Shame on you ABC!

In the fall of 2006, ABC's seductive marketing campaign led me to watch The Nine, 6 Degrees and Knights of Prosperity. The first two were gone after just a few episodes and Knights of Prosperity only lasted a few months. I enjoyed all three and was very angry that ABC would invest so much in trying to draw viewers in only to cast the shows aside the second the numbers dipped.

In the fall of 2007, sucker that I am, I fell for Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money. Thanks to the strike, ABC didn't have any other shows in the bag and thus were forced to lend continued to support to those three shows. However, this is 2008 and here comes the inevitable news (as per Entertainment Weekly) - ABC is cancelling all three and although the season orders are being completed, who knows if they will air. http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2008/11/breaking-abc-pa.html

Now my interest in Dirty Sexy Money has been waning but Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone have been just as enjoyable and adorable as when they started. Both have amazing casts, fun stories and have imaginative quirks which provide welcome relief from most of the formulaic shows the networks spew out. ABC may make more money by showing three hours of Dancing With the Stars every night of the week but I will never, ever understand who could give a flying fig whether a washed-up boy-bander can ballroom dance better than a retired athlete or an actress no one ever heard of. Is that really what we want to accept from television these days? Thank god some networks are willing to stand by their shows - can you imagine if HBO and NBC had given up on The Wire and 30 Rock that easily? Surely ABC can make enough money from Dancing With the Stars, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, even the excruciatingly awful Desperate Housewives to be able to stand behind a couple creative, interesting shows.

So in the Fall of 2008, ABC has sucessfully hooked me into watching Life on Mars which in many ways improves on the British version that I loved. For now, they have ordered a few additional episodes of this show but I am keeping my eye on you ABC. While I'll stick with Lost through its end in 2009, there's only so many times you can pull the rug out from under me before I won't fall for that trick any more.