Blast from the Past: TV Shows, Gone Too Soon

Okay, back to blogging after an extended holiday break. Seemingly, the world kind of stopped there for a couple of weeks, didn't it? Or did we kind of just not pay much attention? Either way, we're still here, and mostly things are the same. Though I'm sure the new GOP-heavy Congress will give me plenty to blog about, even with my upcoming cross-country move.

In the meantime, one of the few Christmas gifts we indulged in this year (with our self-imposed hard candy Christmas) was season two of Better Off Ted, one of the funniest sitcoms to air in recent or even distant memory. It lasted a bare 26 episodes, and barely made a pop culture blip. But it was brilliantly funny, and much-loved by the small, core group of people who managed to discover it. Reading quotes from some episodes can make me laugh until I cry.

So, that show has prompted this edition of Blast from the Past. The topic is any program I can think of that was cancelled too abruptly, whether that means before it had finished a complete season, or if it made it a couple of years, but was unceremoniously yanked long before its time. In some cases, these will be theme song clips, in others (such as with Better Off Ted which had little in the way of an intro) either compilations, trailers, or other relevant pieces. Let's go!



1. Better Off Ted (2009-2010) - The fist, very off-color clip here isn't a blooper reel. It's an alternate set of scenes to a real episode, in which a memo glitch demands that employees of "Veridian Dynamics" must now insult each other. The broadcast version was tamer, but still one of the funniest episodes of episodic television I can recall.



2. Firefly (2002) - No list of this sort would be complete without this Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel's The Avengers) sci-fi gem. Given only a short half-season (and eventual movie spin-off), it never had a chance to become something great, so it's fortunate it was already so good.



3. Dollhouse (2009-2010) - Another show, like Better Off Ted that squeaked out two short seasong (and somehow managed the same number of episodes during the same set of seasons), and another short-lived Whedon show, Dollhouse was a personal favorite. It was morally muddy, occasionally humorous, often disturbing, and got better and better as it went. But it was so deep in its own (eventually hyper-accelerated) mythology, it may have been inaccessible to anyone but its most ardent fans. I was one. I was also happy to see a shout-out ("Did I fall asleep?" "For a little while.") on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., also a Whedon show.



4. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009) - The Terminator series was nothing short of fantastic in its first two films. The third was a major disappointment. But this series, set in an alternate timeline that picked up after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, followed the storyline that worked, and managed to do it on a weekly basis on a TV budget. It started with a bang, had a couple of lulls, and then came out blazing, with some truly great individual episodes and loads of promise. That FOX could manage to fumble a product with so much cachet when it was actually also quite good, remains a mystery.



5. Police Squad! (1982) - The Zucker-Abrahms-Zucker Airplane!-style humor evidenced in this very short-lived Leslie Nielsen-led sitcom, wasn't for everyone. It is quite incorrectly regarded as "stupid" humor, when in reality, many of the jokes would be missed by actually stupid people. It was an outlandish spoof of the very staid police procedurals of the 50s, 60s and 70s, and did so brilliantly. Fortunately, the brilliance was recognized, and the show was eventually spun off into a series of movies (with the third blatantly stealing many of the gags from the actual TV show).



6. Arrested Development (2003-2006, 2013) I almost didn't include this one, since it got a revival on Netflix in 2013. But it is an excellent case of a show "too good for TV," or at least for a broadcast network. It also joins Better Off Ted in this list with a "brilliant but cancelled" series that stars Portia De Rossi.

And that will do it for this week, kids. It's back to work for me, at least for the next few weeks. As my departure time approaches, things on the blog are going to start to get weird. Well, weirder. But I'll be here, remarking on as much of it as I can. Meanwhile, Happy Monday!

Liberal Talker Randi Rhodes Ending Show in May

Ouch. Well, at least this time, we Randi Rhodes fans got a little warning. Twice, we've endured sudden absences. As recently as a few months ago, The Randi Rhodes Show was slated for cancellation by Premiere Networks, and got a surprise year-long reprieve. So, this news is surprising, and not at all welcome.

The AM radio landscape is dying, led by a sponsor revolt at the whole format, mostly due to acerbic conservative host, Rush Limbaugh. Add to that the overall changes in media over the last couple of decades, and the concerted effort by radio network and station owners to squeeze liberal talk out of the market. Yes, yes, I'm aware that conservatives maintain that the people have spoken, and that they don't want liberal talk. If they'd ever gotten liberal talk on anything close to a level playing field, I might agree. But they haven't, and they didn't.

