What I'm hoping is that a much better Portland series gets made. I mean, I know a guy who wrote a comedy centered in Portland. I guess he can't complain because he actually has not pitched that one. But he, er, I, finished the pilot.
I’m reading Cue the Sun by Emily Nussbaum and she mentions an article about reality TV you wrote for the San Angelo Standard-Times. I’m assuming that was you.
Hey I have to pat myself on the back for having watched My So Called Life and Rubicon *in real time*. Basically what I am saying is their cancellations were not my fault! I did my part.
Wow I haven’t heard of the other shows. I don’t know what I was doing when they came out but I was definitely part of the problem there.
Yeah I can totally see you at loggerheads with CBS!
OMG I am so loving these "The End of the World . . ." missives. Great vintage Goodman writing. I know I'm going to watch the great shows I've missed. But I have fallen into the deep hole of Fringe. I know, I was only going to watch season one and then watch something else and then I could go back. But I am compelled to watch it. It must be part of the Pattern. In a way, it's comfort food tv for me right now which is just what I need. No kittens yet.
Oh, I love a nice comment like this, Suzanne! And I think it's actually great that you're totally deep-diving on "Fringe." I mean that's kind of the point -- to find something you haven't seen and then have all this content. The one-hit wonders are another thing. But the End of the World viewing stuff is, I think, fun, even though I might be accidentally creating FOMO to watch numerous shows instead of one.
She is amazing, I'm surprised I haven't seen more of her in other shows. I really like the rest of the cast too, John Noble is really quite brilliant in his portrayal of Walter Bishop.
I first saw her in Mindhunter and remembered you made a comment about her in a post about The Last of Us. I wouldn’t have recognized her in that from her Fringe time. I just saw an interview she did about that role that included a clip! She’s a marvelous actor and quite beautiful. Still surprised she didn’t have a bigger presence in the tv/film world.
I'm mystified by this myself. I think it ties into the Tom Cavanaugh thing as well. All these talented people are still competing for a very small amount of good roles. And the business is ruthless.
I don't think I had discovered you by 2006 Tim so one of John D., Matthew G., James P. or Heather H., if she was still at it, must have turned us on to Sons and Daughters as they were my go-to team back then for which shows to try out.
It introduced me to what has become my fave Dead song, Althea, and for years I looked up Fred G. on IMDB hoping he'd another show in the works.
It's always a mystery why super talented people like him just sort of disappear. Not always forever, but often for deep stretches of time. The best answer I ever got to this was that the industry is just very difficult even for people who are really talented and have proven it, just in shows that aren't hits. I'm assuming they also thought he wasn't a leading man, but that certainly doesn't negate his ability to write. But it's also harder to get a show made than it is to act in one that you didn't write. So who knows. Another great answer to this wonderment, though I doubt it applies to him, is "Money." Sometimes getting a show made or having a hit, or even a minor hit back in the pre streaming days, meant you could essentially set yourself up forever if you could manage your money.
I think Love Monkey was gone by the time I was able to not get to it. Liked Tom Cavanaugh from "Ed" which despite its awesome weirdness lasted 83 episodes. Nice breakouts too by folks like Justin Long, Julie Bowen, and John Slattery...along with just the right amount of Michael Ian Black.
Happy to see My So Called Life included. Can't believe I forgot about it when you made the first list. While I was never a teenaged girl, I thought back then MSCL was one of the best things that had ever been on television. It was re-run some years later (maybe on MTV?) and I watched it again.
Loved Love Monkey in its short run. After this show and ED, it seemed like Tom Cavanaugh should have had a brilliant career in front of him. I wonder what happened?
Agree on Cavanaugh. Or Cavanagh. Maybe it's because he's Canadian and his name is hard to spell. But yeah, he's talented and I could see him being an excellent character actor in a film.
This post is kind of a trip down memory lane of some excellent shows that I watched BECAUSE YOU TOLD US TO, and then they got canceled and I got mad at you for not having the omnipotence to keep them going.
