Demi Blog #2: Cancellation Proclamation

The Heroes fanbase is a torn community.

Some of the fans are so frighteningly dedicated to the series that they will blindly defend it by throwing out all logic. Other fans are too critical of the series citing that it “copies this” or “its just another X-Men clone” without taking it for what it is…an entertaining television show. And then there’s the middle of the spectrum. The fans that watch and enjoy the show and indulge in speculation and theories, but also keep a watchful eye on the quality of the programming they are watching. This is the category where The Company and many of our listeners fall into. I think it goes without saying that I’m a little worried about the quality of Heroes and its future. The ratings are not as good as they were last year and, although it is starting to pickup, the second season is just not as good as the premiere season (even with the anti-climactic season finale last year).

So what if the worst happens…down the road Heroes is canceled…Will it go down in history as one of the greats that was cut before its time, or will it be thrown to the wayside as a “X-Men wannabe” television Sci-Fi fad? Will it be able to join the ranks of other television shows that have exceeded the 100-episode threshold, or just fade into the bowels of network television history? Let’s take a look at some of the major ill-conceived cancellations in recent years:

1. NewsRadio - NBC
Say what you will about the show, NewsRadio was The Office of its time. Running from 1995-1999, it possessed one of the most comedic-inclined casts of all time. Members of the cast included Dave Foley, Phil Hartman (whose character was replaced by John Lovitz after his death), Maura Tierney, Andy Dick, and Joe Rogan. The show covered the life and times of a NewsRadio station which often entailed comedic situations in and out of the workplace. Its creator, Paul Simms, has been seen recently working on HBO’s new comedy, “The Flight of the Concords”.

Although the series was praised by critics and audiences, it was plagued by fluctuating ratings and network bureaucracy (the show was moved throughout 11 different time slots).

After the death of Phil Hartman, the 5th season was not what the network wanted, and it was sadly put to rest.

Fortunately, all episodes are available in Season DVD sets by Sony.

2. Joan of Arcadia - CBS
Whether or not you are of a religious faith or not, Joan of Arcadia presented realistic drama in a non-realistic fashion. Although the show didn’t have much high-impact star power (unless you count Joan Osborne and her 1995 smash hit, “What if” as the opening title music), it did present a believable cast of actors.

The show followed a girl named Joan who could presumably see and talk to God Himself, and He could show up as any kind of person, anytime.

Before you assume anything, NO…this show is not all about religion. In fact, its not really about religion at all. The show focused more on the miracles performed by everyday people (it did what Bruce Almighty failed to do) and the connections that the world population has with one another.

Joan of Arcadia also had its share of sci-fi type moments including the first season finale where Joan is found to have a disease that is seemingly causing her “God experiences”. Ultimately, however, it was a fairly mild-mannered, easily watchable program. Despite its family-friendly nature, Joan of Arcadia was canceled before its third season could get off the ground. Petitions and Fan Sites exploded, but not even an epic season 2 finale (featuring Prison Break star Wentworth Miller as a dark, manipulative millionaire that could also talk to God) could save Joan of Arcadia from its fate. Fans and critics are unsure why it did so poorly, but some blame the low audience Friday night time-block as partly responsible for the low ratings. You can catch Joan of Arcadia replaying on HDNet and both seasons on DVD.

3. Creature Comforts - CBS
I know what you’re thinking. What is this, and why is it on this list instead of Futurama? I’ll tell you why. Creature Comforts was a shiny comedic diamond in the rough that was pulled from CBS after only three episodes. The show was hurt by low ratings due to poor marketing by CBS and poor audiences. The truth is that the U.S. is not ready for a show like this, and the U.S. version failed horribly. Made by the same folks responsible for Wallace and Gromit, this show is still very popular in the UK.

The show uses real non-scripted interviews from real people to poke fun at other interview-based shows such as Reality TV and News Programming. The interviews are then animated to make it seem as if it is a scripted show based around animals.

I only saw this show twice, but the first time I remember thinking…What the hell is this? And then immediately later thinking…”This is freakin’ hilarious”.

The chances of this show coming out to DVD in the States could be slim, but considering even My Big Fat Greek Life can be packaged and sold as a DVD set…I wouldn’t put it past anybody.

Edit: I looked it up and it seems that a DVD of the seven American episodes was scheduled to be released October 9th of this year…Looks like I have another DVD to add to my Christmas list.

The show is not currently airing in syndication anywhere on the U.S.

4. Firefly - FOX

The fact that I didn’t really know about this series until after the DVD set was released shows how badly Fox handled it. To say this series was mis-marketed would be like saying that Orlando Bloom is gay: its a huge freaking understatement.

Seriously, this series has seen every crappy network decision EVER. It suffered from episode trimming (Fox asked demanded creator Joss Whedon to cut his original two-hour pilot down to forty-five minutes), time-slot surfing (some promos for Firefly didn’t even include a time-slot because it changed so much), budget cutbacks, and more. Joss Whedon had to swim through so much crap to finish even the first season that its no surprise that his disappointment was overshadowed by relief.