Randi, as well as The Stephanie Miller Show and others, were squeezed out of even Miller's own flagship station in Los Angeles in favor of Limbaugh, and the usual slate of conservative talkers. And is doing terribly. In fact, the whole genre is now doing terribly, and the right-wing side is only kept afloat by conservative think-tanks and like-minded groups. On the progressive side, not only are they fighting an uphill battle for programming, they don't seem to have the ear of monied liberal groups.

Randi has been hinting at a departure lately, and I figured this was coming. I thought it would be later this year, though. I know she has a good man in her life, and a home in Costa Rica, so maybe she's just sick of battling for a slot on the air. She seemed really bothered by several recent news stories, and has flat out said (paraphrasing) "it's time to go." As in leave this country.

In that, I wish her well. But I'll miss her New Yorker voice. Ironically, she herself admits she does not have a voice for radio! And she wasn't for all tastes. But since the days when I first found her, while looking for a new show called "The O'Franken Factor," way back in 2004, I've been a fan. And I'm hoping for some kind of revival at some point. Rest up, Randi, and come back in a new format!

[Excerpt]

Premiere: Randi Rhodes Show To End May 16th

A statement from PREMIERE said that RHODES "has decided to end her national radio program. We’ve had a successful partnership with RANDI for several years, and we wish her all the best for the future. PREMIERE NETWORKS will conclude syndication and production of RANDI RHODES on MAY 16th, 2014. . ."

Read more at: All Access

Blast from the Past: Brilliant, But Cancelled

Well, when I decide to take a blogging break, I can really get into it. Especially when something monumental, like the release of 15 long-awaited Arrested Development episodes come out on the same day. In one of the rarest moves in episodic TV history, seven years after the too-early cancellation of the beloved show, Netflix produced a season four, and made a lot of people very happy. Getting a cast as talented--and busy--cast together to do was a remarkable accomplishment on its own.

Anyway, because of this big event, I didn't write my Blast from the Past column this weekend. So, I'm rerunning one that featured the show, from last year. Maybe it will inspire you to check Arrested Development out, if you're still not sure what all the fuss is about!

ORIGINAL POST:

I don't know if the term "brilliant, but cancelled" is copyrighted. . .I hope not. I mean, it's just a concept. But then, I've used Blast from the Past for six years, so I guess if I'm gonna get in trouble, I'm already screwed! Anyway, this being a Labor Day weekend, I'm a little behind in my blogging chores. But I didn't want the week to start without a new edition, since I've already skipped one recently.

So, I got to thinking that I needed to do something different this week, not music related, not current events. Then, today I re-watched a couple of episodes of Better Off Ted, the badly named but wonderful sitcom from a couple of years ago. It got me to thinking of my favorite shows that got cancelled far too soon. Keep in mind that these are my personal favorites, and that it is a partial list. Hey, it's labor day, why should I over do it? Heh. It does strike me that all of these shows managed more episodes than some classic British programs, even those considered to be very successful.

1. Better Off Ted (2009-2010, 26 episodes) - BOT had a marvelous cast, a manic, off-kilter style and originality off the charts. It took place in the corporate offices of "Veridian Dynamics," a behemoth of a company with sketchy morals. It involved mid-level executives, product testers and nerdy science researchers. The stars--including Jay Harrington as Ted, Andrea Anders as Linda, and especially Portia de Rossi as Veronica, Jonathan Slavin as Phil and Malcolm Barrett as Lem--formed a dream cast that could only be rivaled by the next show in this list. I can't say enough good things about this show, or how likely the chances that viewing it will lift your mood.




2. Arrested Development (2003-2006, 53 episodes) - AD did get a two-and-a-half-year run, so it lasted longer than most "brilliant but cancelled" shows. But it was the kind of show that just felt far too good to be treated so badly by its network (FOX TV). Its fan base is rabid, so it has managed a sort of rebirth, with new episodes and a movie on the horizon. Which is astonishing when you consider the heft of the cast: Jason Bateman, Jessica Walter, Michael Cera, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Will Arnett, Tony Hale and. . .oh, looky there, Portia de Rossi. TWO brilliant shows, both cancelled too soon. It's a crime, I tells ya. Anyway, if you never caught the Arrested bug, by all means do so now. You'll increase your pop culture knowledge, and have a helluva time doing it!




3. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009, 31 Episodes) - I wrote about this one a lot when it was on the air. I was a huge fan of the first two Terminator movies, but not so much on the follow-ups. This show took care of that by starting an alternate timeline right after T2. Lena Headey made a great Sarah, Summer Glau a terrific Terminator chick, Shirley Manson was the icy liquid Terminator, and Garret Dillahunt fantastic as Chromartie/John Henry, the captured, reprogrammed Terminator. The show is probably derided by Terminator "purists" (though there are  probably more splinter groups in this franchise's fandom than I could ever sort out), but think of it this way: the running time of this series amounts to about a dozen movies, in 31 chapters; far more than the movie series can offer. And though the series ends on a cliffhanger, it also resolves most of the story threads, and merely offers a new tangent to potentially be explored.




4. Dollhouse (2009-2010, 27 episodes) - I could easily put Firefly in this brilliant but cancelled group, but that one has been done to death. Dollhouse, also by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Marvel's The Avengers) actually got a little longer life than Firefly did, but still only eked out two half seasons. Still, since they had a good inkling that they'd get no more rope, they fashioned a complete narrative for the series, ending it with a (literal) bang. The show dealt with moral ambiguity, offering programmable "dolls"--actual people with their real minds stored on hard drives, and new identities installed--out to paying customers. The logical extension of this sort of technology getting into the wrong hands plays out pretty much how you think it would. If you read a lot of dystopian future fiction! Anyway, I adore Eliza Dushku, so will mourn this one for a while.

And that's it for this week kiddies. This theme will probably be sequelled eventually. They're always cancelling shows I like, in fact I think it's something of a curse. So, stay tuned for that. And this time when I say "Happy Monday," you can actually have one, because it's a holiday! So, Happy Monday!

Blast from the Past: Brilliant, But Cancelled

I don't know if the term "brilliant, but cancelled" is copyrighted. . .I hope not. I mean, it's just a concept. But then, I've used Blast from the Past for six years, so I guess if I'm gonna get in trouble, I'm already screwed! Anyway, this being a Labor Day weekend, I'm a little behind in my blogging chores. But I didn't want the week to start without a new edition, since I've already skipped one recently.

So, I got to thinking that I needed to do something different this week, not music related, not current events. Then, today I re-watched a couple of episodes of Better Off Ted, the badly named but wonderful sitcom from a couple of years ago. It got me to thinking of my favorite shows that got cancelled far too soon. Keep in mind that these are my personal favorites, and that it is a partial list. Hey, it's labor day, why should I over do it? Heh. It does strike me that all of these shows managed more episodes than some classic British programs, even those considered to be very successful.

1. Better Off Ted (2009-2010, 26 episodes) - BOT had a marvelous cast, a manic, off-kilter style and originality off the charts. It took place in the corporate offices of "Veridian Dynamics," a behemoth of a company with sketchy morals. It involved mid-level executives, product testers and nerdy science researchers. The stars--including Jay Harrington as Ted, Andrea Anders as Linda, and especially Portia de Rossi as Veronica, Jonathan Slavin as Phil and Malcolm Barrett as Lem--formed a dream cast that could only be rivaled by the next show in this list. I can't say enough good things about this show, or how likely the chances that viewing it will lift your mood.




2. Arrested Development (2003-2006, 53 episodes) - AD did get a two-and-a-half-year run, so it lasted longer than most "brilliant but cancelled" shows. But it was the kind of show that just felt far too good to be treated so badly by its network (FOX TV). Its fan base is rabid, so it has managed a sort of rebirth, with new episodes and a movie on the horizon. Which is astonishing when you consider the heft of the cast: Jason Bateman, Jessica Walter, Michael Cera, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Will Arnett, Tony Hale and. . .oh, looky there, Portia de Rossi. TWO brilliant shows, both cancelled too soon. It's a crime, I tells ya. Anyway, if you never caught the Arrested bug, by all means do so now. You'll increase your pop culture knowledge, and have a helluva time doing it!




3. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009, 31 Episodes) - I wrote about this one a lot when it was on the air. I was a huge fan of the first two Terminator movies, but not so much on the follow-ups. This show took care of that by starting an alternate timeline right after T2. Lena Headey made a great Sarah, Summer Glau a terrific Terminator chick, Shirley Manson was the icy liquid Terminator, and Garret Dillahunt fantastic as Chromartie/John Henry, the captured, reprogrammed Terminator. The show is probably derided by Terminator "purists" (though there are  probably more splinter groups in this franchise's fandom than I could ever sort out), but think of it this way: the running time of this series amounts to about a dozen movies, in 31 chapters; far more than the movie series can offer. And though the series ends on a cliffhanger, it also resolves most of the story threads, and merely offers a new tangent to potentially be explored.




