Extreme Justin

By Extreme Justin at http://extremejustin.com/

Just a random rant about TV shows really:

I think maybe that Reunion was the final straw. I have to wonder: is network TV worth my time? When I moved to Tampa, I watched FOX almost exclusively. I loved the X-files and 90210 and yes I even Melrose for a while. I always put up with the cancellations as they got more and more with the shows on for a shorter period. When it finally got to be too much was at the end of the 2002-2003 season when John Doe, Firefly, and Fastlane where cancelled. I began to wonder if it was worth my time to invest in these shows. Over the years I had picked up the various Law and Order shows so I was expanding out to other networks. In January 2002, I happened upon a marathon of Alias episodes on New Years Day on the then-new ABC Family Channel. I quikly got caught up and began watching it every week on ABC. Then came the CSI explosion. Over the summer of 2003, I began watching both the CSI series that were out at the time and I really loved those shows. After the big cancellations lately I do not like taking chances on new shows. I did not start watching Lost or Desperate Housewives until very late in their first seasons. I saw promos for several shows, but I decided that Reunion looked the most likely not to get cancelled. Now I hear it is on the chopping block. Will I have to wait for the DVD? Why did I waste my time? How in the hell did Enterprise get cancelled? Anyone remember the Handler or Medical Insvestigation? How about Jake 2.0 or Boomtoon? Sometimes a show need cable to survive. Do you think that they would have tried the new Battlestar Galactica on network TV? Only if they were stupid. Don’t get me wrong, there are great shows on network TV. I am just tired of watching shows only to see them get cancelled. I have seen actors move from one cancelled show to the next so much that I am using the Internet Movie Database all the time. I have seen Cameron Richardson move from Skin to Pointpleasant and spend just a few episodes in each. The same can be said for Neal McDonough with Boomtown and Medical Investigation. The cable channels aren’t free from cancellations either. Babylon 5 spin-offs just don’t seem to make it off the ground. Where is Gary The Rat? And what of Stripperella, a show that put Tampa in the national spotlight yet again with a Tanga Lounge dancer suing Stan Lee saying the show was her idea. I am sure I can come up with many more. Generally it seems as if shows get more of a change on cable with at least a season. Network TV, well: can anyone say “Threshold?” The worst thing though is explaning to a young child that Dinotopia (his favorite show in the world) won’t be on any more or explaining to that same child that now Enterprise is not on anymore. Now with shows going to DVD more and more, I wonder: Is it even worth our time to watch these shows or these networks? If these cancellations keep driving us away, how will the networks stay in business? I wonder how much of it is that we have become an e-mail society. Cagney and Lacy gets cancelled and a letter writing campaign saves the show. Enterprise gets cancelled and we had an e-mail campaign. Letters get more results and we all know it. Handwritten letters are even better. At this point, I am not going to even try to save Reunion. I am just tired of it all. I think that watching Enterprise get cancelled was the final straw. Even for someone like me who is definately not a Trekkie, it is shocking to see the end of the Star Trek line end because UPN was ONLY getting numbers that the guys at TNT or USA or SciFi would have jumped over. There has been on Star Trek or another being made continuously since the mid 80s (Next Gen., Voyager, DS9 and Enterprise – the original ST was in the 60s). What a way to end it all.