So this weekend I caved. Tried not to answer my phone so I could get some processing done. While caving I decided to watch an episode of Jericho on netflix and seriously, after one episode I was totally hooked.

Of course, after getting hooked I watched several episodes and then realized that the show had been cancelled and got very angry. WTF?

Why do good shows keep getting canned when really crappy ones make it season after season?

I mean. I understand the importance of what viewer-ship will bring in which advertisers to justify the funding for the size of production and the budget. I get that. But still.

I get really disenchanted sometimes with how these great shows are managed! Better market research and times slots and such could bring in the viewers needed to keep the show going.

Jericho had one of the most important elements of maintaining an audience – tension. With shows like ‘Lost’, ‘24’, and yes, even ‘Desperate Housewives’ the show hooks you with tension. Most notably the effect of “Oh, my god! Are they going to make it? I’d better get back here next week and watch!”

That is an advertisers dream! What better than the repetitive advertising of a show that brings butts back to seats and eyes glued to a screen with focused intent?

And yet! The show got canned. I just don’t get it.

Admittedly, there were some plot arc issues developing and there seemed to be an emerging problem with the world setting but honestly the show was still new enough and fresh enough that those problems could have been written out within the second season and no one would have been the wiser with a little creative character direction. Anywhoo, I’m just frustrated that it seems that really good storytelling is rarely rewarded and furthermore that the studio execs are not listening to the audiences.

For example, when Jericho was cancelled after season 1, the viewers rebelled and sent thousands of pounds of peanuts to the studio in protest – as in “you guys are nuts!!”

Evidently, they got the message and picked up the show for season 2 and only made it in a few episodes before the writer’s strike which then finalized the show cancellation.

It brings to mind derailed shows such as ‘Firefly’, and “Dead Like Me’.

Brilliantly written, fabulously produced then too soon they were put on ice while lesser shows and reality tv programming took over.

Anyways, that’s my rant for today. I have these great ideas for shows and when I had the choice to send off my submission to Disney (ABC) for the Fellowship I had to choose between the Feature Fellowship (movies) and the Television Fellowship.  I was pretty torn actually, because I would love to do episodic TV, and the Feature Fellowship has fewer slots and more difficult requirements. But ultimately, I opted for the harder of the two because TV would break my heart and I know it. I can always change my mind later, but really, how bad would it suck to learn your characters, love them and their worlds and create a journey with them so that a guy sitting in an office who is having a bad day can say, “86 that show. We need another reality series. How about a house of anorexic cheerleaders with hidden cameras!”

Jericho is awesome. I highly recommend it even thought it was cut short. If you can watch it I think it will make you ask some fundamental questions not only about the world you live in, but what shows are fed to you and why.