Last week, MTV’s hit comedy Awkward. returned for its second season and The CW announced its fall premiere dates. Those two completely unrelated events tell two very different stories involving the same TV audience, the story of a success from a cable channel, and what many perceive as the beginning of the end for the smallest “major” broadcast network.
After ten weeks of exciting storytelling, Game of Thrones‘s second season bowed out with a couple of episodes that ramped up the action and brought the proceedings to an appropriately enticing resting place. Although the sophomore season of the popular HBO series was arguably better than the first, at PlayerAffinity TV, we have decided to take a look at the show from a more wary perspective. We set out to round up those areas that could be improved, areas that might ultimately be responsible for its demise, or at least for a drop in popularity.
NBC’s Grimm wrapped up its freshman season a few days ago with a finale that timidly tried to address some of the mysteries the show has been flirting with for the past seven months. The attempt was half-hearted, and only raised further questions without answering those that have been lingering around for the entire season.
Following the industry tradition, the upfront events will bear witness to the final swings of the cancellation axes toward the shivering TV series whose fates will still be in doubt. Which is why we thought now would be a good time to summarize where we stand and share with you which of your favorite TV shows (including cable) have been renewed, which have been cancelled or which are still helplessly (or calmly) awaiting a decision.
About a year ago, The New York Times published an utterly dismissive review of HBO’s Game of Thrones written by Ginia Bellafante, a female writer who, among other things, found the series lacking any appeal for women. Following the success of the show and, perhaps, the relative backlash generated by the article—including from female fans and writers—the Times’ review this year is clearly less disdainful, but is not quite conciliatory. Written by Neil Genzlinger, the review shares the same categorization of the typical audience of the show, the “Dungeons & Dragons types.” Even if at this point in the series that is a sweeping generalization, I believe it might be a sign of troubles to come.
Have you ever thought, “What on earth were the writers thinking?” Well, thanks to a little medium called Twitter, you can ask them yourselves. And, surprisingly, a lot of them reply back. It’s one of the wonders of the 21st century—allowing fans to interact with writers and vice versa. While there is typically a lot of noise from fans who are displeased with how a show develops, showrunners keep their heads held high. If you fancy people tweeting how they write all day with humor and grace, the following showrunners definitely deserve your attention.
Mythological creatures are hot. Perhaps not as hot as they were a couple of years ago but there is still a craving for bloodthirsty monsters on the tube. Thanks to a certain teen phenomenon, these monsters are now thought to be sparkly beefcakes, but every vampire, werewolf or witch started out as a powerful creature that could do everything man couldn’t—live forever, be undefeatable or have magic powers. Since technology hasn’t progressed so far that we can do those things, we are bound to just watch them on TV. But, with so many interpretations of what these creatures can actually do, it leaves to wonder: which one is actually the strongest? So, we here at PlayerAffinity present an ultimate smackdown between TV’s interpretations of the mightiest creatures of our fictional universe, the wolf, the witch and the bloodsucker. Let the battle begin!
One year ago, at the beginning of March 2011, the TV landscape—as far as the renewal prospects of scripted TV shows is concerned—was strikingly different. Although the number of cancelled TV shows was, oddly enough, identical to what we have today, there were already many more renewals. This season, it would seem, the major broadcast networks are not in a hurry to announce their decisions.
Chances are you’ve seen The Office, or have sat watching American Idol, wondering why people even show up for auditions. Or, maybe you just happen to be an avid Top Gear fan. In any way, these, and many other shows wouldn’t have made it to your screen without their original British versions. The stream of British import knows its flops (most recently, we deserve a medal for getting through the Free Agents pilot) and sometimes the British version does quite well on its own (Downton Abbey broke records last month on PBS). But with Being Human going strong on SyFy and Shameless earning a renewal from Showtime, it’s unlikely Hollywood will quit adapting British shows for the stateside audience. So here’s a feature dedicated to the shows that have yet to be touched by American hands, but have such appealing premises that it’s very likely. After all, banking on a concept that has proven its popularity is far more credible than an entirely new format.
Here at PlayerAffinityTV, we’re a sentimental bunch of nerds who have made it our collective mission in life to keep you informed about the best that television has to offer. Networks are constantly bringing in new shows, or in some cases old shows with a shiny new coat to try and pull the wool over our eyes. Spending countless hours sitting in front of our television screens has given us the ability to distinguish between the good, the bad, & the ugly. But what happens when our opinion doesn’t matter? What happens when our favorite shows get inexplicably cancelled and buried into eternal oblivion? Do we revolt? Do we petition Sam Fisher, Commander Shepard, and Master Chief to go kick their collective asses, because no one else will take us seriously? No. We’re better than that — right? The year is now 2012 and I found myself reminiscing about the TV shows that were never really given a fair chance to flex their muscles and show us what they really had to offer. The advent of reality TV (also known as “the scum of television”) has seriously deprived genuinely promising TV shows the opportunity to garner a bigger audience. And without the numbers to show for it, shows that deserve a second chance don’t usually get one. Some of the following shows have been dropped over the years in the meanest way possible, but let’s take this opportunity to give them the proper accolades they so richly deserve:
