How of the very few original shows on television that are interesting, original or worth watching—they all managed to get cancelled? What is going on?
“Robbery Homicide Division” starring Tom Sizemore, was really a pretty good show. Produced by Michael Mann, it was a dark, gritty cop show with a fast paced, handheld, DV-style editing. It was often referred to as the television version of Michael Mann’s Heat (a spectacular movie).
What I don’t understand is why interesting, well made this shows like this fail, and a shows like CSI: Miami, The Bachelor, or fucking Highschool Reunion mamage to stay on the air.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the original CSI. I think it’s a pretty unique show, and I tend to even like the characters, because really they’re all sketches of who you would expect to be working for a real CSI: a bunch of nerds. And while the show is still more fiction than non, it’s not at a distracting level and usually makes for some pretty good tv.
But what in the hell is CSI:Miami? Crime scene detectives that drive around in a fucking Hummer? A camera set up that can pan and zoom and create 3-dimensional meshes, and spectral analysis all from voice-command in the autopsy room? And what’s with all these people looking like they stopped off on their way out for a night of clubbing? And the blond chick—she’s pretty, but she wears enough makeup that even Tammy-Fay would be embarrassed. Some how, I doubt she, or any of the crew, would be taken at all seriously in the police force getting done up like that to search crime scenes and handle corpses.
So in the end, as I’m sure we all know (but I often tend to forget) it’s all about money. My own quick informal pole says that of my friends that like CSI, none of them really like CSI:Miami, but they do still tend to watch it (mostly in hopes that it will “get better”). Television is about betting on these types of viewing habits, and funneling money into anything that can play down to the lowest common denominator. Not trying to make original or interesting new shows.