It’s that time of year again. That magical time when Kristin Dos Santos forces us television addicts to make the TV equivalent of Sophie’s Choice by posting her annual and often times highly contentious “Save One Show” Campaign: Your chance to save your favorite ‘on the bubble’ series from cancellation. It’s a big decision, one that over the past decade has successfully contributed to rescuing shows such as FELICITY, ANGEL and ONE TREE HILL from joining the likes of JACK & BOBBY, GROSSE POINTE and FREAKS AND GEEKS in that brilliant-but-canceled graveyard in the sky. Which is why, before you head on over to cast your vote, we wanted to give you a few, well, a few unexpected things to think about.
But before you do, here are the twenty shows that Kristin has included in this year’s poll: ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE, BETTER OFF TED, CASTLE, CHUCK, FLASHFORWARD, THE FORGOTTEN, GHOST WHISPERER, HEROES, HUMAN TARGET, LIFE UNEXPECTED, MEDIUM, MELROSE PLACE, MERCY, NUMB3RS, ONE TREE HILL, PARENTHOOD, SCRUBS, SONS OF TUCSON, TRAUMA, and V.
Easiest to cross off the list are shows that have absolutely no hope of getting picked up for another season. Those shows include THE FORGOTTEN, SCRUBS, NUMB3RS and BETTER OFF TED which for all intents and purposes have already been cancelled by their respective networks. Followed closely by shows that we wish were already given the ax yet for some inexplicable reason remain on the air, including CBS’ highly unfunny ‘laugher’ ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE and HEROES, which we believe even the show’s few remaining fans would agree has had more than its fair share of opportunities to turn itself around.
Next up is what we like to call the democratic equivalent of voting for the Independent candidate. Quality shows that in a perfect world might merit merit a second look, but in reality are pretty much akin to spoiling your ballot. Yeah, we’re talking to you TRUAMA, MELROSE PLACE and FLASHFORWRD fans. Promising story-arcs and the occasional flash of brilliance aren’t nearly enough to your show from disappointing ratings and millions of lost dollars in revenue.
Now here is where things might get ugly. If Jay Leno taught us anything this year, it’s that nobody likes a sore loser. Which is why we’re imploring MEDIUM, GHOST WHISPERER and ONE TREE HILL fans to simply let go. Seriously. You all had very nice runs, frankly, runs that most shows would kill for, but it’s time to give other, younger shows a chance in the spotlight. Particularly you ONE TREE HILL.
See how easy that was? In three short paragraphs, we’ve managed to cut your decision by more than half! All that’s remaining are CASTLE, CHUCK, HUMAN TARGET, LIFE UNEXPECTED, MERCY, PARENTHOOD, SONS OF TUCSON and V.
What’s that? Still too many choices for you to decide? Well, if you assume that there is no way CASTLE and PARENTHOOD are getting cancelled, seeing as though the former has proven to be a compatible lead-in for ABC’s DANCING WITH THE STARS and the latter will continue if only to serve as an example for others that NBC is serious about getting back in the quality scripted drama department, you really only have to choose between CHUCK, LIFE UNEXPECTED, MERCY, SONS OF TUCSON and V.
