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Wednesday January 21, 2009

Series that are axed too soon

By MUMTAJ BEGUM


It is still a mystery how the good series are yanked out to make way for the average shows.

A series meeting an early demise is something that the TV audience has to deal with from time to time. It just doesn’t seem fair that as we become more attached to the protagonist, caring about what happens to this person and those around the character, the series ends abruptly. The reason for the axing is usually low ratings.

This leaves the audience without a closure, wondering what would’ve happened if the series had continued. Hence, it is not an exaggeration to say it is cruel when a good series gets buried six feet under before its time.

Fans are still mourning the loss of series like American Gothic, My So-Called Life, Joan of Arcadia, Deadwood, Carnivale, Arrested Development, Once & Again, Boomtown and Rome although they have been off the air for some time now.

Jonny Lee Miller stars as Eli Stone, a lawyer who gets a wake-up call in the oddest fashion.

It is especially disheartening when a series that has reached its third season but has hardly anything new to offer (think Heroes, Grey’s Anatomy) is still in production. Prison Break is, thankfully, going to end its run after the fourth season.

Now, writer Bryan Fuller has created three unique series that are quirky and truly bizarre. Unfortunately, all three did not live a prosperous life despite having a faithful following.

Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and, now, Pushing Daisies, had the critics and fans buzzing about the wonderment of the varied ideas behind each series, but the path still led to cancellation. What a pity.

Right now, Fuller has gone back to writing for Heroes, hopefully he can resuscitate the series.

Thankfully, some cancelled TV shows just refuse to die. Series Dead Like Me was about a bunch of reapers who walked the Earth among the living, existing like one of them (including working at deadend jobs and needing their caffeine fix in the morning).

Well, Dead Like Me is back in the form of a direct-to-DVD movie scheduled for release this year. Titled Dead Like Me: Life After Death, the story continues four years later with the head reaper (played by Mandy Patinkin in the series) going into retirement and our favourite reapers getting assignments from a new boss (Henry Ian Cusick who plays Desmond in Lost).

The heroine of the series, George (Ellen Muth), finally gets a chance to reconnect with her “former” sister, Reggie. Here’s keeping our fingers crossed that we finally learn what happens to these very human reapers. Visit youtube.com to see the teaser trailer of Life After Death.

Fuller’s Pushing Daisies may have its own movie version just to tie up some loose ends surrounding the characters.

Another TV show that, hopefully soon, will have its feature version is Veronica Mars. This series received its notice of expiration after three seasons when it obviously still had so much more to offer.

All the cast, including main star Kristen Bell, and the series creator, Rob Thomas, have reportedly said they are interested in taking the story of the super female detective – who has a sharp mind and an even sharper wit – further onto the big screen.

However, this can only happen if and when the series’ writer and creator, Thomas, pens a screenplay first (he’s too busy with other TV projects) and a studio is interested in financing it.

The chances of it happening are good. After all, if Joss Whedon can bring back the series Firefly (which got axed in the middle of the first season after just 14 episodes), as the film Serenity, why not Veronica Mars?

Good as it was, Pushing Daisies – starring (from left) Kristin Chenoweth, Lee Pace and Anna Friel – was cancelled prematurely.

Whedon brilliantly transformed the well-loved characters, misfits really, from the small to the big screen while earning praises for the movie from both critics and fans.

What this ultimately proves is that when the characters are good and the story is absorbing, it just cannot go wrong.

We, Malaysians, can be considered lucky to have the information about which of these series are already cancelled before we choose to start watching them.

Most recently, TV2 showed Journeyman, Dresden Files, Jericho and New Amsterdam, which turned out be quite interesting series, and which have been off the air for some time in America.

Then there’s Dirty Sexy Money which just got word that it’s not going to be renewed.

This year, Ntv7 has Eli Stone on its schedule even though the series received its notice late last year. Eli Stone, starring a brilliant Jonny Lee Miller, is a very good show that manages to mix music, faith and legal issues with an entertaining outcome.

The silver lining is, Eli Stone will have a satisfying ending that allows the series to sort of close its doors, or so they say. It’s still being discussed. So should we tune in to Eli Stone even though we know that it’s going to end after two seasons? It’s a resounding “Yes” if you ask me. Just prepare to be glum after the last episode is aired.

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