We’ve been on vacation away from the idiot box for two weeks, and it’s taken me a little while to get through the pile-up on the DVR. Thanks to the following three shows for making that task a little easier:
The Beautiful Life. I don’t know why the CW is still so obsessed with finding a companion to America’s Next Top Model: Tyra is rumored to be bored with the show and the current season is enjoying an ever declining viewership. Still, of the many shows jettisoned as a potential ANTM compliment, The Beautiful Life failed the fastest, which is kind of impressive. It’s no wonder: the high point was Mischa Barton reformatting her role as the vomiting ghost in Sixth Sense to a model that goes from pregnant to a runway stick in just six months.
Mercy. Remember how much I loved HawthoRNe? Mercy may actually be worse. I don’t know who convinced Michelle Trachtenberg to go back to the “Who, me?” acting style from her early days on Buffy, but it’s a huge backslide from the diabolically resourceful Georgina Sparks of Gossip Girl.
But the hands-down winner for most disappointing new show would have to be…
Cougartown. Remember how I was rooting for a fast-paced snarkfest? Cougartown delivered a never-ending hangover from the premise that woman have to wear too little clothing and drink too much alcohol to have a good time.
Showing posts with label cancellations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cancellations. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
But these, I will miss.
Yesterday, I talked about what shows I was overjoyed to see banished from the idiot box.
Today, I’m mourning fallen shows that, to varying degrees, were interesting for women. Unfortunately, this list is a lot longer:
The L Word (Showtime). I’m actually impressed that The L Word made it as long as it did. The show was a wonderful exploration of the mania of living in a community bound by a life of otherness. And it did so without being preachy. The final two seasons moved away from this exploration in favor of scandalous hook-ups, which proved to be the show’s ultimate undoing. The series’ finale, “Last Word,” was more a manic surrender than anything else.
Lipstick Jungle (NBC): I’ve said it here before: it’s tough to make a show that needs to capitalize on the Sex and the City void to be successful when you have to censor the gratuitous sex and swearing to squeak it through network approval. After just two seasons, Lipstick Jungle finally lost the fight. It turns out that women’s problems that aren’t solved by Jimmy Choo’s aren’t as commercially viable, which is a sad social comment.
Privileged (CW). Privileged might have made it on a different network, but it’s not right for the CW’s demographic, who tune into Gossip Girl, America’s Next Top Model, and 90210. The quarter-life crisis of a Yale graduate just didn’t fit in the line-up. It’s a pity, Megan (Joanna Garcia) was one of the most relatable characters on television for the twenty-something crowd that, like this author, hasn’t quite realized their ambitions for what they want to be when they grow up.
The Starter Wife (USA). This cancellation might be one of the saddest, if only for the realization that, when the boys make fun of the more ridiculous qualities of Hollywood on Entourage, it’s a blockbuster, but when the girls do it on The Starter Wife, it gets cancelled. Plus, I’m a sucker for Debra Messing, and think it’s sad that she’ll probably never find a post-Will and Grace home.
The Unusuals (ABC). This show not finding a following is one of those things that make me think I’m hopelessly out of touch with popular reality. The show was packed with talent like Amber Tamblyn (Gilmore Girls and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), Harrold Perrineau (LOST), and Adam Goldberg (Entourage and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days). The script had a Seinfeld-esque quirkishness that made you laugh, shake your head, and see bits of yourself and your friends in everyone on the screen.
So long, friends! It is with a heavy heart that I delete you from the DVR prioritizer.
Today, I’m mourning fallen shows that, to varying degrees, were interesting for women. Unfortunately, this list is a lot longer:
The L Word (Showtime). I’m actually impressed that The L Word made it as long as it did. The show was a wonderful exploration of the mania of living in a community bound by a life of otherness. And it did so without being preachy. The final two seasons moved away from this exploration in favor of scandalous hook-ups, which proved to be the show’s ultimate undoing. The series’ finale, “Last Word,” was more a manic surrender than anything else.
Lipstick Jungle (NBC): I’ve said it here before: it’s tough to make a show that needs to capitalize on the Sex and the City void to be successful when you have to censor the gratuitous sex and swearing to squeak it through network approval. After just two seasons, Lipstick Jungle finally lost the fight. It turns out that women’s problems that aren’t solved by Jimmy Choo’s aren’t as commercially viable, which is a sad social comment.
Privileged (CW). Privileged might have made it on a different network, but it’s not right for the CW’s demographic, who tune into Gossip Girl, America’s Next Top Model, and 90210. The quarter-life crisis of a Yale graduate just didn’t fit in the line-up. It’s a pity, Megan (Joanna Garcia) was one of the most relatable characters on television for the twenty-something crowd that, like this author, hasn’t quite realized their ambitions for what they want to be when they grow up.
The Starter Wife (USA). This cancellation might be one of the saddest, if only for the realization that, when the boys make fun of the more ridiculous qualities of Hollywood on Entourage, it’s a blockbuster, but when the girls do it on The Starter Wife, it gets cancelled. Plus, I’m a sucker for Debra Messing, and think it’s sad that she’ll probably never find a post-Will and Grace home.
The Unusuals (ABC). This show not finding a following is one of those things that make me think I’m hopelessly out of touch with popular reality. The show was packed with talent like Amber Tamblyn (Gilmore Girls and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), Harrold Perrineau (LOST), and Adam Goldberg (Entourage and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days). The script had a Seinfeld-esque quirkishness that made you laugh, shake your head, and see bits of yourself and your friends in everyone on the screen.
So long, friends! It is with a heavy heart that I delete you from the DVR prioritizer.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
I needed to make sure that they were really dead…
The cancellations of the following shows are victories for all of womankind:
In the Motherhood (ABC). I view this show's inability to gain a viewership as a mark that there is, in fact, still a world worthy of typical collegiate aspirations of saving it. ABC marketed the show as being about the “challenges of juggling motherhood with work and love lives in a complicated modern world.” It was really about an obsessive-compulsive competitive parenter raising children she’s already made into basket-cases, a washed up rockstar that didn’t appear to parent at all, and a working mom that didn’t appear to work or mom. There was no juggling or challenge—just an uninspired reveling in defeat.
Kath and Kim (NBC). Every few years, Molly Shannon tries to make some non-SNL TV comeback. Every one of them gets yanked in a few episodes, probably because her slapstick, flat characters just don’t work in anything but sketches. And it’s generally a bad sign when one of your leads, Selma Blair, tells the media that she’s embarrassed to be seen in her costumes. Here’s to not celebrating mediocrity!
In the Motherhood (ABC). I view this show's inability to gain a viewership as a mark that there is, in fact, still a world worthy of typical collegiate aspirations of saving it. ABC marketed the show as being about the “challenges of juggling motherhood with work and love lives in a complicated modern world.” It was really about an obsessive-compulsive competitive parenter raising children she’s already made into basket-cases, a washed up rockstar that didn’t appear to parent at all, and a working mom that didn’t appear to work or mom. There was no juggling or challenge—just an uninspired reveling in defeat.
Kath and Kim (NBC). Every few years, Molly Shannon tries to make some non-SNL TV comeback. Every one of them gets yanked in a few episodes, probably because her slapstick, flat characters just don’t work in anything but sketches. And it’s generally a bad sign when one of your leads, Selma Blair, tells the media that she’s embarrassed to be seen in her costumes. Here’s to not celebrating mediocrity!
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