dear nbc...you suck!

I'm incredibly furious that NBC cancelled my new favorite television, Law and Order: Trial by Jury, so I wrote them an angry email:

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To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to register my sincere and deep disappointment that NBC did not sign on Law and Order: Trial by Jury for another season. I’ve been a long-standing fan of the NBC network and was very pleased to see this innovative, sophisticated and intelligent new Wolf spin-off grace the airwaves in March. I particularly appreciated that the show’s two main characters were women, accompanied by a varied and accomplished cast of supporting and guest stars. Most television shows—while purportedly presenting a “diverse” and/or “balanced” cast—are, in fact, still disturbingly skewed towards the masculine despite the supposed equality of our society.

I was hoping that Trial by Jury signaled an end to this trend. Looking at NBC’s 2005-2006 lineup, I see less and less that I would actually have any interest in watching; the network’s standards seems to have lowered considerably in the past few years, substituting more and more quality dramas and sitcoms, with rich, textured plots, well-developed characters, and narrative substance (Trial by Jury was one such show), with insipid drivel. On the one hand, I’ve noticed several more reality television shows crop up, much to my chagrin, since reality television is at best mildly entertaining (in a mindless sort of way), and at worst a carnivalesque freak show. On the other hand, the description for Inconceivable, the show NBC has chosen to replace Trail by Jury, reads like the back cover of badly written and ill-conceived porn.

Furthermore, while I cannot assert any real knowledge of company finances, I would imagine that a show with some chance of syndication (and the Law and Order shows have proved time and again that they are incredibly popular, especially in reruns) would be a far better investment than any reality show or drama that only caters to the lowest common denominator.

Overall, I’m very sorry to see that NBC is doing away with some of its more intelligent programming, such as Law and Order: Trial by Jury. I can only hope that this disturbing series of replacements does not become a trend. Many of the programming changes speak very poorly to NBC’s integrity as a network, and I doubt I am your only previously loyal viewer who would not hesitate to move on and find quality television elsewhere if this disappointing regression continues.

Sincerely,
ADV