i wish i could muster up some shock. or surprise. but i can’t. i smelled that one from the moment it was announced. i was looking for emails to prove it - and found this.

ever read back over your own writing and shock yourself? i just did, so i’m going to post most of it here.

from: Simone
to : [redacted]
date: Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 7:20 AM
subject: Re: Dark Angel: wherein I rant, hopefully intelligently

fox man. fox sucks. (something my thesis calls the bad parent narrative by the way - they don’t nurture, bad scheduling, etc) they do seem to set all of their shows up to fail. looks at the wikipedia entries for firefly, wonderfalls, freaks and geeks, arrested development, family guy, dark angel. most recently they cancelled drive after two freaking episodes. why even bother? nino and i discussed, if you are a show creator (like drive’s minnear) and you are personally (or even not personally) aware of fox’s rep, why you would sign on with them? i guess if they are giving you money and no one else is, you suck it up and roll the dice, cause it’s better than no one ever seeing your show.

normally i try and defend network executives a little, or at least once in an argument about quality television. in that i resist the idea that they are money grubbing evil folk who would air the de-viriginzation of their sister for good ratings. mostly i seem them as business people, who want to air quality things, but in the end have to find a balance between money and quality. after all we’ve seen dawn ostroff fight for veronica mars. and kevin reilly (nbc’s recently ousted president) fight for the office, 30 rock and friday night lights. except for fox. they are in the first category all the way. i don’t defend fox.

makes me sad cause amy sherman palladino’s (gilmore girls creator) new show, with parker posey and micheal arden is on fox in the fall. and unless you are a) super cheap or b) a ratings barn buster you seem destined to be canceled.