I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore
So, after having been given a reprieve, Jericho is finally truly cancelled. It's dead. Now, here's the thing: I'm sick and tired of getting screwed by the networks like this. It used to be that TV show episodes were all one-offs, essentially. I mean, if you missed an episode of Bonanza, big deal. And if Bonanza got cancelled at any point, well, so what? But then we started getting more and more shows with hard story arcs: you can call them prime-time soap operas if you want to be uncharitable.
The problem is, the networks suck you into these, hard. You get a strong emotional investment in them, and that's exactly what the networks and the sponsors want. They want us to talk about their shows next morning around the water cooler. They want us to wonder what's going to happen next episode. And they build up huge cliff-hanger plots for sweeps week and season endings.
And then some suit cancels it, leaving us to wonder what the hell happens, what the whole bloody show was about, anyway. And we're left feeling, well, violated.
Dark Angel. Gilmour Girls. Firefly. John Doe. And many more. We're left asking "Why did I bother getting into this?"
It's time that audiences demanded some sort of contract with the networks and sponsors. Yeah, okay, I'll watch your show, I'll buy your products. But if you screw me over like this one more time, I'm not buying that product any more. If that happens enough, the networks will have a harder time selling their shows to sponsors, and the sponsors will demand that the network suits play fair. Because no amount of fan whining will count for anything unless the suits get hit where they live, and that means their wallets. So what needs to get hit is not the networks' senses of fair play. Because they don't have any. But if they lose money, or see the potential of losing money as a direct result of their behavior, then they will change their behavior. It's the only language they understand or to which they will respond.
Now, I'm not demanding that the networks keep a dead horse running forever. What I demand is closure. Film a last episode that ties up all the loose ends, when you film the pilot. Or not even that. Just write the story, and be prepared to publish the paperback. Or post it to the web. Just something that tells us the end of the story. Is that too much?