Tuesday, September 24, 2013
It’s been an interesting few week for pickups and
cancellations.
Why interesting? Because it comes at the same time that the
big five networks are premiering their new slate of shows.
First up, what’s been cancelled? TNT announced that King
& Maxwell would not be getting another season (and Franklin & Bash’s
future is up in the air), while AMC axed The Killing (again), and HBO announced
that the upcoming seventh season would be the final one for True Blood.
This was all before Lifetime announced the axing of Army
Wives (after seven seasons) on Tuesday.
I can’t muster a lot of anything about the King &
Maxwell news. I’m still mad at TNT for axing Leverage – and the only episode I
saw of King & Maxwell was the Christian Kane episode. The vindictive part
of me wants every show that TNT tries to replace Leverage with to fail.
The honest side of me, though, admits I still watch Falling
Skies and Dallas. Still, the vindictive side Leverage -- and I hope they learn it the hard way.
of me is going to win: I hope TNT
learns a lesson from cancelling
As for The Killing? I can’t say I’m surprised. The fact that
the show was saved after the second season cancellation was a miracle. Am I
disappointed? I would have said yes after the second to last episode of this
superior third season. Since I saw the final episode, though, and saw the
corner they wrote Linden in (and the ripoff of the movie Seven) I can’t say
that I am.
I’ll miss the talent involved, but the show lost with the
season three finale.
As for HBO’s True Blood, I have to say that the cancellation
is actually a relief. Even fans of the
show have to admit that the quality in the writing has went systematically down
each season. This last season was almost impossible to watch.
I’m not joking, the only characters I could tolerate for the
bulk of the season were Jason and Pam. Although, if I’m being fair, Steve
Newlin’s demise (and his hilarious utterance at the end) were a series
highlight.
That brings us to Army Wives. The show started out great. It
was interesting, giving fans a glimpse of army life, and it was well-acted. It
was the simple things that were interesting about the show, including the
struggle for money and the inherent loneliness associated with having a spouse
overseas.
Then the show started going the ultra-ridiculous route. I
mean, consider the Pamela Joy character: her daughter was blown up, she was
almost raped, she was held hostage at gunpoint, she got diabetes, she almost
died in a car wreck, she ultimately died of heart failure in a hotel. It was
just too much.
And, while in my head I know that it’s realistic for
military families to move, the show started losing
me when it started shedding
original cast members. Losing Pamela was bad enough, but losing Roxy was the
final straw.
This is a cancellation that was really overdue. At least
fans are getting a two-hour wrap-up from the network. Fans of The Killing will
never know what Linden’s punishment was.
Also cancelled were ABC Family’s Bunheads and The Lying Game;
A&E’s The Glades; BBC America’s Copper; Showtime’s The Borgias; Starz’s
Magic City; and TNT’s Southland.
And what’s been picked up? USA has ordered another season of
the gritty Graceland; Lifetime wants more Devious Maids; and HBO wants more of The Newsroom. These are
three shows that I can’t muster the energy to watch, so I really have no
comment.
What do you think? Are you upset at the flurry of
cancellations over the past few weeks?
1 Comments:
Magic City started off great in season one, but I'm not really sure they had a long term plan as season 2 seemed to wander a bit.
As for more Newsroom, not a fan. I gave season one a fair shot, but the biggest problem for me is the biggest problem with any Aaron Sorkin show. His montra must be never use 4 words when 35 will do. Every character, even janitors, seem to be able to pontificate on every topic under the sun. Nobody talks the way Sorkin writes his characters speaking, except maybe Sorkin himself. The second issue is that Sorkin can not write for a conservative, which his lead character is ( or at least was ) supposed to be.
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