The answer is because it hates me and is somehow trying to send subliminal messages to get my ass off the couch and go outside and experience …. Nature … or something to that effect; haha silly Universe, in the age of Hulu, Youtube, Netflix, and a arsenal of free streaming TV websites I shall never go outside again! Today, I learned the epic crime drama series Southland – staring the vivacious Regina King and the incredibly studly Benjamin McKenzie – got canned. I have barely gotten over the trauma of learning “No Ordinary Family” got the axe as well as the less than popular comic book hero, the Cape – incidentally the final episode of the show didn’t even appear in syndication and the few and unfortunate fans of the show had to watch it online. My question is why? In an age, where the consumer is faced with numerous choices of what to watch, how is that trite and trivial shows staring coke-addicted meth heads – cough cough 2 and a half men cough cough – are able to survive for 8 seasons, while smart, intelligent shows with gripping characters are not even able to bust out one season – some don’t even make it past the 4^th episode.

There are a few consistent patterns that I have noticed with cancelled TV shows. In general, if your television shows happens to deal with aliens, super heroes, mutant powers, magic, witches, science fiction, or alternate universes you have a greater chance of being cancelled than your non sci-fi fantasy counterparts. Along the same line, if you your show is written and created by Joss Whedon it will probably be one of the most original and amazing shows you have ever seen … but regrettably your show won’t make it past the first season.  If you’re show has too many characters; individuals need to be invested in the characters and be able to relate to them. If you have too many characters with disjointed storylines, audiences might not care about them … and if they don’t care, then they won’t watch.

Are we lazy? It’s comical to refer to someone’s TV-watching behavior as lazy, but perhaps that is what it is. Do we not have the attention span to stay engaged in an hour long drama?  Do we instead gravitate toward a 20 minute sitcom, whose self-contained plots and storylines are primarily filled with comedic one-liners? We, as audience members, don’t necessarily need to know anything about the characters to appreciate the show nor do I need to watch the show with such a critical eye, like you have to do sometimes with dramas, to identity plot twists and the like. Perhaps people do not want to make the time and energy investment required to get into a drama. But dear god people, I can only watch so many TV sitcoms whose premise involves an unattractive guy, working a dead-end job, who is somehow married to a ridiculously beautiful woman, and the two of them have a litter of obnoxious and irresponsible children and a gaggle of irritating relatives that periodically show up. All this boils down to one question really; did everyone in fact love Ray, or did they merely tolerate him or at best mildly like him.