The Internet has done some wonderful things for this world. We can instantly find out the answer to any question. We have many different ways to waste time. We can keep in touch with long-lost friends.
However, Al Gore’s intricate system of tubes and wires has a downside. By this, I mean the hue and cry whenever a television show is canceled. Given that I went nuts online when Parks & Recreation was moved to a mid-season replacement for the 2010-11 season, I feel a little hyocritical. But it’s the angst from the lesser known shows that makes me wish Uncle Al had never finished his invention.
The example now is Party Down. If you aren’t familiar with the show, you have justified why it no longer exists. I have never seen the show myself, but am sure it’s a fine piece of entertainment. To tie an earlier fact together with this topic, one of the reasons the show no longer exists is because star Adam Scott left to join the Parks & Rec cast.
Kinda, sorta. He took the new job because the fate of Party Down was not determined yet, and he couldn’t afford to sit and wait. All these developments together have fans of his old show a little bummed out, enough to have a #savepartydown hash tag floating around Twitter. I can understand a little since losing a show you love can hurt. The thing I don’t like about how the Internet affects thing is related to one nugget of information I have not shared yet.
Party Down appeared on Starz. Yes, Starz. You know, the pay network that isn’t HBO or Showtime. This is like protesting the CW canning a show. People may have liked the show, but it wasn’t on a real network. You shouldn’t get that angry when the network of last-resort cancels your favorite show. It’s kind of an omen.
So what we have are the usual crew (some are friends) of people who think that any cult show on any non-mainstream channel is just awesome is getting totally screwed when it doesn’t become the world’s biggest hit. Maybe the show is awesome. Maybe it should have a new life somewhere. But the reality is that it ended up on a channel that not a lot of people have – a channel you have to pay extra for, no less – and not many people watched it.