{"id":25,"date":"2004-04-07T01:55:05","date_gmt":"2004-04-07T01:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/?p=25"},"modified":"2004-04-07T01:55:05","modified_gmt":"2004-04-07T01:55:05","slug":"stupid_tv_executives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/2004\/04\/07\/stupid_tv_executives\/","title":{"rendered":"Stupid TV Executives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember how only a few days ago I was grumbling that TV networks no longer give new series a chance? Well, here’s proof<\/a> of my point: CBS has cancelled the promising new science fiction\/legal drama Century City<\/i> after a mere four episodes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I only caught three of the four episodes, not really enough time for me to even attach names to the characters, but I liked what I’d seen so far. Despite its outward resemblance to every other law-firm series ever aired (I’m sure the pitch for this series went something like “L.A. Law<\/i> in the year 2030″), Century<\/i> was perhaps the purest example of science fiction to make it onto network TV in years. As it was originally conceived, the science fiction genre is about the impact new technologies make upon the human condition, and that was the axis around which this series turned. Each episode that I saw explored the ethical quandries arising from genetic manipulation or some other biotechnology. Although the show’s handling of these issues was superficial in the eps I caught, I believed that it had the potential to provide truly important commentary on the coming changes to our society and perhaps even to our species.<\/p>\n

In addition, the characters seemed to be likable and interesting (Ioan Griffud and Hector Elizondo were both doing some impressive work), and I really enjoyed the overall positive spin that the show was giving the future. Unlike the largely dystopic views that have predominated SF in the last few years (i.e., The Matrix<\/i>, The X-Files<\/i>), Century<\/i> was doing the same thing that the original Star Trek<\/i> did back in the 1960s by daring to say, “Look, we are going to get through these difficult years without destroying ourselves. Technology will introduce many problems in the next few decades, but we will learn to handle them and, in general, the world will remain a decent place to live, and maybe even become a better place than it is now.” I believe that America could really use that sort of series right now, something that honestly explores the ramifications of all those scary new things that are<\/i> coming (no matter how hard the religious right tries to stop them) while simutaneously saying that we will survive the War on Terrorism and global warming and outsourcing and the gasoline crisis and cloning and…<\/p>\n

Well, you get my point. I believe we need such a series, just as the 1960s needed a series like Star Trek<\/i>. The difference is that in the ’60s, networks gave shows a fair chance to prove themselves. Not anymore. Making a decision after four episodes is a joke.<\/p>\n

Oh, as if that wasn’t enough to get my knickers in a knot, it seems that another promising new series, Wonderfalls<\/i>, has also been axed<\/a>, killed by that shining exemplar of television’s potential, American Idol<\/i>. (I should say that I don’t dislike AI — it’s harmless enough entertainment, and Anne would kill me if I dissed it outright — but let’s be honest. It’s not exactly an exercise in intellectual stimulation, is it? Nevertheless, it garners such huge ratings that it appears no scripted drama can stand against it. God forbid the competing networks should ignore ratings for once and take the higher road by providing content that appeals to the crowd that doesn’t care about the next synthetic teenage pop star\/has-been-in-the-making.)<\/p>\n

I imagine that Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital<\/i> will be next on the block, now that it’s finally starting to get interesting. Honestly, I’m about ready to just stop watching TV, and I haven’t even mentioned the cancellation of Angel<\/i>…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember how only a few days ago I was grumbling that TV networks no longer give new series a chance? Well, here’s proof of my point: CBS has cancelled the promising new science fiction\/legal drama Century City after a mere four episodes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gripes-and-grumbles","category-the-glass-teat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}