Right now is that time when the networks begin deciding what shows are coming back in the Fall, and which ones are going to that big T.V. graveyard of “Gone too Soon.” So I thought it’d be worthwhile to explore which network TV shows I hope come back for another season, and which ones I could definitely live without. [Note: This is only a list for the big four networks, and doesn’t include all the cable shows I’d like to see come back that might not. Although the biggest one is HBO’s Luck, which has already been cancelled.]
Five Struggling Shows that Deserve to Come Back the Most…
Honorable Mention: Terra Nova. Okay, so Fox cancelled this show—-as they inevitably will all their most promising shows—-and I can’t say it had the BEST first season of any show (although certainly no worse than all of the big “hits” the networks came up with that aren’t worthy of all the praise they get) but there are talks that another network might pick it up, and I hope they do. The show had enough promise and old-school adventure ambitions that it should get another season somewhere else.
Runner-Up: A Gifted Man. I think CBS will cancel this first season show, but it’s one I think deserves a place on CBS in the Fall as it’s one of the only CBS shows I’ve watched in the last decade.
5. Awake: A smart, sober drama that has the terrible misfortune of appearing on NBC. Of course, that could either be a good thing or a bad thing. Good in that the network can afford to be much more patient with it than CBS (the worst network in terms of quality, but best in terms of ratings) would, but bad in that all of their dramas have to work extra hard just for any eyeballs. I doubt NBC will grant it a second season, but I hope against hope they’ll continue the finest cop show on broadcast TV.
4. Fringe: This is by far the weakest season the show has ever had, and yet it really says something about the quality of it that I want a fifth season so badly. Plus, now that Peter and Olivia are FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY together at the end of the last episode (saying Peter has been home all along, which everyone but the characters knew) and it looks like they’ll stop jerking us around with that plot, the show can move on to more interesting territory than a romantic bait and switch. It’s hard to argue that four seasons isn’t a good run (especially since two of these shows are in their first season) but I’d love to see where the show decides to take us with a shortened, ten episode fifth season to tie up all the loose ends (not to mention take us to new dramatic heights now that they finally know this is the end), which is the best case scenario right now.
3. The River. There is almost no chance ABC will bring this show back, but I found myself more than a little interested in all the questions raised in this show’s short eight episode run. It is one of the most original shows the networks have come up with in years, and I’d love to have at least one non-cop/doctor/lawyer/soap opera drama come back in the Fall. This show deserves a wider audience and more time to develop its mysteries (not to mention answers).
2. Parenthood. Unlike the first three shows, there is a decent chance this will come back in the Fall, and lord I hope so. I was super-frustrated with this show for much of its third season, but the ending (where Crosby and Jasmine finally, finally, finally got together in a definitive way) was very satisfying. The Fall deserves at least one stable, loving exploration of a black woman/white man relationship, and this show is it.
1. Community. The episodes since the show has come back from its hiatus are weak, but when this show is on fire—-like the Halloween episode, the one where they spun a game of Yahtzee into parallel realities, or any of their movie/TV parodies—-no other network comedy can touch it.
And Five Shows that Do NOT Deserve Another Season
(Dis)honorable Mention: NBC’s Smash. The show started off promising but gets a little bit worse every episode, and yet NBC has already green lit it for a second season. If this show continues but Parenthood or Awake don’t, then there’s no justice.
5. Up All Night: It kills me to say this, because I don’t DISLIKE this show at all (much less so than the others on this list). However, as much as I think every episode is watchable, it’s the weakest comedy on NBC’s crowded Thursday night lineup and I’m just not sure how many more directions you can really take this show, which in some ways has already been stretched thin.
4. Cougar Town: I know some love this show, but I don’t. It’s time to stop screaming at the top of your lungs that it’s the best show nobody watches and face facts: if you like shallow white people talking in glib catch phrases and a relentless stream of jokes with awkward stretches of emotion, there are literally dozens of comedies for you to get your fix, and at least a handful of better ones (such as Happy Endings or even Modern Family).
3. Alcatraz: This show sucks. I wanted to like it (and I’ve seen every episode) but I don’t enjoy it at all. It’s “original” premise of having Alcatraz inmates reappear un-aged in modern San Francisco is just a regular cop show pretending to have originality, and the mythology is turtle-slow with no real intrigue thus far. Please cancel this Fox, because if you cancel Terra Nova, Fringe, or Touch but keep this, then you deserve the ratings black hole this show will become in season two when even fewer people will watch.
2. Missing/GCB/Pan Am: Three ABC shows nobody likes and nobody (much) watches. Most people even think Pan Am has already been cancelled, so they should go ahead and make it official.
1. Whitney/Are You There Chelsea/I Hate My Teenage Daughter: These shows are awful. I have only seen one full episode of Are You There Chelsea?, two full episodes of I Hate My Teenage Daughter, and three full ones of Whitney, but they were more than enough, and I don’t think anyone would disagree with me.