Exactly
So many untold stories. So many amazing journeys not taken. Friends whose friendships would only deepen and become rich as tested by the trials and tribulations of time.
It should not feel so painful to say good-bye to fictional characters on a television show. Yet the magic of television is how real it made them feel. We invited these characters into our lives once a week for 13 weeks and in that short amount of time, they became part of our family. Some of us live alone and our television friends are dear to us as we see them perhaps more frequently than our own friends and family. Then, for others, we have rich family lives, but we enjoyed sharing the viewing experience together with them once a week to watch these remarkably fun shows.
That is television. It is an invitation into a world where the characters feel real and which are created so that we care about them – cheering when they are happy and torn when they are sad. Thus, the abrupt cancellation of a TV series that captured our imaginations and found a place in our hearts feels akin to the loss of someone close to us. It is a virtual-death. No one actually died, but we still grieve for the loss. We may be able to record the shows for multiple viewings or buy DVD sets, but we will never see how these wonderful characters lives continued. What further stories and adventures did they embark upon? To not know how they went on to live their lives feels wrong.
The fact that the stories just ended without a proper good-bye makes it feel even more disorientating. Network executives rarely consider how difficult it is for attached-viewers to let go. We need an end to the story. We want to see a “happily ever after” moment. No one would buy books if they ended so abruptly. How dare television networks treat us (and those who make the shows) so shabbily?
But instead of ranting about the unfairness of television network decisions, let us remember the moments of joy and wonder that both TERRIERS and UNNATURAL HISTORY brought into our lives. They may not have had proper good-byes, but they did accomplish something much more valuable: they will be remembered. They will join the hallowed halls of television history as “brilliant but canceled.” They will be the shows that everyone talks about for years and decades to come. Their legacy will be that they were once great and will always be remembered as wonderful TV shows who died too soon.
Actually, I was a bit teary-eyed after reading this article. It's so true...sad...painful :(
