State of the Show: Terriers

So this is where I would normally recap what I saw as the strengths and weaknesses of the series' latest season, then offer my thoughts on what direction I'd like to see the show take next season.

But "Terriers" was CANCELED! Therefore, NO MORE "TERRIERS!"

For what it's worth, I would have voted for more Done in One episodes concentrating on contained cases without an overarching storyline. I think this approach would have gotten the two leads together more and showcased their chemistry and banter, which is really the strength of the show. WAS the strength of the show. AAARGH!

OK, it's been a few weeks since the last episode, and I'm still dealing with the loss of the best new show of 2010. But I'm also trying to look at it with a little perspective. Really, nobody watched it, and it's as simple as that. Is it frustrating to see some of the junk that's passed off as programming nowadays that people actually do watch (including, come to think, a seemingly ever-increasing number of shows literally about people collecting junk)? It sure is. But FX is running itself as a business.

And before we rip on FX with too much intensity for letting this quality show die, we must remember that at least we got to see the whole run of the first season, and that's because the show was on FX, or at least on cable. When a network show gets rejected by the public to this extent, it's gone. We got a bunch of good episodes of a fine program.

Yeah, the marketing for the show may have been all wrong, the title may have done irreparable damage, etc. But viewers had many weeks of opportunities to sample "Terriers," and they did not. So what can we do? I think all I'm gonna do is look back fondly at the season we got and hope that the next time a show this good hits cable, it sticks around longer. Hey, I did my part on this one. America, you'd better step up next time (I'll let you know when that time arrives).