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LOVING NEW SERIALS
CAN BE A RISKY ENDEAVOR
December 2, 2005
Early last week, I wrote about the struggling "Reunion" and wondered if the show would make it to the Friday publication of this column before cancellation. Well, it did…but not much longer than that.
Word came down Tuesday that Fox has opted not to renew the decade-spanning whodunit for the full season. What they haven't decided is how to end the show. Will they burn off the remaining episodes and leave viewers forever wondering which of Samantha's lifelong buddies killed her? Or will the show's writers get a chance to assemble some sort of series finale to offer up answers for the few of us who actually enjoyed the show's big mystery despite its campy melodrama?
We should find out soon. In the meantime, it makes one consider the risk of watching a brand new show that's so heavily serialized. With a show like "24," the once and future king of heavily serialized TV, the fun's not in the individual episodes - it's following one cliffhanger to the next until the outlandish slam-bang conclusion.
Despite its current hiatus, Fox's "Prison Break" will reward its fans in the spring with the final chapter in its yearlong tale of government conspiracies, an innocent man on death row, and one well-planned escape from the big house. Luckily, enough people are watching. That wasn't the case with "Reunion," and if we never find out who murdered Samantha, the series will have been a wholly worthless endeavor - a total waste of time for those who watched it.
It's really a catch-22. These shows aren't worth watching unless you know they're going to last a whole season and provide a fulfilling sense of closure. But the shows aren't guaranteed a full first season unless enough people are watching from the outset. Maybe when a network tackles a tricky serial like "Reunion," it just needs to bite the bullet and schedule a full season. Otherwise, fans of the genre might get fed up with long televised stories that die halfway through the telling.
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Oh, and speaking of "24," I just can't get enough of the new promos for season five that have an in-hiding Kiefer proclaiming (as only he can): "My name's not Frank … It's Jack Bauer." As much as I've enjoyed "Prison Break," it can't compare to Fox's original seat-of-your-couch thrill ride. Many predicted this show wouldn't be able to sustain itself for more than a season or two. Those people have since been proven laughably wrong and perhaps deserve a visit from Jack himself, who I'm sure could find some interesting ways to make them pay for their "24"-doubting sins.
The only thing better than the "24" promos is the brilliant commercial for season five of FX's "The Shield," the one set to Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" with Vic Mackey watching a film projector spewing out reminders of all the morally questionable acts performed by the Strike Team over the last four years (culminating with the shooting of the fellow officer who was secretly investigating the team way back in the show's pilot). The promo's note-perfect tagline: Conscience is a killer.
If this show finally addresses Mackey blowing away that cop (and not pretend like it never happened, as per the last three seasons) "The Shield" could go down as one of the greatest TV shows of all time.
Both shows premiere in January, which as far as I'm concerned, can't get here soon enough.
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