Although I posted yesterday about why I’m worried by what the Veronica Mars Kickstarter means for the future of film and television (in particular, the continued destruction of independent media as the conglomerates continue to move into the independent space), that doesn’t mean I don’t have my secret list of shows that I would like to see come back via crowdfunded campaign.
Does this make me a hypocrite? Maybe. I still think that some of my issues could be resolved with, at a minimum, greater transparency about the process, although like every other Kickstarter project ever, successful funding does not guarantee the funders anything, regardless of what was actually promised. I also think that some of these projects could be better served (read: treated as truly independent) if the studios were willing to license the content (i.e. licensing the characters/story/names/etc. back to the creators to allow them to make whatever they want) rather than, essentially, taking our money in directly.
But this post isn’t supposed to be about those fears – this one is supposed to be about shows that should come back and have some sort of resolution.
A note about the list – I am purposely leaving off shows that already have a second life (Arrested Development, Firefly/Serenity), are still on the air (Community), or have already been mentioned elsewhere by their creators, even offhand (Terriers, Pushing Daisies). I am also not considering shows that were brilliant in their time but could never be replicated now because of the time difference/age of the cast who were so central to the success of the show (My So-Called Life, Freaks & Geeks, Jack & Bobby). Also, these shows are not necessarily shows that would succeed at such a campaign (their creators likely don’t have the cache to pull in the kind of money necessary), but still.
So now, a few choice selections:
1. Defying Gravity (ABC, 2009)
Did you watch Defying Gravity? Of course you didn’t. Almost nobody did. Picked up by ABC as a summer series, it was never given a chance to succeed, which is too bad, because it was brilliant. Take the soap of early (i.e. good) Grey’s Anatomy, the thematic flashback narrative structure of Lost, and set it in a future where we’re traveling across the solar system, and you’ve got a very rough idea of what this show did. Add in a terrific cast (led by Ron Livingston and Laura Harris) and an excellent writing staff, and you’ve got a show that would have done 5 terrific seasons on Syfy. Instead, they aired about 7 of 13 on ABC in August and then pulled it.
2. Better Off Ted (ABC, 2009-2010)
You probably haven’t seen it, but Better Off Ted was the best-written comedy for the two years it was on the air. It also provided the most biting social commentary this side of South Park in the past decade (read this excellent post that I didn’t write on the racial sensitivity episode for a good example of what they managed to pull of). It was well-cast, incredibly well-written, and somehow managed to be supremely goofy and make you think at the same time.
Go watch the two seasons (they’re streaming on Netflix) right now. I’ll wait.
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Okay, now tell me that this show doesn’t deserve another shot. You can’t, can you? That’s what I thought.
3. Kitchen Confidential (FOX, 2005)
Here’s what made this show awesome:
Based on the book by Anthony Bourdain.
It starred Bradley Cooper.
It co-starred (among others) John Cho, John Francis Daley, Jamie King, and Frank Langella.
It was about chefs.
It was very funny.
Not that Bradley Cooper would be available to do it (or John Cho, or Frank Langella, probably), but you could probably make this movie today with this cast and you’d be able to get a LOT of people to see it.
4. The Middleman (ABC Family, 2010)
An ABC Family show? Really? Yes really. Written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach (who was on Lost, among other shows), The Middleman was a sort of pop-culture-y Men In Black with a cute girl at the center. It was incredibly smart, well-written, and very funny. There were two problems:
1. ABC Family didn’t have the budget to make this show work completely (the effects, which are supposed to be cheesy anyway, looked a little too cheesy at times because of the budget).
2. It really didn’t fit in with what ABC Family was trying to do, which was become the next WB.
Although I stated up top that I don’t know that any of these shows have enough cultural capital to turn in a successful campaign, Grillo-Marxuach certainly has his fans, and The Middleman also is based on an indie comic (which Grill-Marxuach created when nobody would make the show, years earlier, before turning it back into a TV show), so… maybe.
9999. Work It (ABC, 2012)
Ahem.
