In Memoriam (Anne Stuart)

The world suffered two great losses this week, and I ain't talking Jerry Falwell. In case no one noticed, television is my life, or a great part of it. It was my companion when I was young, it saved my life when I was eighteen and suicidal, it's always been there to feed my fantasies and take me to new places. It's almost as good as books.

The problem with television is that it's out of your control -- there are idiots in Hollywood and New York who did too much coke and haven't got a brain in their collective heads. With a book you always have it. With tv the creeps cancel things right and left.

One of my all time favorites was Cupid, a quirky hour long show with Jeremy Piven as either a real Cupid banished to earth or someone who was delusional. It was sexy, charming, funny, wonderful, and they cancelled it without even showing all the episodes!

Earlier this year it was The Nine. Obviously I like stories, so I happily started watching most of them, and The Nine had a great cast and a great premise. 9 hostages in a bank robbery, and over the course of the season we watched their emotional connections and slowly discovered what really happened during the 36 hours (or whatever) they were held hostage. Oooops, no. Cancelled after about 10 episodes. For all I know they could have had an orgy during that time.

Grrrr.

And now the axe has fallen on two of my favorites. Jericho was a fascinating post-apocalyptic mystery with flawed but believable characters, a disturbing premise, a thoroughly hot Skeet Ulrich, and supporting characters who were both annoying and wonderful. They even answered mysteries in a timely manner, like who Hawkins was and how he got there, and a nice little romance in the making with Heather. But now these poor people are stranded in their little town with the Armies of the Night bearing down on them, and we've abandoned them. Curse those network idiots!

And the world mourns Veronica Mars. Mind you, if they've really put Piz and Veronica together and Logan is in the shadows then it serves them right. (I tivo Veronica Mars for each segment between hiatuses. Hiati? And then watch them straight through, but I'm very wary of what's happening with Piz, who doesn't belong with Veronica. She's an angry, wounded soul, and so is Logan, and they're destined for each other. They'll finally be able to make each other whole. But we'll never know.)

Anyway, as I was saying. Veronica Mars was fast, funny, heartbreaking, romantic, tricky, touching, with fabulous characters, not just Veronica and Logan, but her father, Mac, Dick Casablancas, even poor Sheriff Lamb (who got killed off much too easily IMHO). This was great stuff, and instead we'll be getting hour long reality shows that are paeans to greed. Primetime Bingo, for heaven's sake? That's just wrong.

So I'm in mourning. I've still got Blood Ties and Heroes. And tonight and tomorrow night I'll get to see if Apolo Anton Ohno wins Dancing with the Stars (yeah, I know, I hate reality shows but Apolo is so gorgeous he makes speed-skating sexy).

But in the meantime, let's raise a glass for dear, departed friends.

And I don't mean Jerry Falwell.