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THINGS ON TV THAT MAKE ME SAD
AND THUS WORSEN THE WORLD (PART I)
July 8, 2005
Every once in a while (actually about four times a year), I write a column that serves as the latest installment of "Things on TV That Make Me Happy and Thus Better the World." My calendar says it's time again for one of those. But I've recently come to accept a harsh truth - that the world is not always a happy place. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And, likewise, sometimes bad things turn up on a perfectly good TV set. I know. I know. When it happens, I get choked up, too. So, before we are overcome with grief, let us get to the first ever edition of "Things on TV That Make Me Sad and Thus Worsen The World."
Christopher Lloyd slumming on "Stacked." This Pamela Anderson vehicle, which Fox unbelievably just renewed for the fall season, is downright awful. I know this because I've caught the final 10 minutes of it the last few weeks while waiting for "The Inside" to start. Trust me, folks. That's all you need to see before the stench of bad TV manifests into physical form and starts wafting through your television speakers. It wouldn't be worth complaining about, but "Stacked" happens to feature the infallible Christopher Lloyd among its cast. Yes, I'm talking "Taxi"'s immortal Reverend Jim Ignatowski. The brilliant-but-loopy Doctor Emmett Brown of the "Back to the Future" trilogy. The big-screen channeler of The Addams Family's creepy and kooky Uncle Fester. Heck, he was even pretty good in "Clubhouse," the failed CBS baseball drama from last fall. I know Christopher Lloyd isn't the most recognizable face to that coveted youth demographic any more, but still … the man deserves better.
The crash and burn of "Six Feet Under." I admit that the Fisher family and their acquaintances -- the characters that populate HBO's funeral home drama -- have never been the most cheerful, or, for that matter, sane, of people. But in the now-airing fifth and final season, these characters have gotten so depressing, so neurotic, and so whiney that it's almost impossible to have any fun watching "Six Feet Under" any more. In years one and two, you had the rampant pathos, the scores of self-pity, but you also had a healthy dose of wickedly dark humor that lightened the show around the edges. That balance worked. In this last year, that humor seems to have all but dried up, leaving nothing but a cast of characters that I can barely stand to watch on a weekly basis. The only thing keeping me going - a desire to see how everything turns out. Memo to show creator Alan Ball: Can at least one of the Fishers please have something to laugh about by the series' end?
Possible tinkering with "Veronica"? This last one technically isn't happening on TV yet, but word is out that UPN has asked "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas to make some changes to his already-brilliant show as it moves to a Wednesday at 9 p.m. timeslot this fall, behind the netlet's most popular show, "America's Next Top Model." Thomas admitted to TV Guide that UPN execs have asked that the show skew slightly older, thereby confirming the ignorance of TV execs. Why don't the networks ever seem to understand that just because a show features teenage characters doesn't mean that show can only be enjoyed by teenage viewers? The result is that a new character will be added this season, a girl in her mid-20s, which has resulted in fan favorite Weevil (Francis Capra) being downgraded to appear in only 12 episodes. At the same time, UPN is insisting that the show's cast have a bit more diversity - did they not realize Weevil was Hispanic? -- which is leading to the introduction of even more new characters. "Mars" has one of TV's best ensemble casts and if the focus does indeed drift away from that core of players to make way for some new, UPN-pushed characters … well, I'm not going to just get sad about it. I'll get downright angry.
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