Okay, so I mentioned this in another thread, but DAMMIT! There finally is a show with interesting (albeit dark) and complicated characters that I enjoy watching, and the schmucks at NBC cancel it! WTF? They give it 5 episodes to work, then yank it.
Dear NBC. We don’t need another reality show. We don’t need another sketch comedy show. Some drama, some intrigue, some conflict. That’s what made Hill Street Blues a hit. That’s what made NYPD Blue a hit. Just because the characters are shady, doesn’t mean the audience can’t absorb them.
I say we send Jimmy down to NBC HQ to shake things up.
Perhaps things got better since the pilot episode (which I hated), but I found the characters neither complicated nor interesting. It was just another Paul Haggis indulgance into ethnic stereotypes. That’s not necessarily a show-stopper, but you need a pretty strong story to make up for it.
Since I never acknowledged the existence of the series that replaced Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, I need not now acknowledge its impending non-existence.
I liked the pilot a lot, but found the later episodes to be too over the top. We’ve got “The Shield” back on now for anyone interested in a good, dark drama series.
I watched the show, but I have to say, probably the most unlikeable group of characters I’ve seen in a long time. While I agree that The Shield and The Sopranos also are comprised of an array of scumbags and morally bankrupt characters, I think the writing is good enough in both cases to make me actually like some of them despite myself. I don’t like any of the Donnelly brothers. They are stupid, venal, and wrong-headedly self-righteous. I hope all 4 of them wind up in a shallow grave in Jersey, after Dokey cuts their toes off. Hell, I hope their mother goes with them, for that matter.
Both the Black Donnellys and Studio 60 had creator/writers with serious pedigrees, so it’s a little sad that neither made it (although both were unappealing in their own way), and that the timeslot is being given over to a crappy comedy/reality series which will probably run for years.
As much as I didn’t like both the Donnellys and Studio 60 it sucks that yet another shit reality TV show is going on the air. They should have revamped Studio 60 or moved something there. Anyway, Heroes returns on the 23rd.