AI: TV Shows
By Good afternoon, everybody! Let’s get to it.
So while Work It, arguably the worst new show of all times, has been canceled on its second episode, there is still a considerable amount of crappy and/or offensive and/or stereotyped TV shows with renewed contracts and great audiences waiting for their return (Dexter, with its unbelievably horrible last season, comes to mind).
The thing is, it usually isn’t quality that keeps a show on air, it’s the numbers they provide their networks with – and whilst with Work It there was a delightful combination of both factors lacking, great smart shows like Community tend to always be in almost-cancelled status for poor audience numbers, and incredibly dumb comedies like Rob have sky-rocketing numbers and will most likely be around for a while.
We can’t really change that, but how fun would that be?
If you were given the power, which TV shows would you save or bring back to life (or maybe bring back the initial seasons’ quality)? Which would you cancel or permanently erase? Which shows do you find offensive and think would not be missed?
The Afternoon Inqueery (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Queereka community. Look for it to appear Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 3pm ET.
Supernatural. The fifth through seventh seasons had some great episodes, but overall…suck.
I used to want to start watching Supernatural, but never did. Then people who did watch said it decreased its quality immensely, so I just gave up altogether.
But yeah, I’ve heard a lot of people saying it should have been canceled at season 4-5.
I still watch, but grudgingly. The problem is that what was originally planned as a three season meta arc got stretched to five, and then the show got picked up for two more seasons, the original creator went from being the showrunner to a more hands off executive role and It’s been pretty much downhill from there.
So yeah, it needs to die already.
Firefly. Obviously they’d have to ret-con the movie, but I wouldn’t care, not even a little bit.
the ghost hunting shows have to go
I totally agree with alt3 and I might bring back stargate sg1
oh and just for nostalgic purposes Daria
There are two shows that I would bring back to life: Ugly Betty and Dead Like Me.
I’m not sure what I would cancel or erase, I don’t watch shows that I don’t enjoy.
Dead Like Me, <3
And yeah, I don't watch shows I don't enjoy, either, but there are some I used to enjoy but that derailed in such a way I would have them canceled and their last seasons erased, like Dexter and Weeds.
Yeah, I kind of lost interest in both Dexter and Weeds. I am a couple of seasons behind on both. I wouldn’t say I’d cancel them, though. I just lost interest and have no idea what’s going on on those shows now.
Oh, you WOULD cancel Dexter if you had watched the last season. The writers should be forbidden to write anything ever again, and spend that time thinking about what they did.
I agree about Weeds, it has gotten way off track and I see no point in continuing it. But I don’t understand what you have against the recent season of Dexter (which has been renewed for two more seasons). While it would be difficult to top the Trinity killer season, I thought it was pretty good.
SPOILER ALERT: And the final scene with Deb brings the story somewhat in line with the novels (she made that discovery at the end of the first novel).
About Dexter (with spoilers): I’m aware of that, I read the novels. But the thing is: the whole season was somewhat ordinary, not bad not good, and then they seemed to find their track around episode 9, all right. And then they pretty much destroyed the whole season on the last two episodes.
There were a LOT of lazy solutions (like characters turning on the TV on the exact moment something important was on; unecessary voice-overs to explain what was going on; Dexter passing out just so Travis could get him and right after that, becoming pretty much Superman on the Lake of Fire; the Milagro boat finding him; everybody waiting for him outside the crime scene so that he would be the first to find the false prophet painting with his face, nobody listening to his hammer while he destroyed it, etc.), a LOT of characters that took up a lot of space to end up having no importance at all to the plot (Masuka’s intern, Mike Anderson, Jaime Baptista, Brian Moser, and even Brother Sam). And then there was Deb’s therapist, which from the beginning seemed like something that would lead to her finding out about him, and then just went on to convince her she was in love with her brother. And while yes, he’s not her real brother, going in this direction kind of disregards the relationship constructed on the last five seasons. Their relationship as siblings is strong enough so that she will be torn when the revelation comes, making her be in freaking love with him was just plainly distasteful
And while the last scene may set good premises for the next season, and it was a scene we were all wating for, it was just not well shot. I mean, really, Travis didn’t even deserve a close-up shot of his death? Really? (And again, the killing taking place in the church was also sort of a lazy solution so that she could find him. Dexter is not usually this sloppy.)
