Monday, May 14, 2007

The Television Fates Hate Me!

If I like it, it gets cancelled. That's one of Murphy's most indelible laws.

It's official. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is cancelled. I survived the West Wing's cancellation. After John Spencer died, and the show was going into its eighth season, Jed Bartlett was leaving the Oval Office, and Toby was on his way to the hoosegow for contempt of Congress, it seemed that the show had naturally run its course. The fact that I also lost Will and Grace (which I'd only just discovered a season and a half before) the same year was hard, but I don't blame myself for that one, since I was a 'Manda-Come-Lately. I've been spending the past five years in school, trying to finish my bachelor's and get my MFA, and I don't watch much television.

But I coped with losing the two smartest shows on television, secure in the knowledge that witty dialogue and smart characters (who do dumb things, which makes them interesting) would be back in the form of Studio 60. Now, that's gone. Where do I turn for my searing, sardonic dialogue, my witty banter, my deeply disturbed, multi-faceted characters who cover their pain with humor and crazy antics?

To make matters worse, since last year, I've lost my HBO, and wno't be able to watch the only other show I love beyond reason (and I mean, beyond reason, because, hey, it's a show about polygamy), Big Love. The season premieres June 11th. My only hope is to DVR it on my sister's set, and hope that I get a chance to stop by and watch it every week.

Don't tell anyone I watch Big Love. I shudder to think what will happen if the Fates perceive my obsession.

Below, a nowhere-near-complete list of my favorite shows cancelled unceremoniously (be aware that some of them were obsessions back when I was, like, fifteen or so):

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Couldn't they at least show us the last episodes?
West Wing (Over? Sure, but I miss it all the same.)
Will & Grace (I have my reruns to keep me warm, tho')
Arrested Development
Kingdom Hospital (Odd? sure. Uneven? You betcha. But how can you not love a show where Christ --or is He? -- shows up strapped to a chainlink fence? That's some mighty fine television, dammit!)
Dead Like Me
Joan of Arcadia (I'll admit to bias here -- Joe Mantegna is a friend.)
My So-Called Life
Tour of Duty (they had it backwards -- the show should have lasted for 11 years -- they should have cancelled the war after three)
St. Elsewhere
Sunshine (God, I had it bad for Bill Mumy -- I was sixteen, gimme a break!)
Star Trek (the original series)

There are probably more, but this is all that came to memory right off the top of my head. I told someone the other day that I'm a television jonah. I'm cursed. I'm taking it personally (because when you stop and think about it, who's it all about?)

Damn.... damn, damn, damn....

~C~

7 comments:

  1. I LOVED West Wing once I got into it and yes I still miss it. I also miss Joel Fleischman in Cicily, Alaska (and if you know what I'm talking about then good for you 'cause I'm babbling at the end of the day). I don't watch much TV beyond British Comedieso on PBS on Saturday nights, but when I do get a chance I like "Grey's Anatomy" for some reason or another and lately "Brothers and Sisters" on Sunday nights -- probably because there are so many of them that the story never gets entirely boring (at least not yet). Hang in there! Oh and don't get me started on "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" which still isn't out on DVD!

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  2. Anonymous5:57 PM

    I haven't mourned any show except maybe sex and the city and Homefront. I LOOOOOOVED HOMEFRONT! Unfortunately only me and Dear Abby (who railed against it's cancelling in her column) loved it.
    But here is a big secret...
    Shhh!
    I LOVE ME SOME BIG LOVE.
    My Husband turned the HBO back on for Sopranos and then we transition right into Big love. I wish you lived closer. It's no fun screaming "BILL YOU TARD!" at the teevee alone.
    My husband started watching it with me but gave it up on about the 80th time they showed Mr. Paxton's naked ass.
    BRING ON THE NAKED ASS!

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  3. OHMYGOD! I forgot about HOMEFRONT. I loved that show, too. I guess I owe you an apology, since, clearly, my loving it is what got it cancelled.

    I loved NORTHERN EXPOSURE, too, but I was kind of ready for it to end when it did. It got really sad and the wheels started coming off the proverbial trolley car.

    Oddly, Bill Paxton's naked ass does nothing for me. I think I want a naked ass of my own. I mean, a guy's naked ass of my own. I mean, a guy of my own with a naked ass.

    Oh, hell. You know what I mean.

    ~C~

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  4. Hey at least the world still has America's Next Top Model. So all is not lost... Heh.

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  5. Damn skippy!! I'm sort of sorry that Natasha didn't win. She was so dippy and happy to be here (look, she came from Russia -- she'd be happy to be anywhere!).

    ~A~

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  6. Will and Grace....Really?

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  7. For me, it was "thirtysomething" and "Gideon's Crossing."

    I try not to get attached to shows now until I know for sure they are going to be around.

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