll make ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' look like ''[[Literature/FrogAndToad Frog and Toad Are Friends]]''. If it's [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything done right]], then this is catnip to [[TroperDemographics a certain sector of the viewing public]], who will often give such a show a surprisingly long time to set up its plot arcs before getting antsy for a resolution. The catch for the creator is that, the longer an arc runs and the more complicated it gets, the more awesome its payoff must be for it to feel satisfying to the fans. It's much easier for a writer to [[KudzuPlot keep kicking the can]] -- piling mysteries on top of mysteries -- rather than finish storylines.

That said, most audiences are savvy enough to recognize a framing device when they see one. Plots resting on a single DrivingQuestion (Where is [[Anime/SamuraiChamploo the Sunflower Samurai?]] Who is [[Series/HowIMetYourMother Mrs. Mosby?]]) are [[StatusQuoIsGod allowed some leeway]]; otherwise, the production team would be out of work and the story would end. The Chris Carter Effect happens when a work is wholly focused on twists or not building up to a satisfactory resolution, or the plot gets so bloated that there no longer ''can'' be a satisfactory resolution. Another contributing effect could be the unsatisfactory resolution of long-running side-plots. At this point, even the most ardent fans will start to feel jerked around, or perhaps even channel flip to something else.

It isn't solely overly-complicated plots that can do this, either. It can also be caused by a {{Cliffhanger}} followed up by [[CliffhangerWall one too many installments that neglect to resolve it]], or a series running on UnresolvedSexualTension that drags it on just a little too long.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' tends to establish a goal for each main character to work towards, but these are frequently so vague that it's hard to tell if they're actually making progress at all. Ash Ketchum himself sets out to become a "Pokémon Master", but in 20+ years of episodes the audience still has gotten little clue of what that actually ''means''. All that's said is that it's far beyond being the strongest trainer as when someone asked on Pokémon.com's mailbag, the writers said they would not answer the question as they'd prefer to leave it up to fans to come up with their own interpretations. Some characters, like May and Dawn competing in Pokémon Contests, have more defined goals and make clear progress, but end up leaving the cast to continue at it offscreen, leaving their arcs unresolved. None of the characters have truly achieved any of their goals as of yet. Thus, many fans have given up on ever seeing any of the characters' stories really wrapped up at any point in the foreseeable future... of course, seeing as the target demographic is eight to twelve years old, it also doesn't seem to matter all that much, as [[FleetingDemographic some fans give up on it]] (and are replaced by younger fans) before this trope becomes much of an issue.
** Both the Contest Champion and the Pokémon League champion are characters only introduced for those events, leaving all the rivals hanging as well as the protagonists. Sinnoh and Kalos are the only major exceptions; [[spoiler:the contest champion in Sinnoh is Zoey, who had been a significant rival and supporting cast member since the region began. Likewise, the Pokémon League Champion in Kalos is Alain, who was a major character in the Mega Evolution mini-series]]. Alola also became an exception when [[spoiler:the Pokémon League champion was Ash himself. And then, in Journeys, Ash sucessfully beats Leon at the World Coronation Series and becomes the very best, like no one ever was. After that, there is the miniseries, ''Aim to be a Pokémon Master'' with the final episode being Ash and Pikachu's final episode as protagonists of the anime.]]
** This has almost become an enforced trope in regards to Ash and his Pokémon. After Hoenn he almost never even mentions any Pokémon from prior regions besides Pikachu, meaning if any of those Pokémon or even most trainers from those regions had outstanding plots, they will never be resolved. However, Sinnoh has Ash using a number of his Kanto, Johto and Hoenn Pokémon in the Lily of the Valley Conference [[spoiler: with Sceptile being the only Pokémon to beat Tobias's Darkrai]], Unova has Ash's Pokémon up to that point posing with him in a picture and Journeys has a couple of episodes where Ash goes back to Professor Oak's Lab where he reunites with his Pokémon and ''Aim to be a Pokémon Master'' has Ash rotating his team, e.g. one episode where he, Misty and Brock have to help a Beartic with its cold controlling powers has Ash using Snorlax, Oshawott, Talonflame and Incineroar.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' ran into this when it came to Guts and his party's goal to reach Elfheim, where the possibility of Casca's insanity being cured lay. With Miura's scheduling slipping, it was inevitably going to take a long time, but fans worried that others would lose interest. It took almost ''eight years'' for Guts to finally [[MemeticMutation get off the damn boat]] and reach Elfheim. But then the subplot sped up and Casca was successfully cured. Only for Miura to leave her further reaction as a Cliffhanger and focusing on Griffith again, with his usual hiatus going on. (And then he ''[[DiedDuringProduction died]]'' in May 2021, leaving the series' fate up in the air.)

