Well, that didn’t take long. I barely had a chance to finish before more bad news was revealed.
Minutes. Literally minutes. When I finished my piece yesterday the bad news was just breaking. Talk about a ruined weekend. I saw the headlines and somehow pulled myself long enough to finish up the first part. But it was still there. Waiting for me. So, here we are. Again. I honestly don’t know why I feel surprised. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting this type of news. Perhaps it’s the whole slow drips of bad news. It really does feel like less is being given the axe. Come to think of it, I think this is the most from one network this year. That likely won’t last. Next week will see the main networks trotting out the plans (or hopeful plans given the WGA strike) for the Fall season. It’ll be exciting for sure, but it could see a bloodbath typically associated with weddings put on by HBO.
My luck, it seems ran out. I’ve now lost three more shows I was watching, of which two of them I truly enjoyed watching. When one thinks about it, of course, for these shows, it wasn’t too surprising. The numbers told the story. Now my viewing plate is a bit lighter. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Onwards and upwards.
ABC:
“Big Sky”
As entertaining and gripping as this show often was, with stellar actors each season, it’s truly a wonder this show even managed to last as long as it did. No, really. It never was a big draw. It was stable enough, but even then, it barely eclipsed the average. And then the episode order for what would end up being its final season said more. I’m not sure what I’ll miss more. The actors, the twisty mysteries or the way these characters each seem to grow from episode to episode and season to season? All of the above! Still, it was fun while it lasted. I never got bored or relegated an episode to later. It was typically a first watch the next day. Perhaps creator David E. Kelley will have found his experience with this series good enough to not completely give up on network TV for so long again.
“Alaska Daily”
It came in hot and stayed memorable and watchable. If any show deserved a second season, it’s this one. The importance of this series and all of its messages will be a great loss. Seldom did this series feel overly preachy. The points were made and with force. That, for me, is where it became entertaining and gripping. Characters clashed, but ultimately, the work of reporting the news to a local community could still be done. Social commentary was inevitable and it never seemed like it somehow was used to overstep or overstay. Given what always seemed at stake, and how it was trying to reshape the narrative on news and those who deliver it, this may possibly be the biggest loss any network will likely take this season.
“The Company You Keep”
I think I liked this series as much as I disliked it. A hook wasn’t too heard to find each week, but it never seemed good enough. There seemed to be something missing. Sure the family angle wasn’t hard to latch on to, but that only got me so far. I needed more. Individual storylines seemed to have the most pull (then even more so when the larger narrative brought them and characters together), but even that allowed for issues to creep in. Some of those storylines didn’t seem all that interesting some weeks. In fact there were times I wasn’t even fully focusing. A level of boredom had found its way in. That pretty much defined my relationship with this series. At some point, I did think about giving up. I’m glad I didn’t as it did start to come together in the end. A classic case that only makes any viewer miss the series even more.
...Everything in Between 