For months, fellow Grifters and I endure tease and
torture that the fates of all other TNT television shows were decided, less our
beloved Leverage. Countless campaigns to
convince TNT to renew, even TELL the
outcome of their decision were launched...not only through social media, but
also via old-school phone calls, postcards and letters. Fans poured their
hearts out to the bottom-line: the advertisers. Still, time passed--to no
avail. Other TNT shows were renewed…and still no confirmation.
Americans endure all the politics of the US
elections, bleak financial situations from job losses and pay cuts, the
heartbreak of a superstorm that ravaged the northeastern
United States that leaves countless homeless and suffering, not to mention the
heinous act against children by a gunman. That
doesn’t take into account the worldwide situation and what people
endure on a daily basis. We all seek refuge--even for an hour. Fans of Leverage
are worldwide, and we all feel the same. Christmas holds for us the season
finale of our favorite show--with hopes of a sixth season.
Days before Christmas, TNT announced their bah-humbug
decision that Leverage is cancelled. This network chose to move time slots
day-to-day, hour-to-hour throughout the five seasons; and while viewing numbers
drifted up and down, the bottom-line dictated their decision…that millions of
faithful viewers are not enough for another season.
I was a fan of TNT. I adored The Closer, so much so
that I watched reruns incessantly. But what makes me SO angry about this
travesty, is not so much that TNT cancelled (and, yes, I hate
that), but that TNT advertised for MONTHS of the final episode of The
Closer. Commercials ran ad nauseam. But fans of Leverage are
dumped days before Christmas and the final episode--with no warning. I, for
one, don’t appreciate their disrespect as a loyal supporter.
Dean Devlin, John Rogers, and Chris Downey and all others involved in
this awesome show brought us 77 unforgettable, entertaining, creative, mentally
challenging, and fun episodes. Tim Hutton, Gina Bellman, Christian
Kane, Beth
Riesgraf and Aldis Hodge have given us memorable
characters that now live in our hearts and memories. The Leverage writers, directors, producers,
cast, crew and guests have done an exceptional job and we salute you. As a fan
of this great show, I thank you all.
The blowoff network, however, will not survive
my lineup.
I couldn't believe they waited until the last minute to cancel it. And then I forgot it was airing tonight. Thank goodness I happened to be on FB and saw you mention watching it so I was able to catch the midnight showing. I'm glad Dean and company had the gut feeling to go ahead and wrap things up. I teared up several times during the episode.
ReplyDeleteJocelyn, I'm glad you were able to catch it. It will never rank among my favorite episodes, I'm afraid. Right now, I don't ever want to even watch it (that episode) again. I'm not sure if the entire disturbing process just affected me so, or if it was the episode itself. I simply didn't like it--so much I'd call it the one episode I didn't like. I know other friends did like it...and maybe I'll change my mind in the future.
DeleteConsidering it from the perspective of a writer--I can't fathom the "why" of things they did. The majority of the 76 previous shows had so much more content. This one just felt like "shock and awe" to fans who could so easily be disappointed (and we assume the writers/producers, etc. didn't know about the cancellation at the time of production). It felt like salt in my wounded soul.
Life goes on...right? Thanks for the post! Hope you're doing well! When is your next film shooting? If I may be of service...holla!
Yeah, I agree, from a writing standpoint a lot of it didn't make sense. But most of the emotional beats worked for me (or maybe I was just extra sensitive knowing it was the end), so I was willing to roll with it. I'll miss the quirky crew though.
DeleteBrian and I don't have a project in the works right now. We're still discussing whether we think we're ready to dive into a feature or not. In the meantime, I'm working on what I hope will be the last major rewrite of my novel. :-)
Awesome! I completely understand about hoping it's the last major rewrite. Been thinking of revising a character in the one I've been trying to put to bed for the last couple of years. ha! Good luck and keep us posted!
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