NBC Cancellations

Just read that NBC has canceled Lipstick Jungle, which never interested me enough to watch since I’m not into the soap-type genre. They also canceled the Christian Slater series My Own Worst Enemy which I found compelling with a new twist on the spy genre.

Sure, the new twist was a bit unrealistic, but the stories, characters, and acting allowed the viewer to suspend disbelief and hang on for the ride.

I think the reason it failed to attract an audience was not so much the unrealistic factor as it was that it may have made people uncomfortable.

Uneasy or Unwilling to Think

Let me see if I can explain. It made viewers have to think about moral concepts i.e. is a man cheating on his wife if his alter ego personality is having random sexual encounters? Is the average Joe personality still moral if his alter ego is killing people without qualms?

In book writing, we call that developing the conflict, an element essential to a page-turning reading experience.

Christian Slater was superb and showed his acting chops. In the photo above, he’s Edward, the cold, calculating, amoral spy. His demeanor, his posture, everything about him was different from when he was Henry, the nice guy with a wife and kids that he adored.

I’m sorry to see the show and Mr. Slater depart.

Takeaway Truth

It seems as if anything original that requires thought is less successful than the SOS programming execs churn out like so much shark chum.

Tags: christian slater, my own worst enemy, spy show, television series, writing conflict