headphones are on

Originally posted in 2011

I’ve had a strict boycott against NBC since 2007, when the network canceled one of my favorite all time series, The Black Donnellys.  I only allowed myself to watch ER, and when that series finale aired in 2009, I kicked NBC to the curb and refused to watch anything new.

Why? Because NBC cancels well written, well acted shows and leaves its viewers with crap such as Celebrity Apprentice  and The Marriage Ref.  I know, I know, hits such as The Office and Parenthood are on the schedule, along with a few promising shows for the fall.  So perhaps the tides are turning over at the peacock channel, but I still hold a grudge for 3 specific reasons.

1) Freaks and Geeks – Another one of my all time faves, this quirky high school comedy-drama set in the 1980s aired during the 1999-2000 season.

NBC canceled the show after only 12 episodes, and aired the next 3 after fan campaign persuaded the execs, never airing the final episodes. Many have compared the show to My So-Called Life, for its insight into the high school experience, and the depth of the adult characters in the show.  Much like MSCL, it focused on a female student, Lindsay Weir, and her struggles to find her own place in high school, ability to relate to her family, and discover her true self.  Her parents and guidance counselor are also given significant screen time, also like MSCL.  Lindsay is sort of counter-balanced by her younger brother Sam, a freshman who is also trying to make his way through high school and figure out who he is.

Throw in a future all-star cast of the “Freaks,”including James Franco, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen, along with producer Judd Apatow, and you’ve got yourself the perfect TV show.

Apparently however, NBC doesn’t know a good sleeper hit when it sees one.  So it ONLY averaged 6.77 million viewed per episode.  Given another season, or at least the dignity of having its first and only season aired in full, I believe it would’ve attracted more viewers than expected.

Or, if NBC hadn’t decided to air the first three, critically acclaimed, episodes in the one of the worst time slots on television – Saturday nights at 8 pm.  Then pulling the show completely.  And then putting it back on air TWO MONTHS LATER on Monday nights at 8 pm, perhaps they would’ve done better for themselves in the ratings category.

My So-Called Life ended for a variety of reasons, mainly because the genre was several years ahead of its time, but NBC doesn’t have that excuse here.  In my eyes, it was a lack of faith, knowing what’s good, poor time slots, and hardly any marketing to promote its move to Monday night.

Fox Family (now ABC Family, another notorious cancel-happy station) picked up the show in syndication the fall of 2000, and aired all of the episodes, including Episode 4, which had been deemed inappropriate by NBC, and was added to the complete DVD series later.

Save the excuses NBC, that was your first strike.

2) American Dreams – A period drama years before Mad Men ever hit the screen, it was what television was, and is still, missing: a show that drew in multiple generations, the whole family, something that connected the older and younger audiences.  The first season premiered on Sunday nights at 8 pm, in 2002.

Starring Brittany Snow as Meg Pryor, the show is set in Philadelphia, during the 1960s, revolving around the Pryor family and Meg’s dancing gig on American Bandstand.

Produced in such a way to combine original Bandstand footage with present day artists, American Dreams had numerous guest appearances by singers and actors.   The long list includes Michelle Branch as Lesley Gore, Third Eye Blind as The Kinks, Hilary and Haylie Duff as The Shangri-Las, Kelly Clarkson as Brenda Lee, and Chris Isaak as Roy Orbison, to name just a few.  Each guest star took on the role of a musician or band that actually performed on American Bandstand, recreating the performance, which was combined with the original performance footage to create an authentic scene.

The show follows the Pryor family from the years 1963-1966, hitting on political events, such as JFK’s assassination, to women’s rights, to civil rights.  While there is some inaccuracy to the historical time line of the show, which I  think happens in all period television shows, it was an engaging, intellectually stimulating, and entertaining show.

So of course, NBC had to sentence it to a long, drawn out death.

Season 3 premiered in the fall of 2004 with little marketing, in fact I distinctly remember missing the first episode because it was not published broadly.  By early 2005, it was clear American Dreams had become the cast off child of the network.  Again with little marketing, the show’s time slot was mysteriously changed to Wednesdays at 8 pm, for the last 3-4 episodes of the season, and ultimately, the show.

NBC ordered two finale endings, having not made the “official” cancellation yet, one of which was a 12-minute epilogue set 3 years in the future, tying up loose plot lines.  NBC chose NOT to air that epilogue, and two months later, canceled the series.

