I just heard that Night ...
Question: I just heard that
Night Stalker is being canceled, and they are not going to be showing the second part of the two-parter. They are just giving it the ax. Yet crap like
Stacked and
Wife Swap are still on the air. What gives? Is the American viewing audience
really getting
that dumbed down that they watch crap, and shows like
Night Stalker and
Arrested Development are shut out?
Answer: 'Fraid so, but you'd have to be asleep not to have known that
Night Stalker succeeding in the long term was improbable to impossible, even if you were a fan (which I wasn't, not because of the concept but because of the casting and the show's ponderous-to-pretentious tone). I wasn't surprised
Night Stalker didn't make it, but I was annoyed for all the fans' sake that ABC yanked it in the middle of a two-parter. That's just wrong. Taking the long view, there will always be "crap" on the air, and there will always be people who would rather watch mindlessly grating swill (someone explain to me
The War at Home, for instance) than become engaged in more challenging and memorable sorts of shows. But the failure rate for junk is pretty high, too, although I agree that lately it doesn't seem high enough. As this week has shown all too painfully, it isn't easy to be a true TV fan.
[Editor's Note: If you missed Monday's column, you'll find it here.]
