On Hiatus

Note: This was obviously written a long time ago, but - sadly - the central complaint is still valid, even if the particular show is long gone.

"On hiatus." It's Latin for "the programming director is an idiot."

How else do you explain the number of times a show gets bought, produced, promoted and then cancelled the day after it first airs? Genre shows are most vulnerable to this phenomenon and All Souls is looking like the latest victim. While I can't defend the show itself as great art, having seen the first episode, I can say that it really didn't look that bad. Certainly not as bad as some shows that shall remain nameless, but which seem unwilling to just go away.

I love it when they blame these things on low ratings. All Souls is a horror/fantasy show, effective counter-programming against the Must Flee sitcoms on the major networks. Unfortunately, most people who aren't impressed with either the sit or the com have already discovered Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. And the people who haven't are watching James Cameron's ode to the T & the A, Dark Angel. So tell me again why All Souls was scheduled on Tuesday nights?

The show might have had a chance if it had premiered in March, while the other shows were still in reruns, but instead, it debuts the same night as the first new Buffy, Angel and Dark Angel in over a month. The only reason I watched it was that they pre-empted the WB for baseball.

Then, there's this whole strategy of only showing a couple of episodes before deciding to replace the series with some dumb reality programming. Have you people not learned the lesson of Star Trek? Higher ratings may win you points now, but I have trouble believing that can compare with the millions of merchandising bucks that a low-rated cult fave can generate.

There are Survivor mugs, but Buffy has been slapped on calendars, t-shirts, key chains, soundtracks, and trading cards, and she's just getting started. Highlander is generating all kinds of money by selling knock offs of the swords used on the show. Hercules? Xena? The X-Files? Any of these ring bells?

(Sneer all you want. I'd rather be counted as a fan-geek than be part of the target demographic for Chains of Love.)

The problem is that cult shows are acquired tastes. They aren't overnight ratings winners; they happen over time. Meaning you have to air more than three episodes! Network execs whine about viewer loyalty dribbling away to cable and the internet, but if the audience knows that a show isn't going to be around for more than a month, it makes sense that they'll decide it's not worth their time to sample it, risk liking it, only to have it disappear "on hiatus."