* ''Manga/XxxHolic'' started off very well developing the cast until it got too closely intertwined with ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' which complicate things such as Watanuki's and Yuko's backstories. And then, [[spoiler:Yuko "dies" and Watanuki inherits the shop with a new purpose which is to wait for her]]. It doesn't help that the manga ended [[NoEnding without a resolution]]. Later, CLAMP continued the manga with ''xxxHolic: Rei'' which brought the return of Yuko as the shop owner with the possibility that Watanuki's stuck in a dream. However, readers find that the new manga brought nothing new to the story or that CLAMP is dragging the direction too long.

** Originally, ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' was supposed to wrap up after a few months, after an already complicated narrative. However, due to the [[ExecutiveMeddling efforts]] of Marvel executives, the story was extended for another year, with plot twists being reversed constantly, and supposedly dead characters appearing, reappearing and then dying anticlimactically. The story finally limped to its conclusion with another plot twist that had almost nothing to do with most of the events that preceded it ([[spoiler:ComicBook/NormanOsborn was back]]). It should be noted that, when the saga started, it was Marvel's highest-selling group of books. The act of stretching it to the limit for so long caused sales to slump, and fans turned away in droves.

* ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'' featured a series of flash-forwards that never actually resolved or were explained. Writer Terry Moore went so far as to include not one but TWO fake-out reboots (one in which the comic's story turned out to be a book a new character was writing and another in which it turned out to all be a dream) which were then immediately discarded the very next issue. Eventually the last third of the series sort-of righted itself and all of the immediate conflicts were tied up by the end, but much of the first half of the run remains unexplained.

* The entirety of Scott Lobdell's run on ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' had this problem. He'd introduce plot threads, most of which would go nowhere. Those that actually went somewhere led into ''more'' questions, which led into ''more'' questions. The linchpin of his entire run was the villain Harvest, a guy from the future who knew how to plan ahead for everything, and was doing what was best for humanity and was this DarkMessiah figure and... turned out to be a generic villain whose plans made no sense. Skitter was called away in the middle of a crossover... and returns over a year later without that plot thread amounting to anything. Basically everything that wasn't a self-contained arc was being made up as it went along.

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' started as an inversion with [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl the very first movie]] concluding the storyline and giving all the characters a [[EarnYourHappyEnding happy ending]] which is understandable giving it was [[TwoPartTrilogy meant to be a stand-alone movie]], but once the original movie became a huge SleeperHit and the start of a franchise, the writers decided to go against their original conclusion by pulling HappyEndingOverride after HappyEndingOverride over the three following sequels without really trying to bring the characters to a positive conclusion and commonly ending in a worse place they already were per movie. By the time of ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'' most of the sympathetic characters were dead, PutOnABusToHell, disappeared with an UncertainDoom implication and the one character that seemed to be gaining a happy conclusion was [[spoiler: Barbossa, the villain of the original movie]] while Jack Sparrow seemed to get further from his objective of winning back the Black Pearl as the movies keep going and the newly introduced characters got not much resolution in favour of pulling more [[{{Cliffhanger}} Cliffhangers]]. This lead to a lot of fans to start to lose interest in the franchise feeling the writers were not intending to give the characters a happy ending as long as the movies keep being popular. ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'' tried to fix this by [[spoiler: having Jack win back the Black Pearl and have Will and Elizabeth finally reunited]] only for TheStinger to have [[spoiler: Davy Jones coming back from the dead which to many fans make a lot of the struggles of the last four movies completely pointless]], meaning the franchise still hasn't left this trope yet.
* The ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise is a rare example of a film series running into this, which started once the original creators departed from writing with the production of ''Film/SawIV''. As new reveals and twists were constantly thrown into the overarching story, the series became less about a PoeticSerialKiller who forces people into {{Death Trap}}s in order to prove a moral point (which is more or less granted, since he previously died at the end of ''Film/SawIII''), and more about the [[KudzuPlot increasingly convoluted]] machinations of the people fighting over said killer's VillainousLegacy. Eventually, many viewers outside the fanbase gave up on following the plot, and [[JustHereForGodzilla were just there for the over-the-top gore effects]]. Once diminishing box office results started setting in with ''Film/SawVI'', the writers and ExecutiveMeddling eventually began to make an effort in tying off the many loose threads with the [[SeriesFauxnale original finale]], ''Film/Saw3D'', but the result proved [[BrokenBase fairly divisive]] among fans. It wasn't until ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'', an installment that -- while acknowledging the previous films -- has a pretty standalone plot within the timeline, that the franchise finally left the effect to an extent.[[note]]Its preceding installment, ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'', also went with a time setting outside of the previous films, but crammed more storylines taking place during them.[[/note]]

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' does it too. While the main plot is technically resolved, it's still got an AudienceAlienatingEnding. Plus, the Ellimist/Crayak stuff is still on-going, some of the info in ''Megamorphs'' is never brought up again, some of the pre-finale stuff comes out of the blue. Oh, and the ending introduces a new arc. Plus, there's that group of 'friendly' Yeerks, Ax's desire to avenge his brother...