Thankfully, due to high DVD sales (at one time it was the 6th most bought DVD series on Amazon) and Fan outcry, Firefly was brought back to the big-screen in the form of the film Serenity, but not to be outdone by its network affiliate…20th Century Fox screwed up the movie release by cutting budgets, poorly publicizing the movie, and releasing the movie in the void at the end of September (post Summer, pre-Holiday seasons).

5. Arrested Development - FOX
It should come as no surprise to you that Fox has two canceled series on my top five best canceled series list. It was really a toss-up between Firefly and Arrested Development for my top spot, but I went with Arrested Development over Firefly for a few reasons.

First of all, Arrested Development had more critical acclaim than most canceled and long-running series alike. It won countless awards including six Emmy awards and a Golden Globe. Still, the series did not garner the ratings that Fox deemed appropriate for a television show.

Secondly, its nearly worse considering they allowed for the series to blossom for three seasons (the last season was only thirteen episodes, though). I will give Fox some credit…they did let Arrested Development have a series ending episode…but, in typical Fox fashion, it was aired during the same time slot as the Olympics -_-’.

Towards the end of the third Season…or should I call it Season 2.5…there were rumors that Arrested Development would be picked up by HBO or Showtime (even referencing this in a comedic matter in the series), but Mitch Hurwitz (show creator) would not continue working with the show and Showtime wouldn’t pick it up without him on board.

You can catch Arrested Development on G4 and HDNet in syndication. All seasons are available as DVD sets and can also be watched online via MSN.com (click the link for the Arrested Development Episode page).

So there you have it…my top 5…but since this is the longest blog ever on The Company, why not make it longer with my short list of shows that should have been canceled earlier.

1. 7th Heaven - WB/CW
Please…this show was a joke after its bazillionth season. The “cute little girl” had grown up to be a late teen slut, and the father/preacher figure had sinned more than I’d care to give a crap about. Seriously, 243 episodes??? Are you kidding me? Why did people watch this? For some reason I was hoping the 7th Heaven, would be for it to be canceled after its 7th Season. Somehow it lasted four more seasons though…I blame it on crappy shows like Girlfriends and Aquaman (which didn’t even get picked up -_-’).

2. Smallville - WB/CW
I know, I know. There are probably some Smallville fans out there that might be reading this, but let’s just get this straight. Smallville sucks. The writing sucks, the network sucks…In fact the only thing worse than the acting in this show, are the effects. Heroes fans be alarmed…in the 3rd Season, Hiro Nakamura will travel to the future and see that his television show turns into a Smallville-like crapfest. Hopefully he’ll go back and warn Peter before its too late.

Save the Acting. Save the Series.

3. Crossing Jordan - NBC
I know its finally been put under, but it took far too long. How did this show last six seasons? This unoriginal, hack of a show was merely a Kidz Bop version of CSI. Honestly, what was NBC thinking. More importantly, what was Tim Kring thinking? Yes, Tim Kring created this show. The only good thing that came out of this failure to television is that it got Tim Kring the opportunity to pitch Heroes to NBC.

4. Home Improvement - ABC
Remember this show? If you don’t, just tune in to Nick at Nite…they seem to be overjoyed to have obtained the syndication rights for it, plastering promos all over its networks to get viewers to watch. Don’t get me wrong…I loved the show, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that when half your cast has either stopped caring about the show or left the show altogether, its time to give it a rest.

The show was stretched out so long that it lost what was so great about it to begin with: its hilarity. You should have pulled a Seinfeld and quit while you were ahead. The only reason people watched it in its final seasons was for a chance to see “Hi-de ho, Neighbor” Wilson’s face. If you wanted to see his scruffy mug that bad, you could have just found old episodes of the low-grade soap opera, Ryan’s Hope.

5. Bionic Woman - NBC
WHAT? You say. If you are reading this and reacting like that, you need to re-evaluate what makes a good television show. I honestly don’t see why NBC even picked this piece of crap up. I watched the pilot. It was a piece of hot mess, steaming with the poisonous vapors of bad acting and even worse writing. Okay, its a pilot. Watch the next four episodes and you see that it doesn’t change.

Why does NBC put more money in this show than anything else? I’m sick of seeing promos like, “This Wednesday…they can rebuild her..” Come on…I know that the Bionic Woman came from Six Million Dollar Man…but get something original…I don’t know…possibly an X-Men or Quantum Leap rip-off? That was a joke…Heroes and Journeyman are really good shows. In fact, set your TiVo to record Journeyman…not this piece of bionic scrap. Honestly, how far can you expect the remake of a show that only lasted three season over two networks to go? I’d rather be strapped to a chair and made to watch Chuck re-runs while being force-fed Steven Seagal’s Lightning Bolt Energy Drink through an AIDS-infected IV that watch this garbage.

There you have it…longest blog ever…hope you enjoyed it.