Column: Hints and Allegations; Ending the era of ten-year television shows

I have a quick mental poll that I want everyone to take.

Actually, not everyone … just the people who watch TV. The rest of you can turn back to the Preemptive Critics. Those guys are so clever.

But for everyone who does watch TV, here are two questions:

First: How many TV shows that you liked have been canceled in the first or second season?

Second: How many shows are there right now that have no feasible explanation as to why they are still on the air?

Chances are, the answer to both these questions is quite a few.

Many people, and I have found myself in this group many more times than I care to admit, convince themselves that there is a conspiracy among network executives to ruin the lives of defenseless viewers around the world.

In reality, TV, like anything else, is a business. The decisions are all made on the basis of what’s profitable for the studio.

Personally I think a major part of the problem is in the way that we look at our television on the whole. Nobody is looking for a show with a great story and well-rounded characters that will stick with us forever. They’re looking for the next show that people will watch for ten years.

If something doesn’t take in the first couple months it goes away, and nobody asks any questions.

When something does take, it’s because the writers came up with a unique premise that grabs our attention, and rightfully so.

However, usually either the premise is only enough to last for a season or two or the characters – while entertaining in some situations – are too one dimensional to hold our interest in others.

By this time, however, the show has our loyalty and we’ve gotten comfortable with it. Once emotionally committed to a group of characters it’s hard for us to admit that they have gotten stupid.

It’s like those kids you were really good friends with in junior high, only when you go home and see them again you realize that you’ve grown up and moved on and they haven’t.

I find it strange that many of the same people who tend to moan at the first mention of a sequel to even the finest film, will religiously watch a TV show, years after it has sunk to a level of mediocrity.

Viewers slowly realize that they hate the same show they once loved. One at a time they stop watching and the show dies a slow and painful death; and by the time it’s pulled from the air, everybody but the hardcore fan club – the costume wearing kind – hate it.

I think the best way to solve this problem is to completely redo the whole way we make TV shows in this country.

Instead of creating a premise with the hopes it will last forever, create a bunch of characters with a sweeping story arc and when it’s over, let it be over. End the show when the story ends.

Some shows would last two seasons, others only half, all decided on how long the show is sticking to what it was originally designed to be, not how long people remain mindlessly loyal.

Those shows that are popular will continue to make money being shown again (for people who loved it the first time and their friends that they bring along for the second showing) and of course the fast growing TV on DVD market.

This system is actually how some foreign countries run their TV industry. I’ve had people from overseas ask why some American shows have been on for 10 years. When I think about it objectively, I don’t know what to tell them.

Steve Shinney is a critic at the Utah Statesman. Comments and questions can be sent to him at steveshinney@cc.usu.edu.