The Best TV Show of the Season Dies Premature Death
With almost no fanfare, ABC's summer thriller "Traveler" ended its all-too-brief eight-episode run last night. As expected, the series ended with a cliffhanger, as nobody knew back in November when the series was being produced that it would not be returning. As it stands though, it seems almost inevitable that this intelligently crafted action-drama is finished.
The saddest part of the "Traveler" story is that ABC essentially set it up to fail. Originally scheduled as a midseason replacement and given a 13-episode order, ABC informed the network when it was in the midst of filming episode eight last November that it would be the last show. The writers did get a chance to amend that particular episode's script to given some semblance of closure, but it was pretty clear ABC had every intention of sabotaging the series before it aired. The expectation of the show premiering early in 2007 as most midseason replacements do never came to pass, and although the series was a given a solid post-Grey's Anatomy timeslot for its mid-May sneak preview, it was quickly moved to Wednesday night and given next to no promotion for its low-profile summertime run.
Hard to understand what could have been going through the minds of ABC programmers investing in a high-budget show with an impressive cast (Steven Culp, Neal McDonough), only to send it to slaughter in June and July, when virtually nobody is watching network TV anymore. The only explanation I can come up with fits right into my conspiracy theory about the networks trying to unload higher-priced programming in the hopes of completely saturating the airwaves with lowest-denominator reality show drivel as quickly as possible. If only "Traveler" could have come out a year or two earlier, it would have at least had a chance.
The saddest part of the "Traveler" story is that ABC essentially set it up to fail. Originally scheduled as a midseason replacement and given a 13-episode order, ABC informed the network when it was in the midst of filming episode eight last November that it would be the last show. The writers did get a chance to amend that particular episode's script to given some semblance of closure, but it was pretty clear ABC had every intention of sabotaging the series before it aired. The expectation of the show premiering early in 2007 as most midseason replacements do never came to pass, and although the series was a given a solid post-Grey's Anatomy timeslot for its mid-May sneak preview, it was quickly moved to Wednesday night and given next to no promotion for its low-profile summertime run.
Hard to understand what could have been going through the minds of ABC programmers investing in a high-budget show with an impressive cast (Steven Culp, Neal McDonough), only to send it to slaughter in June and July, when virtually nobody is watching network TV anymore. The only explanation I can come up with fits right into my conspiracy theory about the networks trying to unload higher-priced programming in the hopes of completely saturating the airwaves with lowest-denominator reality show drivel as quickly as possible. If only "Traveler" could have come out a year or two earlier, it would have at least had a chance.
posted by Mark at 5:44 PM
4 Comments:
This is one of the reasons why I ended up ditching my T.V. All the good shows are dying out and tacky "reality" shows are taking their place. Not to mention that lately when I did try to watch T.V., I ended up watching more commercials than actual show.
I enjoyed watching T.V. as a kid from the mid-80s to the late 90s, but it has really deteriorated since then. I feel terrible for today's kids. They will not get to enjoy the quality programs that we got to enjoy. At least we can see some of those old shows on YouTube.
Sara, have you really gotten rid of your TV altogether? I don't think I could handle that.
And you're right about YouTube. I've found clips of nearly every old show and old commercial I could think of with a YouTube search. Once again, the internet has helped to resurrect memories of my childhood that I thought were lost forever just a few years ago.
Well, I did leave my T.V. at my parents' house to see if I could live without it, and I did very well. I don't know where the T.V. is now, maybe in storage somewhere.
Hey, I saw the news on the collapse of the northern 35W bridge. And it seems that traffic on the northern 35W and maybe 35E (though I'm not exactly sure) are quickly becoming like their evil twins to the south here in DFW. I've been on the southern 35E and 35W many times, and can I say that navigating these freeways has become a chore!
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