Some thoughts on cancellation

On the Season 2 DVD set, there's a pretty cool video interview with much of the show's cast and crew, including creator Knauf, plus HBO head Carolyn Strauss (who I believe defended HBO's cancellation, saying the show had reached a conclusion). Anyway, this event happened sometime in 2004, between seasons and a year before it got cancelled. But there's this incredibly prescient and almost sad moment that comes at the very end -- Knauf essentially says (paraphrasing here) that he's proud of the show and just hopes that some executive won't can it, likening such a decision to someone pulling a 1,500-page book out of your hands at page 500 or something. There's a little wink-wink-nudge to Strauss, who jokes about not being one of "those" people and then the event promptly ends.

Unfortunately, Knauf had perfect foresight and that's exactly what happened... now we're left with the first 1/3rd of an incredibly original, atmospheric, fascinating and visually sumptuous show, forced to fill in the rest in our minds. Extra sad is how the second half of Season 2 revealed new thrilling possibilities and showed that the slow-paced obscurity of much of Season 1 wasn't the only note the show could play. The last episode at least has a feeling of finality because it was intended as the end to the first "book" of two seasons, but there's of course cliffhangers with Sophie and etc. because that would have continued in the second "book"/third season. Goddamn, this is truly the show most undeserving of cancellation. What a shame. There's never been anything quite like this on television or in film, and although the ending feels "final" enough, it still absolutely feels like the end of a long chapter (or book) and not the end of everything.

"Your mental capacity isn't the only problem. You also have the sensibility of a cow on morphine."