shakespearemom

I don’t usually rant (okay, I don’t always rant), but my husband and I have found another show we really enjoy on television: “Kings.” And, just as with so many shows before, our chosen show isn’t going to make it. It’s already been moved to Saturdays, which is pretty much the kiss of death, after only four episodes, and in a few more it will be cut entirely.

I say it’s happened before. I happened to my sister and me when we were younger (remember “Wizards and Warriors,” sis?). It happened two seasons ago with an absolutely fabulous show called Journeyman, which lasted about eight weeks before dying. It happened to me last season with Crusoe, and I knew it would with that particular show. At least that meant I enjoyed every juicy minute of it before it went off. 

But this show has barely started. And my husband and I watch it riveted, forgetting to eat what’s on the tray in front of us, forgetting to work on anything (and I never watch television without something in my hand to do)… yet its ratings started out crappy and have slowly dwindled to nothing. 

I shouldn’t be bitter. Yet I scan the television listing every evening for something to watch, and except for Monday night, when my favorite show and my husband’s run up against each other, I get nothing. I don’t tend to gravitate towards shows about raising children (or raising them poorly), for my kids don’t scream and kick me and pee in the front yard. I am not deserted on a desert island, especially by choice. Yet shows like “Big Brother” can go on for seasons when they offer nothing, while shows I actually like don’t last a season.

Perhaps I’m out of touch. Perhaps great acting, riveting character study, and sweeping epic drama aren’t what sells. That certainly seems to be the case with “Kings.” My husband loves it for its political drama, I for its unique cross between a Shakespearean history play and epic biblical theatre. This, I’ve thought over the past few weeks, is what drama is supposed to be like.

Darn. I feel like that guy on the “Journeyman” website, who wrote in to plead: “Please, please bring back this show!” My husband wrote it, too, just to let off steam. But it won’t work. No one is listening to the hundreds of people who love a show. If millions don’t tune in, the show is gone.

If only I were Oprah, and with a little mention could get millions of people to tune in and save it. 

Maybe Sci-fi will pick it up. Then again, if they do, they’ll probably bring in aliens and make the whole thing cheesy. Too many of their shows end up looking like Power Rangers for my liking.

Darn.

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