In this TV landscape, we often bounce back quicker than we probably should. We’re, after all, used to disappointment. Good shows come and go. We fall in love with characters, and then we lose them. That’s the name of the game. In a way, fans have kind of started to approach new TV seasons with a certain level of cynicism. Don’t get attached, at least not too attached. You never know what you’re going to lose.
This has gotten bad enough that I know plenty of people who won’t even watch new shows unless they’re a few seasons in. What’s even the point of investing in anything new? The problem, of course, is that with fewer people watching new shows, that means fewer new shows are making it out of the first two seasons. It’s a vicious cycle we’re stuck on, one Hollywood doesn’t seem to want to recognize.
And yet, procedurals, particularly ones belonging to long-running franchises were supposed to be the one thing we could count on NCIS: Hawai’i, for example, was supposed to be safe. We could invest there because that wasn’t going to get canceled. It was CBS! NCIS! And yet, here we are, a couple of weeks after the news that the show – the first with a female lead, the first with an LGBTQ+ main ship, would also be the first to end after three seasons, and it all still feels incredibly unfair.
There are fan petitions. There’s been an outcry. And yet CBS remains steadfast in the face of all of it. Instead, we keep hearing about “tough decisions” and a “packed schedule” going into next season. We keep being fed the notion that nothing else could be done. That this was inevitable. That the math just wasn’t mathing. As if we can’t see the ratings. As if we can’t put two and two together and understand that the network basically chose NCIS: Origins over NCIS: Hawai’i.
And the problem isn’t even the choice, truly. NCIS: Origins might turn out to be a fun show, even though right now it’s hard to imagine what exactly is that interesting about a character we’ve already known for 20 years, one that won’t even be played by Mark Harmon. The problem is that networks use shows like NCIS: Hawai’i as proof that they’re moving forward when it comes to representation, then cancel them as soon as those shows can be replaced by a simpler, whiter version.
It’s hard to “get over” that. It’s hard to move on and enjoy the alternative when you understand what you could have had. What you lost. No, what you were robbed of. It’s hard to say goodbye. At some point, we might have to. But right now, we’re just going to hold on for a little longer.