Trying It Again

Yesterday it was announced that ratings-challenged show Damages was being saved from cancellation by DirecTV, who will now show it exclusively on their airwaves. I'm sure the cast is happy, but I don't see what is in this for DirecTV. I know that Damages was another one of those "great shows nobody is watching", but it was already on cable. The grading curve for a show is much lower when it's on cable and if you can't pull in some cable-acceptable ratings, what makes you think being harder to find is a sound marketing plan? Don't get me wrong - I hardly think of FX as some kind of northern outpost for TV shows (it actually airs two of my favorite shows in Sons of Anarchy and Justified) but if people aren't watching you there, what indication do you have anyone is going to take the time, energy and money to switch cable providers just for one show? This just goes to prove that complete-season DVD sales and on-Demand requests are starting to matter more to advertisers.

Now, rather than bringing back a show that probably isn't going to do any better just because it is on a new network, I thought about how shows like Futurama and Family Guy were brought back years after being cancelled and I thought of five shows that I think should be given another try instead:

• The West Wing: I know that it had a series finale, but it's fine - we'll just pretend the last two seasons didn't happen.
• Arrested Development: Either that or force them to finally make the movie they've been threatening for the last three years.
• My Name Is Earl: They need to at least give us a special where Earl gets to finish his list. The fact that it ended on a cliffhanger drives me crazy.
• Playmakers: This was supposed to be a cross between The Program and Any Given Sunday, which seems like a good idea, only because it was on ESPN it couldn't go as far as it wanted, so the show felt stunted. Not to mention they tried to cram too many storylines into one season. Assure them they could have two seasons to make it work and I have confidence it would be much better the second time around.
• Sports Night: Another Aaron Sorkin show. This was his first attempt to make TV writing seem like serious business, which he tried a second time at Studio 60. I still feel like this could have worked.

-Every day as I zoom passed it on the dial, I am surprised to see ESPN Classic still on the air. I can not figure out who is keeping this channel going, because what kind of person could possibly want to see a sporting event that happened 10 years ago when you already know what happened? Also, if on the off chance you are the kind of person who would, what are the odds that you wouldn't have recorded the game at the time and have already watched it 400 times? Besides all that, it isn't like ESPN would have a very hard time finding a live sporting events to put on this channel instead. However, that is not the point of this post. Instead, as I was flipping by I couldn't help but think how far TV broadcasting has come in just a few short years. In the week leading up to the British Open Classic was showing footage from some previous Opens and occasionally I would pause to watch 30 seconds and try to guess the year (oh yeah, I'm a HUGE dork). Anyways, I was watching one showing and having a terrible time guessing. From the stale graphics and grainy footage you would have thought this particular broadcast must have come from the late 80s, but no. It was from the distant time of... 2006. Man, HD makes a huge difference.