According to rumor, NBC was going to air the epilogue after a rerun of the final episode, but couldn’t attract enough sponsorship to cover the huge royalty fees, due to songs used.

Strike 2, NBC.  You pull the show, but cannot somehow find the funds to air a 12 minute epilogue to appease the series’ dedicated fans?

Currently, Season 1 is the only season on DVD, leaving fans waiting for Seasons 2 and 3, along with the long sought after epilogue.

3) The Black Donnellys – At the time that The Black Donnellys aired in 2007, I was already deep into my NBC boycott.

Never one to turn down a good organized crime/Irish/NYC drama, I found myself quickly sucked into the first episode of the Hell’s Kitchen world created by its writers.

The show revolves around The Donnellys, a hard knocks Irish family living in a slowly changing TV version of Hell’s Kitchen, on Manhattan’s West Side.  Jimmy, the oldest brother, heavily dabbles in drugs, has a long wrap sheet, and is the owner of The Firecracker, a neighborhood bar in which he runs numbers and hides illegal firearms.

Tommy Donnelly, second oldest, is the sensible one, an art student at a college perceived to be in the NYU area.  He has spent his life trying to keep his brothers out of trouble with the law, while he himself is highly skilled in boosting cars and working himself out of precarious situations.

Kevin Donnelly, the second youngest, is blindly loyal to the family, easy to manipulate, but when it comes down to it, can do what needs to be done.  He’s got great one-liners, but isn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch.  I would’ve liked to see Kevin develop a romantic relationship on the show, it would’ve been hilarious and kind of cute.

Sean Donnelly, the youngest, is bait to women of all ages, out of high school probably 2 years, and is typically kept out of serious family business.

Along with Jenny Riley, a neighborhood girl who Tommy has loved his whole life, and their mother Helen Donnelly, the boys have to find a way to get revenge for their father’s death years earlier, deal with the head of the Irish Mafia, and with “the Italians” downtown.

In what I believe to be an incredibly well written and witty script, The Donnellys come to life as well-rounded characters, in a gritty neighborhood, trying to stay alive.

But oh, NBC, hater of all good things, comes along again to take down another excellent series.

Firstly, it aired the show Monday nights at 10 pm – I firmly believe that any show that is dramatic, makes you think, and has a dark edge, should not be aired after 9 pm.

On April 2nd, 2007, 7 episodes into a 13 episode season, NBC announced it would be pulled after the 9th episode, and just a few days later, was dropped totally from the lineup, never airing beyond the 7th episode.

Moving into a stream-only format – both on the website and iTunes – the final episodes aired, ending with a cliffhanger that once again left the viewers wanting more.

A critical mistake, I believe, was not airing Episode 3.  Having been deemed (once again, as in Freaks and Geeks), inappropriate, this episode was only streamed online.  Citing heavy violence, the network put the episode on its website, and on iTunes.  Episode 3 however, is a critical piece to the season’s plot, which then had to be hastily explained in an opening voice over for episode 4.

Additionally, episode 3 was not all that more violent than any of  the other episodes, and clearly no exec at NBC actually watched the episode, because they would have realized that pulling it from the air was detrimental to the show’s future success.

To add insult to injury, The Real Wedding Crashers, was substituted into the time slot.  Really NBC? You couldn’t have aired the final 6 episodes? Perhaps viewership would’ve picked up, perhaps people without streaming capability were looking forward to seeing the rest of the season, perhaps you and your peacock self should take a hard look at who is making these canceling decisions!

The Real Wedding Crashers was itself canceled in May 2007, after only three episodes aired.   7 days later, The Black Donnellys was officially canceled.  As if we didn’t already know.  Ironically, NBC’s president was ousted that same month.

I ranted about this in 2008 to a top ranking NBC News producer, who hinted that there would again be major changes in NBC’s executive ranks.  In 2009, NBC’s president was replaced once more, and appeared the mass slaughtering of the network’s series would slow down.

I returned to NBC, hesitantly, to watch Harry’s Law, its first season premiering in January of this year.  Starring Kathy Bates, and ironically featuring Brittany Snow as a recurring cast member, its witty and well done.  Perhaps a sign that NBC is turning a long-awaited corner?