My Own Worst Enemy

I've been watching a lot of canceled shows here on Hulu, and as I wander through this TV graveyard, I think TV execs need to re-think how they evaluate a show's performance and potential. There's so much here that could have been great. I can't really say I have a solution, but just looking at the ratings numbers and saying, "Nope, the show's not cutting it -- cancel," just doesn't work. And if some network exec doesn't like a show for personal reasons, s/he can preempt it, move it around, do any number of things to *make* it fail. A prime example was the show "Freaks and Geeks". It was a great show, intelligent, funny, had an interested and dedicated fan base, and even got good ratings -- when anyone could find it on. But the president of the network, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, didn't "get it" (how could he?) He personally didn't like the show, and so moved it around, put it in bad time slots...and it failed. As one of the producers put it, "This show is the poster child for what's wrong with TV." But even when that doesn't happen, so much potential is lost. There are some great shows here -- Journeyman, John Doe, The Dresden Files -- that never got a chance. The system needs to be re-designed.