*** This was demonstrated in 2009, when Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} was given a Wellness Vacation and dropped the Intercontinental Championship he was holding at the time to Wrestling/JohnMorrison (which [[BrokenBase promptly caused some fans to complain]] about Rey not dropping the title to Wrestling/DolphZiggler, who'd been in the hunt for the title for some time).

* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series seems to be suffering from a fatal case of Chris Carter. Eidos never really knew what to do with it after Crystal Dynamics stole it from Silicon Knights (and told SK to throw their carefully-plotted story ideas for a sequel in the trash). Crystal Dynamics' next decision with the franchise, having multiple titles in development at the same time with different teams working on them, did little to gel any sort of solid story. The meat of the stories after the first game seemed to follow [[OurVampiresAreDifferent immortal, nigh-indestructible evolving vampires]] traveling through time and fighting extra-dimensional demons. The series' timeline spans thousands of years, and each additional game either flagrantly {{retcon}}s and/or {{reset button}}s the previous installations, including at least one cliffhanger ending that not only drew cries of the game being released incomplete but wasn't actually resolved in the next game. It still could turn out to be one of the greatest series ever, provided they manage to put a bow on it. However, so far news from the developer seems to suggest that another sequel is unlikely.

* ''VideoGame/HelloNeighbor'' got hit with this even worse than FNAF did. As the game went through alphas, it became clearer that the developers were making it up as they went and were relying on the alleged "mystery" to get exposure (to point that many of the developers' Twitter posts consisted of begging for people to make theory videos) which wasn't helped by the game itself becoming increasingly overcomplicated and unpolished. The game's hype sunk like a stone upon the final release, where the longtime "mystery" of the neighbor's basement was answered in the ''first act'', making the rest of the story vague and confusing, with the last chapter ending on a pathetic AllJustADream twist. The sequel would later fall into the exact same trap.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has a fairly interesting plot about the titular organization PuttingTheBandBackTogether while the nefarious [[NebulousEvilOrganization Talon]] gathers its forces and stokes tensions while the world limps toward a second RobotWar. As an exclusively multiplayer title, this story is told through [[AllThereInTheManual external sources]] released sporadically online. ''Very'' sporadically. The kind of sporadic that means the rate of actual progress is better measured by ''years'' rather than by weeks or months. Nowhere is this more evident than with the issue of seeing Overwatch itself [[OrderReborn reformed]], the core premise upon which the lore has built itself. A story cinematic released in March of 2016 established that a "recall" order had been issued to all former operatives to call them back into service and rebuild the organization. The issue of the recall then sat dormant and unmentioned for ''seventeen months'' until another story cinematic released in August of 2017 confirmed ''one'' new agent to respond. And during the interim, developments consisted mostly of the villains effortlessly pursuing their agenda and [[HappyEndingOverride undoing the heroes' few victories]] while the latter either failed to stop them or accomplished little of consequence at all. So, not only does the lore progress at a glacial rate but the progress it ''does'' make is often trivial or demoralizing. Even fans who were enthusiastic about following the story from day one have grown increasingly fatigued and skeptical of [[Creator/BlizzardEntertainment Blizzard's]] ability or intent to follow through with their promises, especially since the tone of the lore has gradually [[CerebusSyndrome become more melancholy with very little worth cheering for]].

** While the series as a whole isn't guilty of this, fans have felt this way in regards to the character of Apollo Justice. His [[VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney first game]] had a pretty cut-and-dry display of his backstory, but starting with ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', the games started giving Apollo a heaping amount of new backstories that either feel farfetched when trying to apply it to what's already been said about him, or [[{{Retcon}} outright contradicts]] what his initial backstory said about him. Because his backstory is so needlessly inconsistent, many fans have stopped caring about it and wish for Creator/{{Capcom}} to just stop adding new backstories to Apollo.

%%** Several things ''have'' been resolved, others clearly advanced; what seems like a majority of readers (on the forums) are confident enough Pete can pull it all together given (lots of) time. He has done it before on a more limited scale and proven himself a master of planning in advance. So, averted in that faith has not been lost.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' got hit hard by this, given the huge amount of WillTheyOrWontThey focus the show had, with Adrien and Marinette's romance barely progressing even after 5 seasons of tension.