4. Dollhouse (2009-2010, 27 episodes) - I could easily put Firefly in this brilliant but cancelled group, but that one has been done to death. Dollhouse, also by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Marvel's The Avengers) actually got a little longer life than Firefly did, but still only eked out two half seasons. Still, since they had a good inkling that they'd get no more rope, they fashioned a complete narrative for the series, ending it with a (literal) bang. The show dealt with moral ambiguity, offering programmable "dolls"--actual people with their real minds stored on hard drives, and new identities installed--out to paying customers. The logical extension of this sort of technology getting into the wrong hands plays out pretty much how you think it would. If you read a lot of dystopian future fiction! Anyway, I adore Eliza Dushku, so will mourn this one for a while.

And that's it for this week kiddies. This theme will probably be sequelled eventually. They're always cancelling shows I like, in fact I think it's something of a curse. So, stay tuned for that. And this time when I say "Happy Monday," you can actually have one, because it's a holiday! So, Happy Monday!

NBC's Revolution: What are the Odds This One Will Work?

I have seen a few promos for NBC's Revolution, and it makes me all excited, and the pre-teen version of myself. With my bookbag full of comics, and my fondness for Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk and the original Battlestar Galactica. It also captures my geeky affinity for dystopian future novels like Logan's Run, Alas Babylon, Fahrenheit 451, On the Beach, Brave New World, 1984 and more. But you know what it really does? It makes me say, "doomed."

Not only is Revolution on NBC--a seemingly moribund network--it is sci-fi/fantasy. And the track record for that on network television is worse than just spotty. I could rattle off a list of interesting but failed series in this genre, and I will: The Event, TerraNova, FlashForward, Firefly, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Bionic Woman, Day One, Journeyman, Awake, Invasion, Threshold, V, and Life on Mars. I've dipped a toe in more than a few of these, and become ravenous fans of others. And my heart was crushed countless times. Rarely, a show like Lost or Fringe breaks through and is a hit like the former, or barely hangs on each season like the latter. Usually, they make half a season, sometimes a little longer.

And like those last two, Revolution is from the fertile brain of J.J. Abrams. Which is encouraging. But I've had my heart broken so many times. Dare I try again?

Come On! Arrested Development News

Image from source, HuffPo

I watched Arrested Development back when it was on FOX originally. But I think I kind of lost track of it before it was prematurely cancelled. I was thankful when Netflix added all three seasons, so that I could marathon them. It turned out I'd seen a lot of them. . .maybe most of them. But full immersion was far better than my standard half-hearted divided TV attention. AD is nothing short of brilliant. Its cancellation was thus a crime, and inevitable. But fortunately for fans, it wasn't the end.


[Excerpt]

Mitch Hurwitz Talks Arrested Development 2.0


Doubters to the left: The Arrested Development reunion took another step toward reality on Tuesday when creator Mitch Hurwitz and several members of the cast appeared onstage together at a Netflix-sponsored event in Las Vegas. Speaking on the floor of the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos confirmed that all ten episodes of Arrested's long-awaited fourth season will premiere together on a single day sometime next year. Hurwitz also confirmed that production is set to begin this summer, but he also dropped a new nugget of information about what form the Arrested revival will take. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

V and Brothers & Sisters Cancelled

One of these women is really a lizard person. The other
was on V. Kidding! Image from TVLine

If you are a tv watcher, this time of year can be a little nerve wracking. There are shows that are perennially "on the bubble", new shows that barely squeaked through the season that you really like. Or even long-running shows that maybe aren't getting as many viewers this year. I'm doomed to lose favorite shows every year, because my tastes run to programming that doesn't attract mass audiences. You know, science fiction, horror, supernatural stuff. If it's on HBO or maybe The CW, it can get renewed with anemic ratings. But not on the big networks.

I had high hopes for V, ABC's remake of the classic 80s sci-fi series. Morena Baccarin played an effectively creepy alien baddie, and the show had energy and momentum. But it also had some really odd CGI effects, and a serialized storyline that didn't grab casual viewers. I was thrilled that it got a second season, and am not surprised--though I'm sad--that it won't get a third.

Brothers & Sisters is a different story. It's a long-running soap opera of sorts, a very good fit to Desperate Housewives, which it follows. It has Sally Field, who cries a lot yes, but is a great actress. The show is loaded with good actors. I suspect that the decision to end the show had more to do with contract negotiations and behind-the-scenes problems. But this show I really will miss. I think the producers knew it might come to this, with the season finale feeling a lot like a final episode. Turns out, it was.

