Film and Television

There have been a bunch of shows cancelled in the last few weeks after only an episode or two. But it could be worse. At least they aired. There are have been a surprising number of series over the years that were picked up by networks, went into production, and were  cancelled without ever airing.

For example, Fox shut down writer/producer Glenn Gordon Caron’s series FLING after seven episodes were produced and never aired them. They also cancelled the Scott Baio sitcom REWIND without airing it. And the same network had second thoughts after renewing FIRE CO 132 and shelved all 13 episodes produced for the show’s revamped  second season.

A pre-nose job, pre-L&O Benjamin Bratt starred in three episodes of JUAREZ, an ABC cop show that never aired.  The WB cancelled MANCHESTER PREP  after shooting three episodes that didn’t air — but were later cut together into a direct-to-DVD movie (CRUEL INTENTIONS 2). A few years ago, TNT shelved all 13 episodes of its new drama series  BREAKING NEWS without airing it (Bravo later burned off the episodes).

This is hardly a new phenomenon — NBC ordered 13 episodes of David Brenner’s sitcom SNIP in the late 70s and cancelled the show without ever broadcasting it. There was an NBC sitcom that met a similar fate in the last season or two, but I can’t recall the name.

Anyone else remember any other series that were cancelled before the produced episodes ever saw the light of a cathode ray tube?

The triggermen at the networks have very itchy fingers. The WB killed Jerry Bruckheimer’s JUST LEGAL, starring Don Johnson, after a mere three episodes and NBC aborted INCONCEIVABLE, starring Angie Harmon, after only two airings. 

But there was some good news for a couple of freshman shows — SUPERNATURAL on the WB and MY NAME IS EARL on NBC got  full season pick-ups.  Variety predicts that full season pick-ups are in the offing for CBS’s "How I
Met Your Mother," "Criminal Minds" and "Ghost Whisperer"; Fox’s "Bones"; and
ABC’s "Commander In Chief."

Midseason shows are already being lined up. NBC has greenlit 13 episodes of Dick Wolf’s CONVICTION, a series about prosecutors that will scavenge left-over sets from LAW AND ORDER: TRIAL BY JURY. Variety reports there’ s a possibility that new Wolf show may yet become part of the LAW AND ORDER franchise.

On NIP/TUCK last week, one of the characters had a long conversation at a bar with someone who wasn’t there — an old lover who ran off to France. But as I was watching the scene, I realized what seemed like a novel notion just a few years ago — characters talking to full-bodied ghosts/figments of their imagination — has rapidly become a cliche. Now the technique is being used everywhere you look on TV and in every genre you can think of.  SIX FEET UNDER, NIP/TUCK, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, GHOST WHISPERER, LOST, MEDIUM,
MISSING, and MONK are just some of the shows that regularly employ the "talking to people who aren’t there" gimmick. I don’t know for sure where it started (SIX FEET UNDER?) but it’s become a staple now of dramatic television. And it’s stupid. Think about it  — when was the last time you, or anybody you know who isn’t institutionalized, believed they were seeing and talking to someone who, actually, wasn’t there?

(Oh, and a caveat — this rant is coming from someone who has used the gimmick once or twice himself).