Survival of Scripted Television

I may be in the minority, but I am not a fan of Reality Shows.  I am not into The Bachelor, American Idol, Big Brother, or any of the other shows that have been taking over Prime Time TV.  I would rather watch a scripted show that tells a great story, gives a good laugh, or evokes a few tears.

Over the last few years, I have seen many shows with great potential get cancelled before anyone even knew they were on TV.  For instance, did you see the new show on ABC called Romantically Challenged that starred Alyssa Milano?  If you blinked you might have missed it.  It premiered in April and was cancelled in May.  Four episodes aired.  Yes, just four episodes.  I think it had great potential, but we will never know.  I follow Alyssa Milano on Twitter and that's why I knew the show was on.  It's also how I found out it was cancelled.  Would you believe she heard of the cancellation through a TV Guide tweet?  WOW!  Perhaps ABC wanted to give us more Dancing With the (Fake) Stars (like Kate Gosselin).

Speaking of Kate Gosselin, why in the world do we keep paying attention to her?  Eh, I'm not even going to go there.

With the number of shows that were cancelled without a true ending over the last few years, I think I may want to just give up on new shows.  For instance, what ever happened to Tru Calling, The 4400, The Dead Zone, Moonlight,  The Ex List (another 4 episode run), Samantha Who?, and I am sure there are plenty that I can't even think of at the moment.

Why should I get invested in a new show, just to have the networks pull the plug too soon?

Glad to see some of my favorites return like Castle, Chuck, Bones, Supernatural Smallville, Big Bang Theory, Burn Notice...