On Exits Graceful and Notso

EVERY ONCE IN a while a reporter calls and wants a quote and you start talking and you talk for a while if the subject's fun and you get off the phone and think, "Oh My God, what the hell did I say?"

And then you live in fear til it appears.

Luckily, Cassandra Szklarski, who I had a long, rambling and fun conversation with last Friday, has turned out a fun and thoughtful article about TV shows and how to know when to hang it up -- and the dangers of hanging on too long -- tied to the recent news that both Corner Gas and Air Farce are bowing out.

I am not only quoted accurately, she actually manages to squeeze out the juice...

When announcing the end to "Corner Gas," star and creator Brent Butt said he was largely motivated by a desire to end on a high note, even though the show regularly draws viewers and critical acclaim.

The alternative is to suffer the fate of a slew of once-glorious shows that have spiralled into creative mediocrity and worse, says blogger and TV writer Denis McGrath, who cites marathon series "Law and Order" and "ER" among the guilty.

"What I think is crazy is these stealth shows that nobody ever writes about and then run for years and years, like (the now cancelled) 'JAG', " says McGrath, who runs the TV website "Dead Things On Sticks."

"That show ran 12 years or something; it was completely under the radar, nobody wrote about it but it kept running and why did it keep running? Because millions of Americans watched it every week.... In the United States, there is so much money to be made from a successful television series that the impulse to carry it on even beyond where it might be good to retire it, that's a very strong thing."

McGrath says he's noticed a rhythm to drama series that is pretty much universal - in the first season, it finds its feet and in the second, the possibilities start to gel.

The real test is Season 3 and 4, when a show either takes off or starts to dip, he says.

McGrath cites the political serial "West Wing" as taking a dive in Season 4, while the doctor drama "House" found new life in Season 3.

In some cases, paradoxically, it's the short-lived series that burn bright in people's minds because there were only a few episodes, says McGrath.

Think "My So-Called Life", which only had 19 episodes, or the cult-following enjoyed by "The Prisoner," after just 17 episodes.

"I think one of the funniest sitcoms ever created was 'Fawlty Towers' and there's exactly 12 episodes and that's it, that's all they ever did," says McGrath. "There's something kind of seductive about that. You don't get rich that way, but boy, you make sure that everybody has in their head how great that show was."

The article, also with quotes from the insightful and encyclopaediaclly-knowledged Jaime Weiman of Macleans, is also available here.

Interestingly enough, one of the things Cassandra and I talked about was SNL -- here's the relevant bit from the article:

"Battlestar Galactica" has said this is its last season, while "Lost" promises to tie up all of its loose ends in 2010. By the time "ER" embarks on its last hurrah next season, it will have been on the air 15 years.

After such convoluted storylines, the pressure is on to make the wait worth it.

"You don't want to just dribble off the air, especially for something that's that long-running," says McGrath.

"One of these days, there's going to be the last season of 'Saturday Night Live.' And I hope that they bring on great people and they employ a ton of writers and they go out with a bang. Because boy, it would really suck if the last season of 'Saturday Night Live' was totally lame and nobody liked the cast and all the bands they put on sucked."

I point that out because, in the depths of my cold and after a busy weekend, I finally got around to watching SNL last night before going to bed early. And hola, it was funny. I mean, really funny. None of the usual, get through the show in twenty minutes with your finger on the FF...

What can you say about this character bit from Kristin Wiig?



And I think I may be developing a bit of a Tina Fey for new featured performer Casey Wilson, who did the five to one slot proud:



So, good timing on talking about SNL, I guess. The flak-pundit gods smile upon me. Do not forsake me, Keith Olberman.