Television: Is It the Journey or the Destination?
Published April 03, 2007
I’m a contemplator. I’m sorry, it’s just who I am. This past weekend I was contemplating The Black Donnellys. You won’t believe this whole thing now, but it’s true, I was thinking to myself that I have so little free time, should I be wasting it on a show, that, even though I like watching, clearly isn’t going to be around terribly long? Should I take the 45 minutes (thanks, TiVo!) out of my schedule every Monday night in order to watch a show that I just know will not be on TV this fall?
I can watch tons of shows that I’m completely ambivalent about every day. I can get moderately involved with the characters and want to see what happens to them, and know that the show will be around for a while and I’ll get the answers I want. What is more important though, the answers or wanting to ask the questions?
Ultimately, I decided to continue watching The Black Donnellys for however long it will be around. Happily, even if my doubts resurface about this particular program in the future, NBC announced on Monday that starting April 23, The Real Wedding Crashers will begin airing in the timeslot. Problem solved…
…and yet, the larger question remains: how good does a show have to be for one to continue watching it knowing that it won’t be around for long? If Lost had ended before you knew what was in the hatch, if Desperate Housewives had ended before you found out why Mary Alice killed herself, how would you have felt? And, what if you knew that you weren’t going to find out, that the network was going to rip the program away from you before revealing anything? Would the enjoyment at seeing what happens every week trump the desire for answers?
The question really is: what’s more important, the journey or the destination?
I wouldn’t necessarily answer this way in general, but in the case of television, the answer has to be the journey. It just has to be. It’s all television is, a journey. The Mary Alice story ended, so the next season there was a new journey on Housewives, Locke opened the hatch, and a whole new journey began on Lost. If Spooky had ever really figured out what was going on with the Cancer Man that show would’ve ended sooner (and more mercifully) than it did.
- Television: Is It the Journey or the Destination?
- Published: April 03, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Television
- Part of a feature: TV Raves And Rants
- Writer: Josh Lasser
- Josh Lasser's BC Writer page
- Josh Lasser's personal site
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i hate the fact that this show is leaving me.Its not like any other show like law and order Csi, Desperate housewives.. It pulls you in you connect with the characters in a personal way. I absolutely looove J. Tucker's work he's amazing. And if ask me the pilot for th Black DOn. was on of the BEST pilots it pulled you in just enough to make you come back for more. i've never had a show pull me in so quickly. I honestly think NBC sucks as a network i used to like the chennel but its jipped shows and put on stupid stupid reality shows. The Black DONs. wouldve done better on HBO or something, because it would be cooler with some grittynes. It may sound chessy but i feel like i know the characters i hope they give them another chance, goodbye my sweet sweet Tommy, Jimmy KEvinand Sean......
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hehe, you and me both. You pretty much summed up how I felt about The Black Donnellys. There are only a couple of shows that have caught my interest over the past several years, TBDs was one of them. I reluctantly started watching The Black Donnellys, then became interested and began watch it regularly ,then continued watching it knowing full well it wasn't coming back next fall. The show can't be expensive to produce, it would be a nice addition to the FX line of programming, but that will never happen. Execs like to bury their failed shows, so they can never come back on another network and prove them to be fools. Tis a shame.