TV Series Cancellations and Renewals for 2010

Series Cancellations

“Heroes” (NBC)

The most notable show that has been canceled is NBC’s Heroes, and it’s about time.  Heroes was a science fiction drama series, with emphasis on the drama.  In short, the show was about ordinary people who discover extraordinary super powers, and how their newly found abilities take effect in their daily lives.  There is a wide range of characters, going from those that can fly, to characters who can bend time and space, and even simple ordinary people.

Don’t get me wrong, the first two seasons of Heroes were actually very good.  The episodes were full of action and suspense, and viewers kept wanting to know what would happen next.  However beyond that, the writers struggled to have an underlying plan of where the show was going, and the show went downhill.  Characters were killed off and continually brought back, timelines intermixed way too much, and some plot lines were simply dropped without resolution.  One of the most aggravating themes was the relationship between Claire and her father Noah.  It seemed every other episode they were fighting, telling each other how much they loved one another, or Claire was being “rebellious”.  I think the same dialog was used about 20 times over.

Adding to their problems was a terribly boring season four.  There was a severe lack of action and the introduction of some characters that were useless to the plot.  The more interesting characters weren’t shown enough, and the final battle was pretty lame.  Anyways, sources say the network is still leaving the door open to conclude the show with a mini-series or movie.

“FlashForward” (ABC)

The new ABC action drama FlashForward has been canceled after a 22 episode first season.  The show started out strong and interesting to viewers, but throughout the season dropped down to less than half the amount of viewers as it had during the pilot.  I watched the pilot and thought the show had a pretty intriguing concept to it, and somewhat thought it was going to be ABC’s replacement for Lost.

In case you still want to check out the show later on DVD, it’s based around a mysterious event that causes nearly everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 137 seconds.  During this time people see what appear to be visions of their lives approximately six months in the future, hence the term “flashforward”.  The plot follows a team of FBI agents to discover what happened and why.

“Law & Order” (NBC)

A somewhat shocking move (but one that had to be coming soon anyways) is that NBC has officially canceled “Law & Order,” concluding the show after 20 seasons.  Instead of shooting for a 21st season, the original will be replaced by “Law & Order: Los Angeles”.  I’ve never gotten into the show or any of the other Law & Order shows so I don’t care too much about the changes, but I’m sure some die hard fans from over the years will.  Sources say that “closure opportunities” will be discussed for the show, possibly having characters from “L&O” appear on the “Los Angeles” spinoff, or even having a two-hour wrap-up movie.

“Ghost Whisperer” (CBS)

The Ghost Whisperer is a television series that follows the life of a young woman that has the ability to see and communicate with the dead.  The main character, Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt), helps earthbound spirits resolve their problems and cross over into the light.  The show has been officially canceled after five seasons, and I’m somewhat surprised it lasted this long.

I only saw a few episodes during it’s run, and they weren’t overly interesting or different from each other.  The main reason to watch was because of Jennifer Love Hewitt (as seen by the picture on the left, click it for full size), and even that can only last for so long.

Noteworthy Renewals

“Chuck” (NBC; 13 episodes)

Chuck is an action comedy series about an average computer nerd who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working in the CIA.  The message embeds the only remaining copy of the world’s greatest spy secrets into Chuck’s brain. With this information Chuck must help the government thwart assassins and terrorists.  Chuck primarily works with two other agents and works at the “Buy More” in the IT department in the meantime.

This show has been renewed for a third season by NBC, consisting of 13 episodes.  It’s likely this will increase to around 20 as the season gets closer.  I’ve seen the show a few times and I don’t see any reasons why it should have even been on the bubble to be renewed or not.  Chuck has an original plot with well scripted characters.  The lead actress is very good looking (photo on the right, click for full size), and I’ve seen Jordana Brewster do some cameo work, which is awesome.  The theme song for the show is Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake, just adding to show’s plus side.  Chuck is a relaxing show to watch and is a nice change from all of the cop investigation or doctor shows that are out there (not to mention reality shows).

“V” (ABC; 13 episodes)

The rookie sci-fi show, V, has been renewed by ABC for a second season in the fall.  V is a re-creation of the 1983 miniseries created by Kenneth Johnson.  This show depicts the arrival on Earth of a technologically advanced alien species which appears to come in peace, but actually has darker underlying motives.  “V” stands for the “Visitors”, who claim to only need a small amount of Earth’s resources, in exchange for sharing their advanced technological and medical knowledge.

I saw two full episodes of this show and it does seem like it could have a future, but I don’t think it will grab nearly as many viewers as ABC hopes for.  If there are any redeeming qualities of the show, it’s that Morena Baccarin from Firefly and Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost are in it.  Alan Tudyk from Firefly was also in a few episodes, but that didn’t last.

“Human Target” (FOX)

Human Target is based around a unique private contractor that protects his clients by integrating himself into their lives, to become the “human target.”  The series started this January and had a good run of 12 episodes.  As of yesterday it has been confirmed for a second season. Personally I have only seen one episode of this show so far, but it seemed fairly interesting.  With “24″ wrapping  up this year for Fox, Human Target is basically 24′s replacement.