I don’t really get into new TV series that much, due to a few facts, the main ones are that I don’t really watch much TV outside of things I know I like so I don’t get any exposure to them and that I don’t like being tied to TV schedules e.g. having to wait for the next episode. I long for real TV on demand. I prefer TV that I can dip in and out of, usually comedies like Family Guy, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, American Dad and South Park and anything on Discovery etc. especially Mythbusters, this is TV made for my PVR, I don’t need to watch the next episode and I can watch them when I please and in any order I like.
Aside from Lost I have actually found two series this year, both by word of mouth, that I love, and was going to write about earlier in the year but never got around to, these are (were) Dexter 1 and Day Break.
I started a little late into Dexter, but once I’d caught up with the series I was hooked and couldn’t wait for the next episode (although I have to say the latter part of the series, excluding the finale were a little flat, and obvious).
With Day Break I started just after the second episode had aired, and I absolutely love it, along with Dexter and Lost these three series have been responsible for quite a bit of lost personal time this year.
So it gets this weeks episode of Day Break and I don’t see it POP up, so I go and check the ABC site and see it’s not scheduled, I figure it’s because of the Christmas holidays and not been a US resident I don’t really know anything about TV seasons and schedules over there.
But I miss Day Break so I go searching again to find out when it will be back; never seems to be the answer. That sucks.
This here is what is wrong with the entertainment industry as a whole, chasing viewing figures, advertising money, the next big thing; however you want to label it. When they have something unique, interesting and different they rarely know how to handle it responsibly. Sure Day Break might not attract mega viewing figures because of the fact of it being a intelligent series, but even with the published viewing figures that still leaves about 3 million unhappy customers, and that’s not good business where I come from.
In a interview with Taye Diggs, Day Break lead the following appeared:
Your show is occupying the spot vacated by ‘Lost.’ Are you feeling any pressure?
It’s the exact opposite. I feel it’s a gift, and I feel amazing support from the network in giving us this opportunity to make a mark. We’re up to the challenge and pretty confident and hopeful.
(Emphasis added)
I’d like to know what he thinks of the network now.
As I’m sat here writing this I’m wondering if you can sue a network for lost time, as my very rudimentary calculation has a loss of 18 million man hours just by taking the published viewing figures of the last episode as the figure, imagine what we could have done with all those hours. I also feel very sorry for all the staff involved in the production of this series, especially considering the entire series is in the can.
I sincerely hope that ABC stand by their statement to air the last remaining episodes online, but that is not the perfect solution - they should reschedule the series. To play my little part in making that a reality (apart from writing this) I have signed the Save Day Break petition. It just better not end up being like Prey which ABC (again) cancelled half way through the two-part series finale, it ended on a cliff hanger and final last episode has never been aired.
But on the plus side how many times has Family Guy been cancelled and resurrected, hopefully good things come to those who wait.
Notes
1
I would have linked to the official Dexter site, but I receive the following message:
sorry
We at Showtime Online express our apologies; however, these pages are intended for access only from within the United States.
Well that’s nice of them, another fine example of TV network suckery, unfortunately I’m still going to have to watch the second series of Dexter as they have me hooked now, the bastards.