[Excerpt]

Breaking: ABC Cancels Brothers & Sisters, V, Mr. Sunshine, Four Others



Friday the 13th turned out to be doomsday for Brothers & Sisters and V: ABC has axed both shows. The Alphabet net also pulled the plug on rookie series No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, Better With You, Detroit 1-8-7 and Mr. Sunshine. . .
 
Read more at: TVLine

FOX TV Cancels Human Target and More

Mark Valley and Christian Slater, two oft-hired, oft-fired,
but talented men. Image from TVLine

Rats. Another DC Comics character-based project, Human Target has been cancelled, along with some other shows I mostly never heard of. Human Target starred the under appreciated Mark Valley (Keen Eddie, Boston Legal) as sort of a bodyguard for hire. The series started like a James Bond-on-TV kind of thing, and then shifted gears in its second season to be a lot more than that. I really dug it, and it wasn't even one of my favorite comics characters. But this is what often happens to shows I like, particularly sci-fi/horror/comic book series. So, attention Charmed, Smallville and Supernatural: the reason you got so many seasons is that I for some reason never watched you, even though you're in my sweet spot. The lesson for me: if you think a show is going to be super cool, wait for the DVDs, and do not write about it on the blog!

It should be noted that in addition to Mark Valley, we can add Chi McBride, Christian Slater, David Denman and Bret Harrison to a long list of actors who keep getting cast in short-lived projects. Harrison (Breaking In, V, The Loop, Reaper) has a list of failed series to rival Matthew Perry before Friends.

[Excerpt]

Fox Cancels Human Target, Lie To Me, Chicago Code, Two Others



Fox went on a killing spree late Tuesday, canceling five bubble shows including Human Target and Lie to Me. . .
 
Read more at: TVLine

Frivolity Break (Vulgar Edition): Better Off Ted Outtakes

Apropos of absolutely nothing (except for a complete disinterest in politics and news today, and a free Netflix trial), here is an extremely funny--but utterly not safe for work (NSFW)--clip from the sadly under appreciated, cancelled ABC comedy, Better Off Ted. It's a huge favorite of mine, from one of the funnier episodes. A bit of explanation: the aired version contained insults and epithets that were aired on broadcast television, and thus not truly vulgar. This clip allowed the actors to run wild with the most off-color profanities they could think of. The results are hilarious. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Meanwhile, I'll try to get more into the swing of blogging again on Thursday night. Probably.

CBS Officially Cancels 'Medium'

Image from source, TV Squad

Further proof that I should never, never advocate for a show here on the blog. Better Off Ted, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, FlashForward. . .all were promoted here, all are now gone. Add Medium to the list. Sorry, Hot in Cleveland and The Event.  The Greenlee Curse is alive and well, and you're probably next!

[Excerpt]

CBS Officially Cancels 'Medium'


According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will come to an end after a seven-season run on both NBC and CBS.


"It's true, Allison DuBois will dream her last dream on Fri 1/21," series creator Glenn Gordon Caron announced Thursday. "In what we believe will be a series defining episode, Allison and her family will stare destiny in the eye. And destiny will not blink. . ."

Read more at: TVSquad

Futurama Returns from the Dead

Image from source, TV Squad

Every year, a slew of television shows get cancelled, and every year fan groups of some of them mount an effort to get the TV networks to reconsider. Rarely, very rarely, it works. Sometimes the network relents, and the show is given a new season, a partial season, maybe just a reunion movie. They usually sputter out ofter that. Once in a while, a show will move to another network, where it can either live on for years or more likely. . .sputter out.  And even more rarely, the show--long dead--will be revived a few years later.

It happened with Family Guy, and now it's happened to Futurama, the other show by the creators of The Simpsons.  In a way, Futurama didn't ever really go away, having appeared on Comedy Central and other networks, as well as on DVD in a couple of new adventures.  But it is finally back in new episodes. 

[Excerpt]

'Futurama' and 9 Other Shows That Beat Cancellation

It's a miracle! 'Futurama' is back from the dead. Or maybe it's just been thawed out of its cryogenic freeze? Whatever the case, it's back -- with the original voice cast -- on Comedy Central (Thu., June 24 at 10PM ET) and fans are happy.



