‘Greenleaf’ creator explains why show must come to an end

You may not have heard of Craig Wright but he is the man behind the hit OWN series Greenleaf. The show airs on Tuesday nights at 9:00 PM and follows the lives of the Bishop of a megachurch and his family. Wright first met Oprah Winfrey when he was hired as a consultant on her program Belief. The two began talking and found out they had some things in common regarding their lives. Oprah had grown up in the black church and Wright had once spent time with Rabi’s thinking this was his calling. He later received a Master of Divinity and became a Methodist minister. He left it all behind when he received a call to come to Hollywood to utilize his talent as a writer.

As Oprah and Craig Wright continued to talk, they decided to put their experiences on the small screen. The joint collaboration of these two resulted in Greenleaf which began its season finale in June. Craig Wright had his beginning when he was born an American citizen in Puerto Rico on April 25, 1965. He has been successful since coming to the states as a writer, television producer, and a playwright, In addition to Greenleaf, he has written for shows including Lost, and Six Feet Under. Wright also created the television series Dirty Sexy Money and was the screenwriter for the 2014 film Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

Currently, he is a co-writer for Tom and Jerry which is a live-action/animated comedy film. It is being produced by Warner Animation Group and scheduled for release in March 2021. Tom and Jerry will be based on the popular cartoon characters created by William Hannah and Joseph Barbera. Craig Wright seems to be making his mark and keeping busy but this is no consolation to fans of the Greenleaf family. Wright says that the main reason he decided to end the series after only five seasons is that he didn’t want anyone to “overstay" their welcome”. In other words, he desires the show to end while it is popular and not allow it to lose its luster. This is disappointing to viewers who love the series and are saying that the fifth and final season is the best one yet. .

The cast is probably not too happy either as they will now be out of jobs. Some devotees were wondering if they could petition Oprah to keep the program on a few more years. Based on what Wright is saying, this does not seem likely. If you are wondering why Oprah agreed that Wright should not keep the show on the air for as long as viewers are interested, this seems to be his method of operation. He gave Six feet under a Big Bang grand finale prior to it being taken off the air. Greenleaf fans do have a glimmer of hope as Wright confirmed that a spin-off is in the works.

There have not been any details given as of yet regarding the new program. Whatever is being planned will probably not compare to the parent show. Viewers are wondering what type of ending will be given to Greenleaf and which characters will be a part of the new series. On social media, the most popular theory is that Grace will be the main character in the new series, or that Charity and Phil will marry and start over somewhere else. Hopefully, some if not all of the loose ends will be tied up by the time of the final episode. it's likely that some of the issues will carry over and be the premiss of the spinoff.

Wright says the characters on Greenleaf are beloved yet he is willing to cut the series down in it's prime. In interviews, he seems to be implying that if the show goes on any longer, the viewers might lose interest. He added that it was exhausting trying to complete this series with so many characters. Decades ago a popular television series would stay on the air for as long as people watched it. It was win-win for the fans, as well as the actors wh0 remained employed during the duration of the show. Gunsmoke had a 20- year run, and the nighttime soap Dallas ran for 13 seasons. Numerous daytime soaps over the decades were on the air for an average of 50 years. Removing a program while ratings are high, seems like manipulation.

Viewers say they believe it to be unfair to pick up the pace during this fifth season of Greenleaf, get fans invested only to pull the rug out from under their feet. Sadly this is the entertainment business today. Nothing lasts for long and it's out with the old and onto something new. Writers and producers seem to think that those who watch the shows have a short attention span and will not stick around for the long haul. The bottom line is that Craig Wright and Oprah agreed from the beginning to only produce five seasons of Greenleaf and it looks like that’s all the fans are going to get. Let's hope the spin-off will be worth the wait, if not, then as they say, "That's showbiz.