Are the Nights of Yuppie Angst Really Over?

When it comes to season-ending cliffhangers, this one’s revolutionary.

That’s because it’s not the unsettled futures of feuding Michael and Hope and the show’s other characters that deepen the mystery over tonight’s finale of ABC’s “thirtysomething” (at 10 on Channel 3, 7 and 10) as much as it is something else.

The future of the series itself.

In fact, the veiled destiny of TV’s finest, boldest dramatic series carries that distinctive “thirtysomething” stamp of enigma. One executive producer says he doesn’t really want the series to go on to a fifth season but sort of does. The head of MGM-UA Television, which produces “thirtysomething,” believes it’s probably dead but may not be. And ABC, which last week announced the cancellation of “thirtysomething” after saying how wonderful it was, later released the following statement when questioned about its fate:

“Any future possibilities have yet to be determined.”

In other words, there are no other words.

Emmy-laden “thirtysomething” has survived this long mainly because of its audience’s composition--largely young adult viewers prized by advertisers--rather than its size, which was small by network standards. Yet when the show’s already modest ratings eroded somewhat this season, there were so many rumors about its possible demise that there was little surprise when the announcement came.

An announcement that nevertheless sparked exotic new rumors: “thirtysomething” was going to CBS or Fox or Lifetime cable or staying on ABC and returning at mid-season. Another scenario had “thirtysomething” returning as a TV movie that would knot the loose ends that remain after tonight’s finale. The truth?

“We have heard that there is still a slim possibility that the show will be brought back in some incarnation,” said Marshall Herskovitz, who created “thirtysomething” with Ed Zwick. Herskovitz noted that MGM-UA had not yet torn down the set, a curious delay regarding a canceled series. “But,” he added, “we’ve had no conversations that would lead us to believe that there was any hope the show would come back.”

No hope? “Officially, it’s over,” said MGM-UA Television chairman David Gerber.

But? “There could be a slight chance it’s coming back.”

Gerber said that he proposed an additional 13 episodes to ABC during the TV industry’s pilot-selling frenzy in New York last week. “They told me, ‘Wait until we get back,’ ” Gerber said. So Gerber is waiting until they get back.

No one can safely wait beyond June 1, which, according to “thirtysomething” producer-writer Richard Kramer, is the deadline for picking up the contract options for cast members Ken Olin, Mel Harris, Timothy Busfield, Patricia Wettig, Melanie Mayron and Polly Draper. Kramer wants the series to continue for an additional 13 episodes and says that the cast (despite Busfield’s statements to the contrary) also favors a fifth season.

Always a media favorite, “thirtysomething” is now attracting even more press attention than usual since word of its cancellation, Gerber said. “If this keeps up, I believe that if Ed and Marshall call up Bob Iger (president of ABC Entertainment), ABC would do something,” he said.

So there it is, a simple solution. Yet. . . .

“I feel like the characters on my show--ambivalent,” said Herskovitz, who sounded like one of the characters on his show. “If they manage to work it out, Ed and I would in some way be involved, even on a consultancy basis. But do I want it to come back?” He paused, as if he were Michael on the other end of the line, running his hand through his hair and anguishing. “I’m torn,” Herskovitz finally added.

“Ed and I always felt it (the series) should quit while it was ahead and should not go into decline. We had also felt for about a year and a half now that we wanted to go on to do other things. We let it be known it was our desire to lessen our involvement with the show and hand it over to other people.”

Which they did. Each of them is now directing theatrical movies.

“But we never at any time said we’re leaving,” Herskovitz said.

“Thirtysomething” has led its life as a rebel in yuppie clothing, a zooming, careening Batmobile in a Volvo chassis. With Zwick, Herskovitz, supervising producer Scott Winant, Kramer and that grand cast doing the creating, among others, its characters led lives that were somehow enormously compelling while being routine. They were fun, yet flawed, self-obsessed while viewing their everyday problems and relationships in cosmic terms. They were sometimes too verbal, sometimes too sensitive, sometimes just too too .

Even at its worst and whiniest, however, “thirtysomething” was literate, witty and interesting, offering you substantially more to chew on than 90% of TV. And at its best, it was the prime of prime time, the truest, smartest, most dependably relevant hour of TV anywhere, the rare series that challenged its viewers by challenging convention.

“It’s never clear to me what television shows ever achieve,” said Herskovitz. Yet “thirtysomething” dealt with such subjects as marriage, friendship, death, mortality, cancer and AIDS in ways that had it soaring above ordinary TV.

A recent episode, for example, found Michael quitting his prestigious advertising job rather than go along with a decision to fire an actor from a commercial because he was spotted participating at a peace rally concerning the Persian Gulf War. Michael: “Just because we won the war doesn’t mean we can’t ask any more questions, does it?”

There’s probably not another series that would even pose that question.

However, Herskovitz has a point about a series being able to depart with dignity instead of being carried out feet first in a shroud. “Thirtysomething” had developed a hacking cough this season.

As a viewer, you’re never certain whether a series is getting tired or you’re getting tired of a series. It did seem, however, that “thirtysomething” was settling accounts and closing the circle creatively this season with the death of Michael’s friend, Gary (Peter Horton), and the survival of Elliot’s wife, Nancy, after cancer surgery. Plus Elliot and Michael had a blowup, Elliot and Nancy moved to Los Angeles, Ellyn got married and Melissa found (just a glimmer) of emotional fulfillment.

And so on and so on, leading to tonight’s episode culminating in an emotional marital showdown between Michael and Hope. It’s not exactly the perfect ending, but life doesn’t have many perfect endings. “If we knew the show was gonna end, we would have tried to come up with a more comprehensive final episode,” Herskovitz said.

Meanwhile, just where do Michael and Hope go from here? Will Michael find out what he wants to do with he grows up? Will Hope get her career? Will these kids stay together or what?

Any future possibilities have yet to be determined.