Canceled in 2003, 'Futurama' got four straight-to-DVD flicks, the last one came out in early 2009. Fan interest was renewed and Comedy Central aired the films as episodes before green lighting the series for new episodes. Yes, Matt Groening is bringing Fry, Leela, Bender and the rest of the bang for new adventures in space. The cast is signed for 26 episodes. In the one hour premiere, the Professor attempts to resuscitate the crew with his birth machine after a devastating crash. . .

Read more at: TVSquad

Ghost Whisperer Cancelled, Medium Renewed

Image from source, TV Squad

In non-political news, the Greenlee Curse is broken!  Ordinarily, when I tout a TV show that I like here on the blog, it is doomed to failure. Usually early failure. But in addition to V being renewed on ABC, my perennial favorite, Medium (starring Patricia Arquette) has been renewed! Hazzah!

Medium is based on the real life psychic, Allison Dubois, with significant Hollywood tweakage.  It's an interesting hybrid of a police procedural (another of those, Cold Case was cancelled) and a supernatural thriller like The X-Files or Fringe.  Okay, that may be overstating it. Actually, the closest show to Medium would have to be Ghost Whisperer which was just handed its walking papers.  That's actually a big surprise, and goes against conventional entertainment reporter wisdom.  I think it is fitting though.  The acting on Medium (particularly Jake Weber and at least two of the three children) is outstanding, far outclassing anything on GW. 

[Excerpt]

CBS Cancels 'Cold Case,' 'Ghost Whisperer' and More; 'Medium' Renewed

CBS officially canceled seven series today, the Live Feed is reporting.



Among the shows axed is the Sunday-night procedural 'Cold Case,' which slipped in the ratings in recent seasons but still drew relatively decent numbers in its 10PM timeslot. 'Cold Case' ends after seven seasons on the network. . .

Read more at: TV Squad

Heroes Cancelled, Law & Order Too

Image from source, TVSquad

It's not too surprising that Heroes has been cancelled. I watched every episode, but there is no denying that it was running out of gas.  The whole carnival storyline took up way too much time this past season, and to be honest, the show never got its mojo back after the writers' strike.  But I'll miss my weekly dose of heroes, especially Jack Coleman's HRG, and Zachary Quinto's uber-creepy Sylar. RIP, show.

Law & Order isn't a surprise either. It's been on forever, and has had four spin-off series (with one more on the way). It's the kind of show you can drop in on any time, or miss anytime. So the fact that it will be in reruns forever, all over the cable dial, will be like it never went away.

[Excerpt]

'Heroes' Canceled

NBC is no longer holding out for 'Heroes.'


According to the Live Feed, the network has officially axed the series, about ordinary people with extraordinary powers, after four seasons.

The news ends a rocky ride for 'Heroes,' which premiered in 2006 to a staggering 14.3 million viewers and a 5.9 rating among adults 18-49, making it NBC's highest-rated fall drama premiere in five years. The show continued to hit ratings gold in subsequent episodes, including its season 2 premiere, which attracted 14.1 million viewers. . .

Read more at: TVSquad

Big TV News: Shows Axed, Shows Spared. Yay and Boo.

Image from source, TVSquad

Every time I get invested in a new TV show, I'm pretty sure it's going to be cancelled. Especially if I blog about it. I've come to regard it as the Greenlee Curse. This is separate and apart from the other curse, where I talk about an obscure celebrity, and they die soon after. Let's have no more of that, okay?
Beating my average, one of the shows I lke--V--is coming back next year. But both FlashForward and Better Off Ted, two favorites I've blogged about in the past, are not so lucky. Darn it.  BOT was an inspired and hilarious show that no one watched (and which ABC treated badly), and FlashForward must have been one serialized drama to many for the network. Boo.

[Excerpt]

'V' Renewed; 'FlashForward,' 'Scrubs,' 'Better Off Ted,' 'Romantically Challenged' Axed

More news coming from the ABC upfronts: The Live Feed is reporting that the network has officially renewed the alien-invasion series 'V' for a second season. The show, which co-stars Scott Wolf and 'Lost''s Elizabeth Mitchell, among others, is expected to be picked up for 13 episodes. (For more on ABC's pick-ups, click here.). . .

Read more at: TV Squad

Is Your Favorite TV Show "On The Bubble?"

Image from source, The Hollywood Reporter

Every year, a show I'm rooting for (like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse--damn you FOX!) gets canned too early. So this year, I'm not saying anything about which shows I hope stick around. I already gave the Greenlee Curse to Better Off Ted. Best that I just keep my big trap shut.

[Excerpt]

Bubble wrap! Endangered shows status report: '24,' 'Chuck,' 'Smallville,' 'V,' 'Fringe'...

