Expect Fox to cancel it after 3 episodes

23 May 2007


I’m not sure what to make of this:

Via Damien Mulley

On one hand the first two Terminator films were great, the third was a bit pants, and too self-referential and mocking. On one hand it has Summer Glau in it, and who doesn’t love Summer?, but on the other, it has Fievel Mousekewitz in it, and can a mouse really take on The Machines?

And then there is the fact that the trailer doesn’t look all that great, that Fox are making it, and, that it is a spin off of a spin off of a spin off. Milking the cash cow dry anyone? And then there is the fact that it is a TV show, and there aren’t really all that many good shows left any more.

  • Example the first: Lost pants pants pants.
  • Heroes I do like. But I don’t love. It has some interesting storylines and characters but nothing that really grips me. I haven’t taken advantage of the fact that I can watch ahead on d’internet after all. Which says it all
  • Veronica Mars cancelled. And while I adored the first season, the second really didn’t grab me. And while I will watch season 3, and I do hope for the best, I’ll admit to feeling a little meh over it.
  • BSG I really do love. But it annoys me so. It could be so great, and I love most, if not all of the characters, but, as I’ve said before, the writers flinch away from the big issues. Which wouldn’t be a terrible thing if they didn’t set themselves up for them in the first place. If you are going to introduce “big” issues, then you are obliged[1] to deal with them properly. Brushing them under the carpet and solving them with one liners achieves nothing, well, apart from annoying me.[2] There is also the sense that they don’t really know where they are going. Part of this isn’t there fault, it is down to the possibility of cancellation and the fact that they don’t know how long they are going to last.
  • Rome. Okay, this is my exception. Great TV. But[3] there has only been one season. Where is season two BBC?
  • Life On Mars – I loved the first season. It was new and funny and interesting. But season 2? I dunno, it just wasn’t as good. Still better than a lot of stuff out there, but I was disappointed. And I disliked the finale. The Gene Genie was excellent, but there was very little character development or any forward movement at all.
  • House I dunno. I really liked it at first. But then it became a little cliched, and when it clashes with something else I tend to watch the something else.
  • Medium I like. I like a lot, but it isn’t great tv. It is highly watchable. And likeable. And while it does have some nice touches it is predictable and has never been must see tv.
  • The Sopranos I love when it is on. But when it isn’t I don’t think about it.

The solution to my telly woes? Give Joss a tv show, I loved Buffy, thought Angel was even better. And Firefly? Best of them all.

Or am I being too hard in my old age? Is there some great tv that I’m missing out on?

Linknotes:

  1. in my world view
  2. I could be Annie Wilkes here
  3. there is always a but

You may also like...

11 Responses

  1. Kelly says:

    While I haven't seen all the shows you mentioned, I feel exactly the same as you about the ones I HAVE (though I admit to thinking about Sopranos a lot). I don't think you're being too hard, or maybe, I am, too. There don't seem to be as many original and well-executed stories out there anymore; they seem so flat. Some of them, like Lost, needed to have a specific end to write towards, instead of stretching it out over how many years now? Seven? Yikes! And series without soaring arcs bore me after awhile; I can only handle so many disease-of-the-week episodes, a la House.

    Did you ever see Carnivale? THAT had potential, so of course it was cancelled.

  2. Fence says:

    Well, I've had how many years of The Sopranos, so maybe I'm thought-out :)

    I saw a few episodes of Carnivale. But it only showed on TG4 over here, and there was much fiddling with ariels in an attempt to tune it in as for some reason Chorus don't carry it in Sligo. If it was on now I could watch without hassle as NTL do carry it in Dublin.

    Maybe I'll fork out for the box set, it had two seasons right? H, you should like it, it had yer man, whatshisface Clancy Brown in it.

  3. Kelly says:

    Clancy Brown was WONDERFUL in that show. I think it's worth buying the set, Fence, even if the series was never exactly resolved. At least it was so well-done that you could IMAGINE you knew what would happen next, and deliciously so.

    I tried to watch season three of The 4400 (did I already tell you this?), but I had just come off the Sopranos and I couldn't STAND it. It was mind-numbingly boring and actually depressing. I may not have felt the same about it, had I not just waved bye-bye to Tony and Christopher (and Silvio).

  4. Fence says:

    Okay so, I will, next week. Maybe the week after. But soon. See how you persuade me ;)

    In comparison to The Sopranos a lot of stuff might come off boring, but is The 4400 more depressing than a bunch of violent, psychotic, immoral, mysogenistic guys? and those are the good guys ;)

    I think I know why I don't LURVE Heroes though. 1) X-Men rip off factor. Not a huge amount, but there is a little there 2) No one to love. Not in the looks department and not in the character department. I probably like Claire the best, but I don't LOVE her character.

  5. Kelly says:

    THE most frustrating thing about not having actual television, except to watch DVDs on, is that I'm not in on current shows. I have to watch them after the season is over. So I haven't seen Heroes…

    Believe it or not, YES, the 4400 was more depressing than those mysogenistic pricks at the Bada Bing. Whom we love. And who Joss Whedon probably deplores… hmm…

  6. Harlequin says:

    Ah, Clancy. Did you know that he's a Man among Men? Yeah, I never got around to following Carnivale but if I had the chance to, I definitely would.

    I'm not meh about V Mars next season but I have heard some non-spoily bad things about it, mainly to do with not having an arc any more. I reckon network interference and a little too much listening to the fans spoiled season two a bit but I keep thinking that a series of Veronica Mars is a lot like pizza – even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

    ROME and Veronica were my last best hope for tv but now the golden age endeth again – cancelled cancelled cancelled. Don't care about LOST, don't watch most of the others you mentioned really enjoy BSG but have a strong sense that it's going to the meh place. But at least I've got Rescue Me – bought the first season for the Beloved recently – it's frackin hilarious. :-)

  7. Fence says:

    It is probably better to watch them all in one go though Kells. Although you miss out on discussing them and formulating theories about what'll happen next.

    I dunno, I reckon The Whedon probably likes The Sopranos. After all they are murderous scum, and portrayed as such, we just still love 'em. So it is our fault.

    H, I believe you have mentioned something about him before. Did ya hear the vaguest of vague rumours about a VM film? I'm totally "huh" about that.

  8. Alan says:

    It doesn't always work that because you've enjoyed what they've done before, you're going to like what they do now. I was a huge fan of the West Wing, so was desperate to see Aaron Sorkin's new series Studio 60. But after a truly superb opening scene, nothing else in the entire series lived up to it and it too was all a bit "meh". The series I have been enjoying a lot this year has been Jericho. So of course that's been cancelled as well. (Although apparently there is a fan campaign to save it which involves sending nuts to CBS headquarters. They've received over four tons so far!)

  9. Fence says:

    That is true Alan, but then again 3 out of 3 is a pretty good batting average (is that a cricket or baseball metaphor?)

    I watched a couple episodes of Studio 60, but never got into. I heard about the Jericho campaign, don't think it'll work, but no harm in trying it I suppose.

  10. dew says:

    The only thing I don't like about House is that WHY OH WHY does the head of the entire hospital walk around with her boobs hanging out of her shirt all the time? That would never happen in real life. Women who work their way up that high in their career have some self-respect, generally.

  11. Fence says:

    Isn't that so House will notice?