* While ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' as a whole isn't guilty of this, fans have felt this way in regards to the character of Apollo Justice. His [[VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney first game]] had a pretty cut-and-dry display of his backstory, but starting with ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', the games started giving Apollo a heaping amount of new backstories that either feel farfetched when trying to apply it to what's already been said about him, or [[{{Retcon}} outright contradicts]] what his initial backstory said about him. Because his backstory is so needlessly inconsistent, many fans have stopped caring about it and wish for Creator/{{Capcom}} to just stop adding new backstories to Apollo.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': The show has a bad habit of adding more spinning plates into the mix rather than resolving any of them, such as the [[FallenAngel Cherubs]], [[ProfessionalKiller Striker]], [[CreatureHunterOrganization D.H.O.R.K.S.]], [[TheMafia Crimson]], [[WillTheyOrWontThey Blitzo's relationship with Stolas]], etc. Since the series comes out periodically one episode at a time, fans started to become restless about this in the middle of Season 2, as it was continuing this trend while also having a few filler episodes that didn't advance any plots at all. Around that point, only ''one'' plot thread from the previous season was followed up on (Striker returning to kidnap Stolas on Stella's orders) The unrest grew to even greater volume when the long-awaited season 1 finale finally arrived after having been delayed significantly due to being ScrewedByTheLawyers. Fans had been hoping to see some kind of CharacterDevelopment or emotional reconciliation between Blitzo and Loona, only for that plot to be [[SpotlightStealingSquad completely sidelined in favor of a new character]] who [[CelebrityVoiceActor happened to be voiced]] by Music/{{Kesha}}(whom Creator/VivienneMedrano is [[AuthorAppeal notoriously a gigantic fan of]]) and given a song that takes up almost a third of the already shorter-than-usual episode's runtime.

* ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' remains on hold since 2003 with 18 volumes out of a planned 21 with a few chapters which is supposed to be for the 19th volume. Nanase Ohkawa, the lead writer of CLAMP, mentioned that they're still looking for a magazine willing to publish the remaining chapters. However, a decade had already passed and CLAMP put two more works (''Manga/Gate7'' and ''Manga/LegalDrug'') on hold to work on ''Tsubasa World Chronicle'', ''xxxHolic: Rei'' and ''Manga/CardCaptorSakuraClearCard''. Fans of ''X/1999'' are not pleased with this and doubt that the manga will ever continue at this point. It doesn't help that several plot points have been left hanging for a decade such as Kamui's "true" wish and most importantly, who wins between the Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth.

->''"ABC announced this week that it has renewed ''Series/{{Lost}}'' for a fourth season. Said the show's writers, [[OhCrap 'Oh, crap.']]"''

* ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'' is a prominent example of the UnresolvedSexualTension variant. After about 300 chapters, the relationship between Kazuya and Chizuru hasn't progressed much since when the story started, and every major step they get in the relationship would be quickly met with StatusQuoIsGod, with a lot of the CharacterDevelopment either of the two would get usually being gone once the following arc starts -- Chapter 218 in particular being an [[NeverLiveItDown infamous example of this]]. As such many fans have given up on the manga, feeling the UST is never going anywhere.

* ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'': Many players enjoyed story mode, even more so than the fighting part of the gameplay, and were eager to play the new chapters from the other characters' POVs while also learning more about their backstories, as the previously released Book of Lore was declared non-canon. As time went on, the only notable activity were the releases of Texas and Stronghoof Hoofstrong as playable characters until, with the release of two more characters, it was announced that story mode was being cancelled, angering many who felt that their investment in the game had been for AllForNothing.
* While ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' as a whole isn't guilty of this, fans have felt this way in regards to the character of Apollo Justice. His [[VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney first game]] had a pretty cut-and-dry display of his backstory, but starting with ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', the games started giving Apollo a heaping amount of new backstories that either feel farfetched when trying to apply it to what's already been said about him, or [[{{Retcon}} outright contradicts]] what his initial backstory said about him. Because his backstory is so needlessly inconsistent, many fans have stopped caring about it and wish for Capcom to just stop adding new backstories to Apollo.

* ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'': Many players enjoyed story mode, even more so than the fighting part of the gameplay, and were eager to play the new chapters from the other characters' POVs while also learning more about their backstories, as the previously released Book of Lore was declared non-canon. As time went on, the only notable activity were the releases of Texas and Stronghoof Hoofstrong as playable characters until, with the release of two more characters, it was announced that story mode was being cancelled, angering many who felt that their investment in the game had been for AllForNothing.''