Good shows that are "Pushing Daisies"

Have you ever noticed how the best shows get canceled? Well, I have, and I’m a little pissed about it.

Most shows are canceled before they barely finish their first season, before they are able to build up a solid viewership, before their storylines are done being filled out, in other words before their time. Most TV executives will tell you that they simply can’t let a show with low ratings stay because they’re losing money. But they will also tell you that there is a vacuum of good shows that could be the next “Friends”, “The Shield” or “Cheers”. They are always looking for the shows that will not only garner Emmy’s but also high ratings and a decade or so of syndication. But my question is: What if they are canceling the long term, amazing hits that they are looking for?

What shows am I speaking of? Well, I could give you a top ten or twenty of shows that were never given their fair chance, but instead I will talk about a few. One of the best shows on TV which just got it’s pink slip is “Pushing Daisies”. It’s quirky, fun, full of intelligent, snappy dialogue with an amazing production design and cast; Swoozie Kurts and Kristin Chenoweth especially. The show is one of those that grows on you. The first time I saw it I wasn’t too sure if I liked it, but the more I watched, the more I simply love this show. It was a new show last year and had to go on hiatus because of the writers strike. It’s been having a rough time of it since coming back for what is virtually the second half of it’s first season; but then again every show that had to take a break for the writers’ strike and was fairly new has been having problems. “Pushing Daisies” is one of those shows that, if given enough time, could last a good long while and go into a successful syndication.

Another show was “Firefly”. This show is one of those rare ones that has it all. Adventure, romance, humor, mystery, action. Characters that you genuinely care about, who are flawed and heroic. It was a sci-fi show, but written and stylized in such a way that it could have easily appealed to people with no previous interest in the genre. It was created by Joss Whedon, of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame. The Fox network kept putting it on different nights, yanking it off the air at the last minute and showing episodes out of order. When the show was released on DVD after being canceled in mid season, it had such good sales that Universal pictures gave Joss Whedon the opportunity to make a movie out of the series; which he did and it was moderately successful. (If you want to check it out it’s called “Serenity”.) If DVD’s of a series that only ran for half a season sold that well, can you imagine what would have happened if Fox had just left the show alone and let it run for a good two or three seasons?

You may be sympathizing with the TV execs though, saying “Well they can’t waste money can they, how can they know what shows to keep and what need to be canceled?” Good question. Here’s my answer.

First, most networks tend to give quirky, or really creative shows a very short amount of time to get good ratings, if they give them the opportunity to be made at all; and I would guess it’s because some of those execs really don’t like the ideas from the beginning. As a result, most shows that they air are basically dim shadows of those golden shows that have had the kind of success execs want. They give these shows extra time to build up ratings because the concept of the show was a success when it was called “Friends”, “ER”, etc.

Second, shows that we look back on as legendary and amazing started out; for the most part anyway, with ratings in the toilet. An example would be “Cheers”. For the first three season, it’s ratings were awful. But after that, what happened? It became an unforgettable, award winning show that was in syndication forever after it went off the air. In fact, it’s last show was one of the most watched ever. What would have happened if the network had canceled it after it’s first season of bad ratings?

The point is that TV networks want an instant success like “Mork and Mindy”, “Lost” and “Heroes”. And the truth is that a lot of really good quality shows that not only could give the execs the success they are looking for but are just really good, creative shows need time to grow and realize their potential. But, in this day and age, no one has patience for such a thing. Not only that, they’re not as willing to take a chance as networks like FX and HBO have been. And as a result, I believe that many of the best shows on television are being put in an early grave.

I encourage you to give a quirky show a chance. Just sit down and watch or set your Tivo for a show like “Pushing Daisies”, see if after one or two episodes you don’t get hooked on something that isn’t the same recycled concept that most of us are tired of. Who knows, you may become a fan and if you become a fan, then maybe your friends could and their friends, and just maybe we could keep good shows from getting the shaft.