OMG, and I totally forgot…THE RICHES! That show was amazing. I was so sad when it was cancelled.
+1 for Dead Like Me! <3 Mandy Patinkin
The 4400, although I actually liked the way the cancellation left a cliff hanger. Leaving things to the imagination is sometimes better than an unsatisfying finale.
And getting rid of Whitney would be great. It’s had terrible reviews but apparently someone at the network must like it more than they should and has kept it around.
I *loved* the 4400 mini-series. Then it was just slowly downhill over the course of season 1 and I stopped watching at the end of that season.
Yeah, the 4400 is a really cool concept. I just wish they explored the whole “ripple effect” thing in the later seasons.
We need to bring back Pushing Daisies. Without it, Lee Pace has gone on to appear in Twilight of all things…
Also massive agree on Firefly.
There was this show that came out in 2010 that a good friend hooked me onto called Huge about these amazing, funny, young adults at a weight-loss camp. I Loved it because it dealt with a lot of issues like race, class and sexuality, as well as body image. And it had Gina Torres in it! Unfortunately it only aired for about half a season and was cancelled without any resolution.
Definitely Firefly. I just introduced my boyfriend to it over a marathon weekend and now he’s mad at Fox too.
Speaking of mad at Fox, can I just include hopes that the much-awaited new season of Arrested Development will return at previous quality and not pull any kind of Futurama-style fanwank self-referential bullshit?
Lastly, can post-Nathan Misfits just, like, disappear? Or better yet, bring him back? It’s even worse that the new character is written identically… suspiciously similar substitute defined.
I really miss Carnivale. The Carnivale first season was great and I really wanted them to explore it but they had to do the irritating wrapping up in the second season. I go so sucked in for them to have to suddenly end it!!
Oh god, how I love Carnivale. The hurried wrap-up made me so sad.
I’d bring back Firefly (duh), Dollhouse (preferably at season 1 quality, season 2 was so rushed because of the imminent cancellation) and Odyssey 5. Also, Clone High.
I would love to return the Simpsons to the quality of about season 4-5, but I think that’s physically impossible now.
Lastly, I would practically die of ecstasy if they made Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog into a “real TV-show”. (Can you tell I’m a Whedon fan?)
Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies, Firefly
I would totally bring back Freaks and Geeks, except all the actors are in their 30s now.
Twin Peaks, Farscape and Babylon 5.
And a proper Star Trek series (not Enterprise and definitely not based on the J.J. Abrams stinker).
For the last eight years I’ve been working on a time machine to go back and remove the execs who made the decision to cancel firefly. I’m close to a breakthrough, and so hopefully this comment will shortly cease to exist.
As for shows I’d like removed, practically 90% of the shows on the so called “science” channels. Paranormal nonsense, catching fish, cutting down trees, fixing cars and making cakes for goodness sake. bah!
I would cancel all of the generic “schlubby guy with an impossibly hot wife” sitcoms. Yawn.
Firefly and the Riches I would certainly have liked to see run longer than they did. Also Deadwood. Oh, and Party Down.
I also can’t really speak to shows that should be cancelled since I watch all my TV online and generally avoid things I don’t like but I’ll second others feelings on Dexter, Weeds, Supernatural and Misfits being past their prime.
Carnivale, and I would die of happiness if they either reran or released to DVD this Canadian show that was out in the mid-90s called Squawk Box. It was this unbelievably strange, hilarious sketch comedy show that once in a rare while would have these serious monologuey bits, I remember one about realizing you’re queer that was so heartbreaking good and self-revealing to me. I’ve met like on other person who remembers it, which has been thus far the only thing that’s convinced me I didn’t just make up this amazing show.