Any devoted TV fan has probably experienced the heartbreak of seeing a beloved show get canceled. I myself have had my heart broken a time or two (or 12). I fell in love with Firefly, only to have it leave me after less than one season. Then Veronica Mars came along and ripped my heart out after three seasons, without even having the decency to give me a bit of closure. I've loved and lost more shows than I can count. (Actually, I can--and did -- count them. Total tally: 24 shows, not counting the ones I watched on DVD after they'd been canceled.) Chances are, if it got canceled, I watched it. Joan of Arcadia, Pushing Daisies, Friday Night Lights, Terriers, Party Down... the list goes on. Losing these beloved shows made me into a jaded TV fan with trust issues, unwilling to let anyone in for fear that they'd just leave me after two seasons.
Then, in 2009, everything changed. I met someone who tore down all the walls I'd built. From the moment we met, it was like Community saw right into my soul, and I knew we were meant to be. It whispered, "Let my love open the door to your heart," and I said yes. I didn't want to fall for this lovable group of ethnically diverse misfits, but I did.
Community was everything I didn't know I was looking for: clever writing, a brilliant cast, hilariously flawed characters, endless pop culture references, a kleptomaniac monkey, and so much more. Community taught me how to love again. It helped me open myself up to other shows that I'd been too scared to watch, like Fringe, Cougar Town, and Lone Star (okay, so they didn't all end well), and I'm so glad I did. If Community is my soul's First Mate, then Fringe is its Captain and Cougar Town its Skipper. (Is that a real position on a ship? As you can probably tell, my only nautical knowledge comes from Gilligan's Island.) What do all these shows have in common, aside from having captured my heart? I'll tell you: really bad ratings.
Struggling fourth-place network NBC benched Community for the upcoming midseason; Cougar Town (which actually does okay ratings-wise compared to Fringe and Community) was notably absent from ABC's January schedule; and Fringe... well, frankly it's a miracle we got a fourth season, and I'm not really expecting it to get renewed for a fifth. That's actually part of my creed: if a show reaches a fourth season before it gets canceled, it doesn't count as tragic. For example, The O.C. and Friday Night Lights both had four or more seasons, so, although I was sad to see them go, at least they lived long and full lives, unlike the myriad of other shows that were axed in the blossoming of their youths. As long as Fringe has time to give a strong and satisfying finale, I'd be okay with this being its final season. When it comes to Community and Cougar Town, however, I am determined to see them hit that four-season mark.
I really wish these two comedies were on the same network, because they'd be the perfect hour of comedy together. Community more or less fits in with NBC's Thursday night comedy lineup, but it isn't strong enough to lead off the night, and its sense of humor is more whimsical than the grounded, workplace-oriented humor of its fellow Thursday night comedies Parks & Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock. To consolidate ratings and budget, I propose that Community and Cougar Town merge to form one super-show. I mean, Abed already guest starred on Cougar Town, so the transition would be practically seamless. We could call it, "The Cul-de-Sac Community." (Note: the upside of this is that we can finally drop the name Cougar Town, which is so horribly inaccurate that they poke fun at it on the show every week.) Another possible title for this super-show could be, "Six and a Half Men Dancing with Teen Moms: SVU." It would be just as ill-fitting a title as Cougar Town, but it would do a lot more for the ratings.
As I'm sure you can imagine, it's disheartening to have such vagueness and uncertainty surrounding my two favorite comedies on TV. Both networks say the shows will be back on "eventually," but no return date has been given for either one. It's hard not to feel like this is a personal attack on me and the eight other people in the world who watch both Community and Cougar Town. It's like all the network heads met up one morning and said, "How can we devastate Lelia today? Oh, I know! Let's conspire to get her favorite shows off the air." Honestly, I expect this kind of cruelty from Fox, but not you, ABC. You're better than this. (NBC, you're not better than this, but I understand that you're desperate.)
You'd think I'd be used to disappointment by now... that after a while it wouldn't hurt as much to have my beloved shows ripped away from me. But it never gets easier. All I ask is that Cougar Town and Community each get a fourth season (or in Community's case, #sixseasonsandamovie), although they both deserve more. If there's one thing I've learned -- aside from that fact that nothing good ever happens once a show gets moved to Friday nights on Fox -- it's that you should never give up hope. There's always a chance that Netflix will swoop in and pick up 10 more episodes of a show after it's been off the air for five years. That's why my tombstone will read, "Here Lies Lelia, Still Waiting for a Veronica Mars Movie."
Follow Lelia Nebeker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PopCultureNexus
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"We're gonna get that show back on the air buddy"