I read all these comments on a day when I couldn't reply but now that I'm circling back to correct that you should know I laughed out loud at this because of the "I got mad at you" part....But yeah, I think the best thing about being a critic is finding a gem and telling people incessantly.
… Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
God, I loved Profit! Such a great, twisted, dark series that I remember being amazed that it actually made it on to broadcast TV. Wasn't it great when Fox leaned hard into being weird...
Giri/Haji was just a thing of awe striking beauty.
Missed Love Monkey, probably because I was pulling all nighters in big ad agencies at the time...
I had a thought about another EOTWAWKI post: What about series that need to be re-examined. The first thing that comes immediately to mind, Miami Vice. Awe inspiring, it was like nothing ever seen on television, the real integration of music into visuals literally changed television. Another one I was thinking about was the original Hawaii 5-0 (if for no other reason than that Jack Lord, could get the shit beaten out of him in a helicopter, fall out, tumble down a hillside and get up and his hair was still fucking perfect). More seriously, but still in Hawaii, Magnum PI, it was actually pretty subversive...
There are a lot of series that were extremely innovative or culturally important that are kind of being forgotten in these days of a firehose of programming knocking us all down on a daily basis. All in the Family, anyone?
Interesting idea, Mark. Like re-examining past opinions of shows and giving them their due? Certainly in the context of time and content that would be really interesting -- like how "Hill Street Blues" changed cop shows and how "Homicide: Life On the Street" was so unique in its cinematic storytelling.
Seems like a good time to point out my friend Peter Carlin has an upcoming R.E.M. book. I'll mention it more as it approaches.
Giri/Haji was a superb series; bummed it wasn’t continued for a second season. Fascinating plot line(s) coupled with outstanding performances. Sorely missed.
I'm curious to see what he does next. I went back to The Lazarus Project and he was playing the long game there, but only got two seasons. Definitely went to some interesting places with the whole timey-wimey stuff.
Rubicon, the show that made Rectify look like an entry in the Fast and Furious franchise!
This thread makes me think of shows that no one would miss if they'd been canceled in the first season, but someone gave it another year and it blossomed into a great series. Yes, I'm thinking of Halt and Catch Fire.
Halt and Catch Fire turned out to be really something. I interviewed the creator at VIFF and we kept his phone on the table (in front of a live audience) to see if he might get the renewal call. It sure did end up being better and better as it went. Loved it. And your line about Rubicon! So true.
I have thought that exact thing about Halt and Catch Fire - was almost shocked when it was renewed. That was a show that rewarded you staying with it, with some great lead performances.
Loved Sons & Daughters!! The scene where the daughter is lying on the couch and the adults are talking in the kitchen and don't know she's there.... Also miss Love Monkey :-(
Well, I just watched history being made. Ted Lasso just accepted the Democratic Party's Nomination for Vice President,
...he'd better fucking make Coach Beard his Chief of Staff...
… The other night I drifted nice continental drift divide
Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein
Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs
Birthday party, cheesecake, jellybean, boom
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck, right, right
Any love for Stumptown? I’m still mad about that.
What I'm hoping is that a much better Portland series gets made. I mean, I know a guy who wrote a comedy centered in Portland. I guess he can't complain because he actually has not pitched that one. But he, er, I, finished the pilot.
I’m going to give Rubicon another try. I think i felt it was too slow when it premiered but I’ll probably enjoy it now.
Embrace the SlowTV. Let's bring it back.
I’m reading Cue the Sun by Emily Nussbaum and she mentions an article about reality TV you wrote for the San Angelo Standard-Times. I’m assuming that was you.
Huh? Weird. Maybe it was from the old days at Chronicle/Examiner and it was syndicated and picked up by another newspaper?
