There are a lot of things that annoy me about the way TV works. Mostly about how the shows I love do horrible ratings while shows I think are horrible bring in massive amounts of people. Most recently I discovered that while I think How I Met Your Mother has been going downhill, it's ratings keep going up. Another one of my favorite gripes is that Parks and Recreation is doing The Office format and feel better than that show ever did, even in it's heyday, and yet The Office still does good ratings and Parks and Rec can barely stay on the air. They're such compatible shows, I'm completely baffled that they don't pull in exactly the same numbers. However, there are a number of things that I'm thankful for when it comes to what's on my TV. Presented after the jump are those very things. I'm definitely not procrastinating on writing my Terra Nova and NBC Thursday posts, why would you think that?
Community Will at Least Finish Out This Season
After it was announced that Community would not be on NBC's midseason schedule, the internet exploded. At least the TV internet community did. NBC has not cut the order for the third season and they will eventually put on the air the remaining episodes. This looks bad for a fourth season (which would be perfect for finishing the four years of college), but the fact that three seasons of this show were produced is a miracle. It does really poor ratings. No matter how brilliant critics and a small, extremely devoted fanbase think it is, if nobody watches, the show is not going to last. I'm thankful to get what I can of this show and the very fact that a show that's so different form everything else on TV can still be made.
I Get To See 13 Episodes of Prime Suspect
This is another one of those headscratchers. CBS does huge numbers with various acronymic police shows, NBC used to have Law and Order as a flagship series. NBC tries to get back into the police game with a very good show that stands heads and tails above all the cookie cutter CBS shows and nobody watches. The procedural aspect of solving a case is handled very well, especially when it delves into the various detectives personal histories, but the best part is camaraderie of the squad. No show does banter as good as this and it really feels like I believe an actual homicide squad room would feel like. I usually hate procedurals (I find it boring that it's the same thing every week), but good characters will keep me interested (as it did with House for few years) and this show has great characters. Some people get along better than others, and most people don't like Jane, our main character, but everyone has to at least put up with everyone else, and it shows in the dialogue. Each week has been getting better and better and even though it has not been officially canceled it's a foregone conclusion that once the 13 originally ordered episodes are done it's gone. Too bad, I'll miss it.
There Were 5 Seasons of Chuck
The little nerd show that could. By all accounts, this show should never have lasted this long. Every year it was on the bubble, and every year it just kept coming back. While many shows many be more dramatic, more funny, have better thought out plots, this show was just the most fun to watch. Many shows with their ratings would have been yanked off the air midseason and never seen again leaving fans wondering where the story went next. The fact this show gets to finish the stories for Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Morgan, Ellie, Awesome, and the Buy More guys knowing that this is the last year is a blessing to all the fans.
Cable In General
The renaissance of cable programming has been a wonderful boon for people who love good television. On the networks you need huge numbers to stay afloat so shows have to appeal to a mass audience. That can work to create great shows, but many times it lets things get watered down. On cable, you don't need to have widespread appeal and that has lead to some really great and more risky programming. HBO going all in on the fantasy world of Game of Thrones. FX finding hits with the violent biker drama Sons of Anarchy and the irreverent humor of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, and Wilfred. AMC giving us a period piece of the not so glamorous sixties in Mad Men and the slow descent of one man into evil in Breaking Bad. These are just a sampling of the shows that are on the air now, I can rattle off a long list of great cable shows since The Sopranos first broke out. The one show that really stands out for the cable model is Louie. FX give Louis C.K. a shoestring budget and lets him do whatever he wants. A deal like that would never, ever work on a broadcast network and it has given us some of the most thoughtful comedy on TV since All in the Family.
Parks and Recreation
Anyone who reads my NBC Thursday Comedy posts knows of my unabashed love of this show. This post is already pretty long so I'm just going to say that this is a funny show with a great group of characters that I love to hang out with for a half hour every week.
Now on to turkey!
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