Brilliant Because Canceled?

[being_fulfilled]

I love Bryan Fuller's shows; I think he's brilliant as a show-runner.

However, I have a theory.

Part of the reason that he's so brilliant is that his shows always get canceled too early. Wonderfalls was 13 episodes, 4 aired. Dead Like Me was two short seasons and a movie. Pushing Daisies is two short seasons

Comments

[wounded82]

Interesting idea. I agree, it's nice to see a show not have to run out of ideas, but I don't think it's worth them getting cancelled prematurely. I guess a long, proper life is preferred, even wth a few sucky episodes/seasons here are there. I've always gotten used to a show going downhill, say, by season 6 or 7 but it doesn't hinder my enjoyment of the show, b/c I've already because so committed, if that makes any sense.

[being_fulfilled]

Of course it's nice to see a show develop and to watch the characters grow over time. I think that most people would prefer that to having a show be prematurely canceled. I'm far more invested in GG than I am in Dead Like Me, as much as I loved DLM, because I spent more time with the characters and I had more time to get to know them.

However, I think that it's a mixed blessing, and there are benefits, especially for a show with as quirky a premise as Fuller's, in being a short run.

I also think that maybe when Bryan Fuller gets that show that has the staying power (and the networks realize that), his previous shows will have built enough of a fan base that it can be sustained. Pushing Daisies is by far his most commercially successful show, but it's partly because it's built on that cult following of his previous two. Maybe they're all just paving the way for something that will last longer and be able to carry itself through a "normal" life cycle.

[jeeperstseepers]

I do think you may have something here. When I heard what he had planned for Wanderfalls, I was actually glad it ended when it did.

[being_fulfilled]

I don't think I heard about that. What was the plan?

[jeeperstseepers]

Remember the psycho kid who ordered the wife from Russia and then got a psycho crush on Jaye? The one who was going to bash Eric in the head? In the next season, Jaye was going to be institutionalized for her "hallucinations" and she was going to run into him there. He was going to be there for pyromania. I am SO GLAD I didn't have to watch Jaye going through that.

[smrou]

Oh, absolutely. I've said for years and years that a lot of the shows that get canceled prematurely end up being better overall because they never have the chance to screw it all up. One of my favorite shows ever is My So-Called Life, and it had less than a season, but I think that works in its favor because pretty much every episode is a gem. Similarly, Sports Night only had two seasons and people rail against ABC for canceling it so early and on the one hand I agree--it was a high quality show that got passed over in favor of inferior programming--but at the same time there was a slight dip in quality in the second season, but by stopping there the show was able to remain somewhat pristine.

In the case of Pushing Daisies I think the novelty grew thin even in just the second season (I stopped watching a few episodes into the second season) and I do think that if it had continued there's a decent chance that it would have fallen apart somewhat.

Everwood is an interesting case because I think its second season was its weakest

[smrou]

Oh, and related to what Tseeps said about future plans, the things I heard about what would happen in MSCL had it continued did not please me. So again, I wish there were more, but part of me is also glad it ended when it did.

[smrou]

Sorry to spam your comments (I can't edit comments), but I also wanted to add that of course I don't think this whole "Die young--leave a beautiful corpse" concept should be used as reason to cancel great shows or defense of networks for doing so. It's just sort of a silver lining, I guess.

[being_fulfilled]

Definitely. It'd be nice if the networks recognized quality shows, and in so doing, provided the shows themselves the impetus to continue to be great. If good storytelling and good TV was rewarded over advertising dollars... well, all kinds of things would happen. :)