Perhaps. Unless there is another famous TV critic named Tim Goodman 😀
Hey I have to pat myself on the back for having watched My So Called Life and Rubicon *in real time*. Basically what I am saying is their cancellations were not my fault! I did my part.
Wow I haven’t heard of the other shows. I don’t know what I was doing when they came out but I was definitely part of the problem there.
Yeah I can totally see you at loggerheads with CBS!
Laughed at this. "I did my part!" True, it's not your fault.
OMG I am so loving these "The End of the World . . ." missives. Great vintage Goodman writing. I know I'm going to watch the great shows I've missed. But I have fallen into the deep hole of Fringe. I know, I was only going to watch season one and then watch something else and then I could go back. But I am compelled to watch it. It must be part of the Pattern. In a way, it's comfort food tv for me right now which is just what I need. No kittens yet.
Oh, I love a nice comment like this, Suzanne! And I think it's actually great that you're totally deep-diving on "Fringe." I mean that's kind of the point -- to find something you haven't seen and then have all this content. The one-hit wonders are another thing. But the End of the World viewing stuff is, I think, fun, even though I might be accidentally creating FOMO to watch numerous shows instead of one.
...and Anna Torv, rowrrr...
Agreed.
She is amazing, I'm surprised I haven't seen more of her in other shows. I really like the rest of the cast too, John Noble is really quite brilliant in his portrayal of Walter Bishop.
Noble was so great! He's like, OK, I'm taking this and GOING with it.
She's great in Mindhunter, too. She's brunette in that one...
She was also in The Last of Us, three episodes and she was great there, too!
I first saw her in Mindhunter and remembered you made a comment about her in a post about The Last of Us. I wouldn’t have recognized her in that from her Fringe time. I just saw an interview she did about that role that included a clip! She’s a marvelous actor and quite beautiful. Still surprised she didn’t have a bigger presence in the tv/film world.
I'm mystified by this myself. I think it ties into the Tom Cavanaugh thing as well. All these talented people are still competing for a very small amount of good roles. And the business is ruthless.
I don't think I had discovered you by 2006 Tim so one of John D., Matthew G., James P. or Heather H., if she was still at it, must have turned us on to Sons and Daughters as they were my go-to team back then for which shows to try out.
It introduced me to what has become my fave Dead song, Althea, and for years I looked up Fred G. on IMDB hoping he'd another show in the works.
It's always a mystery why super talented people like him just sort of disappear. Not always forever, but often for deep stretches of time. The best answer I ever got to this was that the industry is just very difficult even for people who are really talented and have proven it, just in shows that aren't hits. I'm assuming they also thought he wasn't a leading man, but that certainly doesn't negate his ability to write. But it's also harder to get a show made than it is to act in one that you didn't write. So who knows. Another great answer to this wonderment, though I doubt it applies to him, is "Money." Sometimes getting a show made or having a hit, or even a minor hit back in the pre streaming days, meant you could essentially set yourself up forever if you could manage your money.
I think Love Monkey was gone by the time I was able to not get to it. Liked Tom Cavanaugh from "Ed" which despite its awesome weirdness lasted 83 episodes. Nice breakouts too by folks like Justin Long, Julie Bowen, and John Slattery...along with just the right amount of Michael Ian Black.
"Just the right amount of Michael Ian Black." Chef's kiss.
Happy to see My So Called Life included. Can't believe I forgot about it when you made the first list. While I was never a teenaged girl, I thought back then MSCL was one of the best things that had ever been on television. It was re-run some years later (maybe on MTV?) and I watched it again.
Loved Love Monkey in its short run. After this show and ED, it seemed like Tom Cavanaugh should have had a brilliant career in front of him. I wonder what happened?
Agree on Cavanaugh. Or Cavanagh. Maybe it's because he's Canadian and his name is hard to spell. But yeah, he's talented and I could see him being an excellent character actor in a film.
This post is kind of a trip down memory lane of some excellent shows that I watched BECAUSE YOU TOLD US TO, and then they got canceled and I got mad at you for not having the omnipotence to keep them going.
