CBS Spanks "Monkey"

You ever have one of those days where you sit down and start to watch a tv show that you recorded and say to yourself...."I can't wait for next weeks episode!"? Only to have a little voice in the back of your head go NOT SO FAST!!?

This seems to be the TV season of my discontent! Things started off on a down note when FX Cancelled "Over There" and "Starved" after season one. Now "Starved" was an acquired taste..sorry for the bad pun. But, Over there was nothing short of brilliant. The only good thing was the fact that FX allowed those shows to finish their respective seasons.

Then we move our attention to FOX (Bastard Wasteland of Cancelled Shows) I was really starting to get into "The Inside". Great cast...sort of an x-files meets Silence of the Lambs thing going on. But, just when I was getting excited...Canned. But, Fox hooked me again a few months later with Killer Instinct. Again...fun cast, good writing/acting....canned after six (or seven) episodes.

Now we move on to another show that I was really excited about. The CBS drama "Love Monkey"




No sooner had I lent out my copy of the first three episodes to a friend who is a music junkie....CBS puts the show "on hiatus" meaning DEAD IS DEAD!

Why do the words critically acclaimed not translate into a chance to find its audience? Sure the numbers dropped from like 8.9 million viewers in week one down to 5.4 million in week three....still...over 5 million people were watching the show. Not every show can deliver the numbers that the lowest common denominator on TV "American idol" has. Don't get me wrong Idol has it's place on TV....14 year old girls need something to watch on a week night!

My question is who has a shorter attention span now? The American Public? or the networks themselves? I hate to see good television disappear from the lineup and be replaced with Reality TV...(god I think I threw up in my mouth saying that!) Amazing Race.....Dancing/Skating with the Stars (and can you really use the term Stars???) And now comes word that NBC will have it's own version of "Eurosong" (think American Idol where you have to come up with the song and the music...and perform it) which has been running on European TV for something like 40 years.

While we are on the subject....why is it that I have no problem watching a quality show on the BBC...then the US version comes out and it sucks! Think Coupling, The Office....(say what you want about the office being funny...the British version is ten times better.)

If it wasn't for a hand full of shows on TV now: 24, The Shield, Rescue Me, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, E-Ring. Along with the promise of a few new shows: The Unit, Thief, and one or two others....I think I may have switched over to BBC 4 by now!

All in all I think the canning of Love Monkey hurts the most since I had gotten a small group of friends hooked on it after episode one. But, the axe hasn't fallen for sure....I can only hope that CBS takes a good long look at their decision and if worst comes to worst just airs the final five episodes they ordered or, being the money hungry Whores they are, throws them out on DVD.

We shall see. For now all I can do is Bitch and moan and groan....and believe me I have...and will keep on Bitching!