My Jump the Shark post a couple days ago got me thinking about my favorite television shows over the years. My tastes are far enough out of the mainstream that a large portion of the shows I really enjoyed can't be found even on 300+ channel DirectTV. Still, bit by bit, some of them have become available on DVD. Last year, for example, I cycled through the episodes of The Prisoner, the cult classic, years ahead of its time, from 1968.
If there's one show I'd like to see come out on DVD (and I'd instantly put my money where my mouth is) it would be Action, the surreal comedy about the film industry starring Jay Mohr and Illeana Douglas. Irreverent and profane, it's easily the funniest thing I've ever seen on TV, but also was completely inappropriate for network prime time. I can't imagine what the executives at FOX were thinking; they should have left the show to HBO or some other premium channel, where it could nurture a mature audience in safety. Instead they cancelled what was arguably the best show on television after only 13 episodes (only 8 or so of which had even aired at the time, the others weren't seen until FX decided to do an encore presentation of the series). Meanwhile, laugh-track driven pablum like Friends clogs up the airwaves.
Comments