I read all these comments on a day when I couldn't reply but now that I'm circling back to correct that you should know I laughed out loud at this because of the "I got mad at you" part....But yeah, I think the best thing about being a critic is finding a gem and telling people incessantly.
… Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
God, I loved Profit! Such a great, twisted, dark series that I remember being amazed that it actually made it on to broadcast TV. Wasn't it great when Fox leaned hard into being weird...
Giri/Haji was just a thing of awe striking beauty.
Missed Love Monkey, probably because I was pulling all nighters in big ad agencies at the time...
I had a thought about another EOTWAWKI post: What about series that need to be re-examined. The first thing that comes immediately to mind, Miami Vice. Awe inspiring, it was like nothing ever seen on television, the real integration of music into visuals literally changed television. Another one I was thinking about was the original Hawaii 5-0 (if for no other reason than that Jack Lord, could get the shit beaten out of him in a helicopter, fall out, tumble down a hillside and get up and his hair was still fucking perfect). More seriously, but still in Hawaii, Magnum PI, it was actually pretty subversive...
There are a lot of series that were extremely innovative or culturally important that are kind of being forgotten in these days of a firehose of programming knocking us all down on a daily basis. All in the Family, anyone?
Interesting idea, Mark. Like re-examining past opinions of shows and giving them their due? Certainly in the context of time and content that would be really interesting -- like how "Hill Street Blues" changed cop shows and how "Homicide: Life On the Street" was so unique in its cinematic storytelling.
Seems like a good time to point out my friend Peter Carlin has an upcoming R.E.M. book. I'll mention it more as it approaches.
… That's great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Giri/Haji was a superb series; bummed it wasn’t continued for a second season. Fascinating plot line(s) coupled with outstanding performances. Sorely missed.
In the very recent past I can't remember a series were I was more surprised it DIDN'T get renewed, and also very disappointed.
I'm really glad that we finally prevailed on Tim for this one! Also this Joe Barton interview about what might have been is interesting: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/giri-haji-cancelled-bbc-netflix-will-sharpe-joe-barton-b421871.html
Ooooh...going to check that out when in Portland. And yeah, I'm glad the nagging worked. I loved the show.
I'm curious to see what he does next. I went back to The Lazarus Project and he was playing the long game there, but only got two seasons. Definitely went to some interesting places with the whole timey-wimey stuff.
Rubicon, the show that made Rectify look like an entry in the Fast and Furious franchise!
This thread makes me think of shows that no one would miss if they'd been canceled in the first season, but someone gave it another year and it blossomed into a great series. Yes, I'm thinking of Halt and Catch Fire.
Halt and Catch Fire turned out to be really something. I interviewed the creator at VIFF and we kept his phone on the table (in front of a live audience) to see if he might get the renewal call. It sure did end up being better and better as it went. Loved it. And your line about Rubicon! So true.
I have thought that exact thing about Halt and Catch Fire - was almost shocked when it was renewed. That was a show that rewarded you staying with it, with some great lead performances.
Definitely shocked! A rare pleasant surprise in TV renewals and then it went on and was excellent. Fantastic cast.
Christ, Halt and Catch Fire was a great show. I mean the Lee Pace of it all was great and stuff but, McKenzie Davis...
Agreed. And someone missed their opportunity to cast her as a bad ass gun toting hit woman, which she would have nailed.
There's still time. Maybe if they indeed change the leads for Mr. and Mrs. Smith season 2.
Terminator: Dark Fate
That was more a bad ass gun toting hit cyborg.
McKenzie is baaaaaad enough not to need the extra parts...
Loved Sons & Daughters!! The scene where the daughter is lying on the couch and the adults are talking in the kitchen and don't know she's there.... Also miss Love Monkey :-(
Sons & Daughters fans unite! We can get a group of us, like five, and rally the networks to bring it back!