Why Do All The Best Shows Get Cancelled?
February 13, 2008 - 4400 - Television
With all the shows that have recently been cancelled, and all the campaigns to save this show and save that show, I've started wondering why such good shows get cancelled in the first place. Are the networks really that out of touch with what people want to watch? I have no faith in Neilson ratings.
It's pretty cool that Jericho was cancelled and returned to television after a huge fan campaign. I love the fact that the network listened to its viewers. We saw similar situations with fan-favorite Firefly, which was wrapped up in the big-screen adaptation Serenity after a rabid fan attack, and my personal favorite Farscape, which got a miniseries finale after a fan campaign.
Right now, 24 and Heroes haven't been cancelled - they're gone only because of the recently-abated writers' strike. I'm hoping that the surprisingly-good Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles doesn't get canned, and I'm confident that the spectacular show Dexter isn't going anywhere. I'd rather that they cancel Lost. But here are four more shows that you may or may not have heard of which were all recently cancelled, and all have fan campaigns to revive them.
Journeyman - yes, yes, yes. I know I've talked about Journeyman before, but let me tell you the premise if you're not already aware. Dan Vasser is a regular guy with a wife and young son. He used to have a pretty bad gambling problem, but now he's got a good job as a journalist at a local newspaper. One day, following a screaming headache, he finds himself transported to the mid-1980s. Time travel. No explanation. After a bit he returns to his own time, but then from time to time he pops back to that time period, seeming to track the life of a single person, appearing at different critical points in that person's life.
People first compared Journeyman to Quantum Leap, but those comparisons broke down as the show progressed and Dan's ex-fiance who died in a plane crash years ago reappears as a fellow time-traveler. It turns out her native time period is decades before Dan was born. She didn't die in the plane crash, she just jumped back to her own time period. And the fact that Dan is now time traveling and seeing the woman he once loved causes some problems in his marriage.
The relationships in this show are at least as much a draw as the sci-fi elements. The retro scenes from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s really add some atmosphere to the show. I really hope that the Save Journeyman campaign is successful and that we see this show come back.
Blood Ties - I've never actually watched an episode of Blood Ties, but I've heard a lot of very good things about the show despite the fact that it aired on Lifetime.
Get ready to take a thrilling ride alongside Vicki Nelson, a private investigator who specializes in solving supernatural crimes. Together with her assistant, Coreen; Vicki's ex-partner (and lover), Mike; and the sexy 450-year-old vampire, Henry, Vicki finds herself delving ever deeper into the secrets of the mystical world, all the while torn between her allegiance to Mike and her growing attraction to Henry.
Alas, Blood Ties was also cancelled.
The Dresden Files - I started watching The Dresden Files after hearing about it on Slice of SciFi. It was a pretty good show. The title character has a definite film noir private eye thing going on, except he bills himself not as a private detective, but rather as a wizard. And he actually is a wizard.
As the show progresses, you begin to see a bit of the world's complexity, and the rules governing magic. There's a white council that keeps wizards in line, there are vampires and faeries and the abilities that wizards and other supernatural creatures have are very original and creative. I don't doubt that if the show had continued it would have gotten even better.
While I'm not as rabid about Dresden as I am about The 4400, I did really enjoy the show. And then, I read the book. The Dresden Files book are so so very good. So good. I really recommend them.
The 4400 - I've saved the best for last. The 4400 is probably my favorite TV show of all time, excepting maybe only Farscape. I was unspeakably heartbroken to see the show cancelled with no clear conclusion to the plot. One of the best things about the show is how much the plot kept moving - it moved so much that the premise of the show nearly changed each season. It was the anti-Lost. And it was getting so damned good. If any of the fan-sponsored campaigns succeed, I hope this one does. I miss my 4400.
Personally I think Heroes was a fluke, in that I'm amazed the mainstream audience actually got it and kept watching. I was equally amazed that The X-Files lasted as long as it did. Most shows that require you think and follow dialog get canned, as your list beautifully demonstrates.
And yes, PMD is right in that the network bigwigs don't understand these shows and only care about profit margin. We'll never see quaility sci-fi, horror or fantasy on primetime TV as long as they call the shots.
In the end, I suppose it's up to us geeks to teach our children to be good geeks as they grow older, thereby creating a new audience for "good" shows in the future.
Awesome point about thinking and following dialog. It reminded me of the bumper clips in 'Battlestar Galactica: Razor' which bluntly announced to all what was clearly communicated in the story. I thought these clips were as crude and insulting as someone pointing to a pregnant woman and exclaiming, "She had sex!!!" Apparently the network execs think we are all morons.
BSG:Razor - Bumper Clip (Toasty!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAjCLmOMU84&NR=1
Speaking of Dollars.. I'm wondering if these fans are taking the wrong approach. Having purchased a few seasons of the 4400 and the first season of Surface, I'm curious if I can join a class action lawsuit somewhere so we can get a refund*. The story is essentially incomplete and meaningless since it doesn't have an ending... AND I never saw a big red warning sticker that said they may discontinue future updates to the product at any time without warning.
*refund - Most if not all to be spent on legal costs before I see a penny.