Try A Different Approach

Every year it seems as though there is one show on TV that everyone tells me I simply must start watching. (Previous entries into this category have included Lost, 24, Heroes, Survivor and The X-Files.) Because I have never been one to take directions about what I have to do outside of work or school very well, I ended up watching a grand total of zero of those shows. This year the show that everyone told me I had to start watching was Terriers on FX. It was supposed to be original and well-written. I watched the first episode and didn't see what all the hype was about, so I never made it a point to go back, though I would watch it if I stumbled upon a rerun and there were no better options. Apparently, I was not the only person who was doing this, as Terriers was cancelled this afternoon after just one season due to poor ratings (which is saying something as FX has lower standards for ratings than most other networks). Almost immediately people on the Internet began to put out the call to fans of the show to create pages in an attempt to convince FX to bring the show back for another season and maybe give it a better name to let non-viewers know it was not, as the title would suggest, a show about dogs. I'm going to politely ask the people in charge of this to halt their efforts and just the show go.

Look, I know it doesn't seem fair when shows that try something new get cancelled while programs like Skating With The Stars and Wife Swap keep getting renewed. However, starting a campaign with a core principle of "Everyone who didn't watch just didn't get it!" is not going to help your cause. In fact, it is most likely going to push people the other way. There is something extremely grating about the people who honestly believe that if you don't like the same things as them then there must be something wrong you. For example, I'm sure that Undeclared was a fine show. Since I am a fan of just about everyone who worked on it, it would stand to reason that had I seen it the first time around I might have liked it. The problem is that in the years since it was cancelled so many people have gotten up in my face about how brilliant it was and how stupid the people who didn't watch it must be that I now hate that show with the fire of a thousand suns. (Same goes for Freaks & Geeks.)

Let's be honest with each other - if a show like Heroes, which had a serious and devoted fanbase, couldn't be saved through the power of the Internet, then a show watched by half a million people doesn't have a chance if it tries going the same route. Instead, here's my advice to Terrier fans if they really want the show back: buy several copies of the first season on DVD. No one at FX is going to pay attention to some fan sight, but they will pay attention if DVD sales are very high. Then start handing them out to friends and family for birthdays or other gift-giving events and try to get more people hooked that way. If enough people show interest then some other network will start to air the show on reruns. Start a grassroots campaign that way. It worked to get Family Guy back on the air, which is the only show I can think of that was successful brought back after being cancelled. If not the only other thing you can do is wait for ten years and hope the Sundance channel picks it up, because they have become the channel where cancelled shows get new life.