This could be Jack Bauer’s final day.

Fox’s “24” is on The Hollywood Reporter’s list of endangered shows this year, along with fan faves “Heroes,” “Chuck,” “Smallville” and “FlashForward. . .”

Read more at: The Hollywood Reporter

Better Off Ted Gets Dirty

I've already made an appeal for this brilliant, but almost certainly cancelled show. Better Off Ted packs more laughs into a single episode than entire season runs of some others (*cough* According to Jim *cough*). But what if they got to take the restraints off, and went all HBO with the material? Hilarity, that's what. Check it out. NOTE: Definitely not safe for work (NSFW) unless you have headphones!

Veridian Dynamics: You Should Be Watching Better Off Ted

Better Off Ted is a terrific sitcom with a terrible name. There is no laugh track--for you out there who are sitcom adverse--and that's a good thing, because the laughter wouldn't ever stop. BOT contains so many back-to-back hilarious and quotable lines, I often have to rewind the DVR just to catch the stuff I laughed over.

The show takes place in a large corporation, with cubicles, offices and science labs. The primary charcters are Ted (the adorable Jay Harrington) a mid-level executive; Veronica (the hilarious Portia de Rossi) the icy, soulless division head; Linda the product tester; and Phil and Lem the nerdy scientists. There are more jokes packed into a typical episode than you'd find in an entire season of a more traditional sitcom. And just when you're catching your breath, there will often be a faux commercial for Veridian Dynamics, the corporation that all the characters work for.

I know that when Greenlee Gazette advocates watching a show, it is doomed to an early cancellation, but the writing seems to be on the wall for Better Off Ted anyway. So instead of begging people to watch to save the show, I'll just suggest you catch it while you can so that you can laugh your ass off before it disappears forever. Better Off Ted airs on ABC (for now) on Tuesday nights. Times vary.

Here are some of the Veridian Dynamics spots, which was the original reason I started this post. It'll give you a sense of the show's off-beat humor.

Actor to Watch: Enver Gjokaj

Image from Pop Power

Enver what now? The actor (whose name is pronounced En-vair Jo-kai) is one of the ensemble cast of the recently cancelled (but still airing) FOX sci-fi show, Dollhouse. I've been a vocal supporter of the show, which apparently leads to series cancellation--see Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles--sort of a "Greenlee's Law" if you will. The star of Dollhouse is Eliza Dushku, who also appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (all produced by genre great, Joss Whedon). But Dollhouse grew into a true ensemble piece, with uniformly good actors regularly outshining Dushku.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not on the Dushku-bashing band wagon so many other viewers are perched upon. Love her, seriously. But up against the acting of co-stars Olivia Williams, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, Alexis Denisof, Tamoh Pinekett, Harry Lennix and especially Enver Gjokaj, Dushku was bound to find herself a bit dwarfed. The premise of the show--if you don't already know--is that a shady business called "Dollhouse" takes wayward souls, wipes their memories (consensually, mostly), and reprograms them for use as, well, just about anything. Mostly as fantasy fulfillment for the rich, but also for more useful purposes.

So it was either lucky or by design that Gjokaj (along with other co-stars) is so gifted as so many different types of characters. The first time he was introduced, it was as a Russian, and we weren't as an audience aware that he was a "doll" at all. Later, he was put into other roles including as a secret lover to boss lady Williams. But it was his stunningly good impressions of other actors on the show where he really shone. First the contents of the brain of one of the characters, Laurence Dominic (Reed Diamond) was dumped into Gjokaj's Victor character. Dominic was a mole, and had his real self sentenced to "The Attic" for punishment. Through Victor, they found out what Dominic was up to.

The thing is, Gjokaj's take on Dominic's/Diamond's character was so spot-on, if you weren't watching the screen, you'd have sworn it was Diamond and not Gjokaj in the scene. Later, Victor was programmed with the memories of a serial killer. Here again, the acting nuances were so perfect, he almost became the other actor. Later in that same episode--through a mishap with the technology--Victor became Kiki, the empty-headed party girl Echo (Dushku) had been portraying. It was comedy gold.

Most recently, Victor was called upon to help brainy (and amoral) Topher be in two places at the same time. Gjokaj's performance as Topher blew every other attempt at mimcry out of the water. Other than hair color, the difference between Gjokaj's and Kranz's "Tophers" was almost indistinguishable. And again, the scenes managed to inject a significant amount of humor.

