Do you remember the day network dramas died? I sure do. It was May 23, 2010. That night, ABC aired a two hour finale to a series that ran six years. LOST fans were promised by the show’s creators that it would be okay, they knew where the show was going all along, “trust us”. Well, we did…and we shouldn’t have. The finale failed, many fans were stunned, and the trust between television networks and viewers was “lost” forever.
In an age where cable television has cornered the market with hour long dramas, the networks are more concerned about quantity rather than quality. The hubris of the people behind LOST became the final nail in the coffin of original thought provoking dramas to come. Any doubts? Okay, who’s watching NBC’s “The Event”? Keep in mind, NBC also ruined another great show (Heroes) the same way. How about “No Ordinary Family”? Let me remind you that same network killed another smart show (Flash Forward) in record time, and didn’t even try to wrap up loose ends for the 7 of us still watching. When ABC had original shows like Pushing Daisies or Eli Stone that underperformed, they were given a death sentence and banished the remaining episodes to summer.
BBC gives shows a 6 to 10 episode run per season and usually end them it after 2 or 3. The Office. Knowing Me, Knowing You. Life On Mars. Being Human. These shows worked because each episode was quality and none wore out their welcome. How funny that the networks have remade three of those and only one has succeeded.  
Hawaii 5-0, CSI, Law & Order: SVU, these shows are fast food and will do well because there’s a formula that will be followed every week. That’s fine, nothing wrong with that. But when I’m craving something more substantial, I’m ordering from AMC (gimme an order of Mad Men and Breaking Bad please, hold the Rubicon) , Showtime (Dexter please!), FX (Sons of Anarchy, Rescue Me, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia). If you eat at a place and get food poisoning once and the manager promises it won’t happen again and it does, do you tempt fate a third time? Probably not. i will finish what’s on my plate right now and hope it doesn’t make me sick (Supernatural, Fringe, etc), enjoy my value meals in the future (Human Target, Family Guy), but when it comes to something more, I’m heading to USA, AMC, FX, ETC.
I’m not a TV snob by any means, but when some of my favorite shows fall apart on a week by week basis, it becomes too frustrating to continue watching them. And why start what may be the best show of the year and have it dropped 2 episodes in because it didn’t deliver “Dancing With the Stars” type numbers…I’m talking to you “Lone Star”.
If you need me, I will be relishing the new season of Dexter, riding with the Sons of Anarchy, and running with AMC’s The Walking Dead on Halloween.  
Storm Curry