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Whose show is it, anyway? |
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Friday, 13 October 2006 |
By D. W. O'Dell
 Death is a way of life in the TV series Deadwood, so it is probably fitting that the show’s demise should become a source of confusion and controversy. First it was reported that HBO pulled the plug, then it was said that creator David Milch wanted out, and finally the whole thing was resolved when HBO gave Milch the opportunity to close the show off with two two-hour movies. But whose idea it was to pull the plug remains murky.
But of course before the situation was resolved, the “Save Deadwood” machinery was put into high gear. Websites were created, t-shirts were designed, bumper stickers were printed and internet petitions were drafted, all in the service of saving a show whose creator apparently was content to let it die.
It is one thing for fans to support a show slated to the scrap heap when the show’s creator wishes to continue the show. Such movements have only occasionally succeeded since the days when Trekkies (I use the term deliberately) nagged Paramount into resurrecting the Star Trek Empire, er, I mean franchise. But Family Guy exists today as a mainstay of Fox Sunday night after two years of being written off for dead, so sometimes it does pay off.
But what happens when a show’s creator wants to stop? When the actors are tired, or bored, or just want to do other stuff? Do fans have a right to demand that shows continue after their creators are ready to move on? I think not. You can’t put a gun to the head of creative people and insist they keep on doing what they don’t want to do.
Gilmore Girls will be entering what is presumably its final season this year. The show’s creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, has actually already left the building, along with her collaborator husband (read the earlier article). Perpetual Emmy snubee Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel dutifully showed up at the Television Critics Association event looking none too happy, and generally not commenting on staying with the show past season seven, when their contracts expire.
So, are fans going to take up a collection to pay Lauren Graham more money if she’ll agree to a season eight? If she signs on to do the sequel to Bad Santa instead of an eighth season as Lorelai Gilmore, will fans boycott the movie? Will she have to emulate the classic sketch on Saturday Night Live when William Shatner told the assembled multitude at a Star Trek convention to “get a life?”
A related situation is occurring with Lost. Fans are upset about re-runs. They want a new episode every week during the TV season. The fact that Lost makes as many episodes as any other series, 22, is seen as irrelevant; fans want 39 new episodes during the TV season, and ABC’s strategy of showing 6 new episodes in the Fall, followed by 16 new episodes in the Spring, probably won’t satisfy anyone.
Fans also complain about Lost’s content. Some want Kate to be killed off. Some want Kate and Jack to stop flirting and get bizz-zay. Some want Sawyer and Jack to stop flirting and . . . never mind, ain’t going to happen in prime time. At the Television Critics Association event the creators even said that many fans disliked the flashbacks (watching Lost and hating the flashbacks is like saying Quantum Leap would have been more realistic if episodes didn’t always have a happy ending).
Fans may think that a particular show is theirs, but US copyright law begs to differ. Shows are owned by the series creator, and the network, and the production company. If you don’t believe that, try marketing an unauthorized novel based on the original Star Trek and see how fast Paramount has a lawyer on your doorstep.
The show is the show. Love the show, hate the show, whatever, but don’t think you own it. Don’t say a show has “jumped the shark” because the writers decide to go in a direction different than the one you wanted. If a show’s creator has decided to wrap things up, send them a thank you card and wish them well. It’s like life—you have to love people for who they are, not who you’d like them to be.
My favorite parable about the ending of a TV show was when Forever Knight was taken off the air after three years of shifting between CBS, USA Network and syndication. In the last episode of the series, virtually every regular was killed off except for the main villain. Yet fans of the series (a 1990’s show about a vampire cop in Toronto trying to atone for his sins; what, you thought that Angel created that genre?) wanted the show to continue. I remember pointing out to someone that, if we learned anything from Forever Knight, it’s that living forever is not necessarily a good thing.
So accept that some times TV shows go away, and that can be good. When a show is cancelled at its creative height (like, for example, Angel), efforts should be made to see that the show continues. Sometimes shows do “jump the shark” (cough*Buffy season 6 & 7*cough), and then it is better that they be allowed to go away, so you can watch the good episodes over and over on DVD.
And find a new show to obsess about. |
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