Dollhouse may sadly be cancelled, but I have no doubt that Enver Gjokaj will have a bright future. And given Whedon's propensity for using his actors again and again, hopefully it will be in something as entertaining as Dollhouse. Let's just hope it's more popular.

Enver Gjokaj's official Web Site

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse Cancelled, Blogger Sad

Image from source, New York Magazine

Well, I knew this was coming. FOX has finally cancelled Dollhouse. Sigh. I'm an unabashed fan of the show, and of its creator Joss Whedon. . .and frankly, all of the other Whedon creations. I'm also a fan of its star, Eliza Dushku, who has been on the receiving end of far too much negative criticism in this blogger's opinion.

And that's part of the problem. Niche-y genre shows have their passionate followers, but have at least an equal number of detractors. Oddly enough, most of the harshest critics of Dollhouse are also genre fans. It's bizarre. A similar thing happened to the Star Trek franchise. Beginning with Deep Space Nine, and continuing on through Voyager and Enterprise, Trekkers themselves complained and whined about all that was dreadfully wrong with those shows.

Not to say that everything Trek or Whedon is perfect. For every batch of good episodes or movies, there is a clunker. But any episode of Enterprise or Dollhouse is more entertaining than three quarters of everything else on television. I'm convinced that irrational fan resistance is partially to blame for the decline of Trek (until the reboot/remake movie, of course), and the demise of Dollhouse. And of course, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

And there is another wrinkle. Fans of T:TSCC and Dollhouse often saw themselves as adversaries, each wishing doom on the other, hoping that their show would "win." As a fan of both, this was discouraging. And now both shows are dead. Were they perfect? Nope. But they were both a hell of a lot of fun.

My biggest fear is that Whedon will just stop trying, having had now two (counting Firefly) ambitious, character-rich shows cancelled before they had a chance to catch fire. Hopefully, he will find a berth on Syfy, AMC, Showtime, HBO or FX (or hell, even the CW), where low ratings are expected. It's becoming increasingly clear that Americans mostly like their TV dumb.

[Excerpt]

Good-bye, Dollhouse, It’s Been Nice; Hope You Find Your Paradise

To quote Joss Whedon's favorite musical creator, I'm sorry/grateful that Dollhouse was canceled. (Basically, my feelings mirror those of our wonderful recapper Joy Press, who tweeted, "It had potential. But like a lot of people, I was too ambivalent about Dollhouse to feel sad about cancellation.")

Read more at: New York Magazine

FOX TV's Sorry Track Record with Science Fiction

Image from source, Topless Robot

(Yes, The Tick was a super-hero parody, but super-heroes are sci-fi in my book.)

I've been a fan of sci-fi (SyFy, if you prefer) ever since I was little. When I had to pick elective literature courses in high school I opted for "Mystery & Suspense," and "Science Fiction." Luckily for me, I grew up in the age of sci-fi movies, both cheesy (Logan's Run) and superb (Star Wars). On TV, there was The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk and many other sci-fi/fantasy shows.

As I got older, I never lost my affinity for sci-fi. And every so often, the TV powers that be would tantalize me with a new offering. I'd excitedly watch from episode one, only to have the show yanked from the schedule two, six, thirteen episodes. If I'd get really lucky, I'd a full season, or possibly a second, usually aborted somewhere in the middle of season two. Sometimes the show deserved it (V, Manimal, M.A.N.T.I.S., Misfits of Science, the new Bionic Woman) More often than not though, if the program was good, and I was really getting into it right as it was cancelled, FOX was the network that dropped the axe. Damn that Rupert Murdoch!

Now, I have to give FOX credit for putting them on in the first place. And there have been rare exceptions like The X-Files. Currently, FOX has renewed two very good shows with sci-fi elements, Fringe and Dollhouse. As grateful as I am for that, however, I cannot forgive them for cancelling Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles after an insanely good run of episodes. I don't care what the excuse is, that show was just too cool to die. Here is the original promo for that show. Tell me this show wasn't made of awesome.

The article below is not focused solely on the sci-fi genre, but it is heavily represented.

[Excerpt]

The 20 Greatest Shows Canceled By Fox Before Their Time

I'm going to come right out and say it; The Fox Network is the f***ing devil. How many times in the last 20 years has this story repeated itself? Fox greenlights an awesome show. Many viewers love it and practically become obsessed with the show. Fox then cancels the series after a handful of episodes because the ratings did not climb fast enough for the impatient, small-minded execs at Fox. Imagine if a classic, long-running show like Seinfeld had aired on Fox (which actually almost happened) instead of another network. . . .

Read more at: Topless Robot