So by now everyone has been elated and deflated by the
return of Arrested Development. At
some point I’m going to jot down my ideas on the whole thing, but that’s going
to have to wait until I’ve finished watching.
But of course, being the positive guy that I am, I’m not
going to dwell how Arrested Development misfired. No, I’m going to turn my attention to other shows that
Netflix could possibly bring back from the dead.
Terriers
Years Dead: 3
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
I’ve written about Terriers before. I bought the complete season from
itunes and still count it as one of my best purchases. I got Ma Serpico to watch it and she
loved it. I got my cousin Sue
Serpico to watch it and she loved it.
If you watched it you’d love it too.
Basically Terriers is about love, loyalty, friendship and
gentrification. It’s a brilliant
show that FX cancelled way too soon.
It makes me sad just thinking about it.
I could see Terriers making a return. First off, Terriers was one of the
shows that came up in the aftermath of the Veronica Mars Kickstarter. And it’s got a decent fanbase, it could
happen.
That said, Donal Logue is steadily working. He’s in Vikings and Copper, which means
that he’s in demand. Also, his
partner Michael Raymond-James is in Once Upon A Time, and a network gig means
less time in his schedule for a reunion.
Ugh.
Thief
Years Dead: 7
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Thief was another show on FX. It had a few things going against it. First off, it had a Black lead and a
pretty much non-white cast.
Secondly it was filmed in Louisiana, post Katrina. Instead of being a full series it was
billed as a miniseries.
I really believe that Thief could come back. Yes, there was a great deal of closure
in the finale of the miniseries, but they could follow it up. Sure Mae Whitman is on Parenthood and
Andre Braugher will be on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but I’m sure they’d come back for
this.
Think about it, Nick comes out of retirement for one last
score. Or maybe he’s blackmailed
into it. I’d really like to see it
happen.
Lucky
Years Dead: 10
Degree of Difficulty: High
Lucky was one of shows that FX floated out in the second
wave after the success of The Shield.
It was a dark comedy that was pretty much unlike anything on the air at
the time. It never found it’s
audience and was cancelled. It
didn’t help that John Corbett was just coming off of My Big Fat Greek Wedding
and Lucky was tonally completely different.
Of course it’s return is a pretty much a pipe dream. While the star of Lucky, Corbett seems
to perennially be in search of a steady gig, two of his costars have found
success in recent years. Billy
Gardell has gone on and found success starring in Mike & Molly, while Craig
Robinson is the go to Black guy for white comedies.
I loved Lucky and still hope that it gets a DVD
release. And who knows, maybe
Lucky will return in some way.
Rubicon
Years Dead: 3
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rubicon was AMC’s third original show, after Mad Men and
Breaking Bad. It also mined some
of the same territory as the insanely popular Homeland did (with good reason;
the brilliant and recently departed Henry Bromell worked on both.) It was a slow burn of a show that never
attracted an audience.
But Rubicon could easily come back. The show focused on Will Travers, and
James Badge Dale has been playing supporting roles in movies lately, which
means he’s probably down to star on tv again. Virtually everyone else on the show could be replaced with
new characters, because of the nature of the show. Though I hope that Arliss Howard would be able to take a
break from True Blood to return as Kale Ingram, one of television’s most
fascinating characters.
I've written about Rubicon before and it’s inexplicable lack of a
DVD release. Since it’s only been three
years this show could easily make a return. Plus with the success of Homeland and recent NSA scandal,
Rubicon would be more topical than ever.
Huff
Years Dead: 9
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Craig Huffstodt is probably my favorite television
psychiatrist (with Robert Hartley being my favorite psychologist and Jonathan
Katz being my favorite psychotherapist) but unfortunately this Showtime show
was cancelled after two seasons.
Huff was about Craig and his family. It was an excellently written family
drama that won some awards. It was
such a great show that really showed the effects of mental illness. Oh well.
Huff could return.
Hank Azaria seems to always be free. Paget Brewster is free. Anton Yelchin might be difficult to get now that he’s a
star, but he might be able to show up for a few episodes.
Those are the shows that I’d like to see brought back by
Netflix. And honestly they’re not
going to be resurrected by Netflix because their final (and sometimes sole)
season never made it DVD, the sales of which are a huge signifier of a shows
audience. But at least, y’know, I
put it out there.
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