2006-07 TV Cancellations

I'll have my say on Don Imus later. But right now I want to visit a favorite subject of mine - cancelled TV shows. (It's a favorite TV show of mine because it deals with a familiar aspect of my life - failure!)

NBC recently cancelled "Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip," a series created by Aaron Sorkin (who gave us "The West Wing") about the backstage drama of a "Saturday Night Live"-style sketch comedy show based in Los Angeles. The writing was superior, the acting was first rate (the cast featured Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry, and D.L. Hughley), and the execution was excellent.

So why did I have such trouble getting into it?

"Studio 60" was one of those odd television programs - a show that was all wrong despite everything about it being perfect. It proved to be an impenetrable affair, with such complicated characters and dense writing that the situation seemed surrealistic, an impression of the reality of putting on a live weekly TV show rather than a true picture of it. "Studio 60" was appointment television in the sense that the dentist is an appointment affair; watching it may have been worthy of recommendation, but it was nothing to look forward to. And unlike dental appointments, "Studio 60" was nothing you couldn't really do without. It's sad to see Aaron Sorkin fall flat with such a spectacular thud.

And then there was CBS's "The Class," the only new sitcom from the venerable Columbia Broadcasting System for the 2006-07 television season. What did I think of this show? I didn't. I didn't even watch it. There's a reason why a sitcom about grade school alumni who reconnect thirty years later didn't click. Because no one wants to associate with anyone they knew in school when they were seven or eight. Children end up associating with each other through geographic happenstance - that is, the parents all live to the same town, so they go to the same school - and the one thing you find out about other kids is that you don't like them all that much. Why would you want to associate with them when - or if - you all grow up?

And if I want to relive my elementary school days, I'll drop acid and watch a horror movie. :-O