Two major genre shows have just had back-to-back series finales, wrapping up years of storylines. I’m talking of course about Lost (on Sunday night) and 24 (just last night, pictured above). Which one was the more satisfying end?
Both focused more on emotional resolutions, with a healthy serving of climactic action on the side. Both featured beloved characters saying their final goodbyes. And both had plenty of life and death on display.
Lost’s finale was certainly the bigger ratings hit, with 13 million viewers and a 5.6 rating among the 18-49 demographic. 24 scored just 9.2 million viewers and a 2.8 rating.
Lost wrapped up its story with a long-planned ending that put a definitive cap on this big, mythological saga. 24 left room open for a big-screen film that’s already in the works. It’s a common writer’s adage that you “always leave them wanting more,” because that way they’re always left with positive feelings about what they saw.
The two finales are apples and oranges, but I’m curious… Which one did you like better? Or maybe a more pertinent question would be… which show will you miss more?
Ahead of its upfront presentations next week, Fox has announced five new series it has picked up for the Fall 2010 season, as well as two (somewhat unexpected) renewals: Lie to Me and Human Target. Neither of those shows are huge hits in the ratings, but Lie to Me has an A-list star, and Fox might be looking to Human Target to fill the “action hour” void that 24 is going to leave on the schedule.
The five new shows Fox ordered are:
- RideAlong – an hour-long police drama from creator Shawn Ryan about a cowboy-style cop and a female police chief who try to clean up the streets of Chicago.
- Midland – a drama about a con artist working in the oil industry. (Boy, that show practically writes itself, doesn’t it?)
- Keep Hope Alive – a single-camera comedy from creator Greg Garcia about a single parent.
- Traffic Light – another single-cam comedy centering on male relationships.
- Wilde Kingdom – a single-cam rom-com starring Will Arnett as a hedonistic Beverly Hills resident who falls in love with an environmentalist, charitable woman who hates his lifestyle and values.
It looks like with those last three, Fox is hoping to build an entire night of back-to-back live-action comedy as a companion to its entirely animated Sunday night of comedy.
In light of star Andy Whitfield’s diagnosis of cancer, Spartacus: Blood and Sand has gone on an indefinite hiatus. But Starz hopes to continue the series’ popularity by launching a six-part prequel series.
Whitfield will make a cameo appearance in the prequel, but the storyline is said to center on the rise of the House of Batiatus, aka John Hannah’s Batiatus and his wife, Lucy Lawless’ Lucretia. Other characters are expected to return as well, but a new major character will be introduced as the gladiator who was champion of the House of Batiatus before Spartacus. No title has been settled on yet for the prequel, which is set to start production this summer in New Zealand.
Starz is hopeful that Whitfield will be able to return to the show sooner than later, reporting that the actor is responding well to his treatments for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Until his return, Starz plans to continue expanding what it calls “the Spartacus franchise” in creative ways.
NBC, which is still in need of some hot properties after the drought of quality programming they’ve experienced in the wake of Lenogate, keeps snatching up new shows.
The latest is Chase, from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. NBC calls the show an “action procedural,” in which a team of U.S. Marshalls hunt down the most dangerous fugitives in the nation. The fast-paced drama stars Kelli Giddish as Marshall Annie Frost, a deputy from Texas who’s described as having a cowboy sensibility and a sharp mind.
The way NBC talks about it, Chase sounds like a show with the trappings of a procedural (a villian-of-the-week, with no ongoing storylines) paired with a jolt of action and adventure. If it lives up to its name, it could be a diversionary fun.
File this one under “in no way surprising, but still ‘Yay!’ worthy.”
J.J. Abrams, creator or co-creator of TV hits such as Lost, Alias, and Fringe, is about to unleash his next big hit. Undercovers has officially been given a greenlight for its first season on NBC — a network in serious need of the kind of mainstream/cult hit that Abrams is known for delivering.
Undercovers follows the adventures of a husband/wife spy duo, played by Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (above), who are pulled back into service after retiring, and is described as a lighthearted, romantic, action-thriller. It’s already drawn comparisons to the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith or Abrams’ own Alias, but Abrams promises that Undercovers only has surface similarities to either of those.
J.J. Abrams himself directed the pilot episode, which premieres this fall.
Lines such as “everyone’s favorite serial killer” would not have been uttered by the average person a few years ago. However, with the popularity that Dexter has reached, this tag line is well known all over the world. This has sparked a certain amount of interest in those who believe that there is a correlation between real life happenings and what is portrayed in TV shows.
Dexter is not a lone ranger in the recent trend of dark heroes on TV. We have Jack Bauer, who has gotten himself into every sort of tangle possible. We also have Dr. Gregory House, a “distinguished” doctor addicted to Vicodin. There are countless TV heroes today who, contrary to the traditional perception of heroes, cannot be labeled as good or bad. In fact, they fall in the various shades of gray that we encounter in our daily lives.
This is what people who have issues with the moral impact of TV are bringing up. These people, in spite of the fact that they are fictional, may have a way of impacting how the real person thinks and perceives things. But how real is that danger? Will a person act on his immoral tendencies because of what he sees on TV? Will the average guy go out and kill “bad” people because of watching Dexter? Will the clean guy try and get some Vicodin because House does?
Maybe. Maybe not. One thing I can say – these shows are darned good but I am not about to go out and kill all the scum I see on the streets every day.
Hit show 24 is coming back with a big bang.
The Emmy Award-winning series will have a special two-night, four-hour event to premiere its seventh season. This will happen on January 11 and 12. The fourth hour is a milestone as it will be show’s 150th episode.
Here we go again… fresh rumors of a Veronica Mars movie. But aha, now there seems to be real basis… and not, say, the speculation of bored fans.
Meet the hot new Knight Rider. Justin Bruening is one fine looking man, isn’t he? He’s now training for the show at the Ford Racing High Performance Driving School… but let me say that he’s already got our hearts racing.
24 used to be one of the biggest TV shows, with the fifth season winning 12 Emmy nominations. (It was eventually named best dramatic series.) But Season Six sucked. There’s no other way to say it. Aside from a really good four-hour premiere, it was mostly the same story, rehashed. Come on, how many times can anyone bomb CTU? (Or turn traitor, or attempts to assasinate the president…)? Forget the stupid side plots or even the references to family members under threat; if they’re not in the main story we don’t care about them. Put that time to addressing unanswered questions raised from previous storylines — like Nina Myers’ former employers.
We hope the next season of 24 is better (their official trailerlooks good) Or, as they say, their day is done.
