The Humanity of Television

A while back, I had been thinking about cancelled TV shows and in particular the point in which they’re cancelled in terms of storyline and character development. I hate when a show gets cut short and things are... unresolved. Take Lost for example...

Ok so I know that show wasn’t cancelled, but some of us are still not over it, you know? Some of us downloaded the soundtrack and play the instrumental for the closing scene when we are feeling pensive.

Just me?

Oh.

It gripped a lot of people for 6 years. It also ended in a way which divided opinion (I loved it). But what if Lost was less successful? Imagine you were the ONLY one you knew who liked that show, and they just cancelled it on you. Imagine not knowing if they got off the island or not (I’m aware there are people possibly reading this who haven’t seen it and may want to in the future so I’m not about to spoil it for you).

Character-driven television shows are my bag. I can’t really watch stuff like that when someone else is with me. I get kind of intense, wondering if the person is really paying attention. I can watch hour’s worth of episodes in a single day if I have a day off, to the point where these characters seem to live and breathe (in fact I swear that Sam Newly from Samantha Who? winked at me once when I was ill with the flu, however it might’ve been the cough medicine).

I loved that show. I mean it was no Lost, but it was fun and Christina Applegate, Melissa McCarthy and Jennifer Esposito were brilliant together. It was annoying that the show ended like it did, what happened to her and the boyfriend? Did they last it out? Did her mum go on the caravan holiday like she was going to? This shiz stings. The abandonment issues run deep for me in TV land. Some of you will remember a TV show called Out of this World, you know, the one with the half alien girl with the rubix cube dad who could stop time by putting the tips of her fingers together? Yea that one! Woooould youuuuu LIKE to swing on a star (oh oh oh!)...

The last episode was a total cliffhanger and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. I had gone away for the weekend and set my VHS timer to record it but when I got home and eagerly rewound the tape to find some crap about gardening. Gardening. This was not cool people. Being the child of divorce that I am this did NOTHING to dispel the feeling that people can just up and leave. Evie Ethel Garland was gone and she wasn’t coming back.

The whole thing makes me think about real life people and the stories they have to tell. Some people have big stupendous soap opera storylines that are dragged out way too long and bore their audience. Some people are background characters and don’t really seem to contribute, but occasionally stun everyone when they’re given a line to say. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that you can learn a lot about real people from watching fake people. Which of them is more watchable is up to the viewer.