I have a new rule when selecting TV shows. If it's been cancelled, chances are it's worth a look. Sure, there are some exceptions. Blade The Series and Daybreak were cancelled with good reason. Mildly entertaining both, but not enough to sustain ratings or even individual interest in some cases. Then we have a group of tragic cancellations that were seemingly unnecessary. Firefly, Kevin Hill, The Class, Six Degrees, Commander In Chief have given way while shows like 24 and Lost, entertaining as they are, may have already jumped the shark a while ago and are in desperate need of either a makeover of a wrapping up. Ratings become more important than quality and shows like Unan1mous and The Simple Life splurge all over our screens in their stead.
In the case of Tru Calling, a clever little show riffing on themes of time travel and fate, a satisfactory ending was never allowed to see the light of day and, in the wake of some story lines heating up to the boil, was canned near the beginning of it's second season.
As we meet Tru Davies, her friend and boss Davis, her screw-up brother Harrison and (in season 1) best friend Lindsay, we are settled into a comfortable structure whereby Tru is asked for help by dead bodies and relives the day in order to save them. By episode 11 of the first season, The Longest Day, the formulaic episode structure is shaken up as Tru relives a day multiple times until she gets it right and begins to ask whether or not what she's doing is right. From here on in it gets juicier as we are introduced to Jack, Tru's counterpart who exists to make sure she fails so that fate can take it's course. It's here that the writers begin to question Tru and her abilities raising doubts in her heroic but distinctly grey re-shaping of fate. Jack is certainly a hardened, callous soul, but can we call him evil, or is doing the right thing just harder? He even goes so far as to state several times that he hates his job, and we believe him. Episode 4 of season 2 notes a challenge for Jack that he almost doesn't come back from and if developed, Jack and his arc would have been fascinating, especially with the direction the writers have said that they were planning to go in.
Unlike shows like Ghost Whisperer, in which the same thing truly does happen every week, Tru Calling was becoming more and more interesting, but a premature cut off at episode 6 of season 2 saw the end of a perfectly good show that could have been great.
In the case of Tru Calling, a clever little show riffing on themes of time travel and fate, a satisfactory ending was never allowed to see the light of day and, in the wake of some story lines heating up to the boil, was canned near the beginning of it's second season.
As we meet Tru Davies, her friend and boss Davis, her screw-up brother Harrison and (in season 1) best friend Lindsay, we are settled into a comfortable structure whereby Tru is asked for help by dead bodies and relives the day in order to save them. By episode 11 of the first season, The Longest Day, the formulaic episode structure is shaken up as Tru relives a day multiple times until she gets it right and begins to ask whether or not what she's doing is right. From here on in it gets juicier as we are introduced to Jack, Tru's counterpart who exists to make sure she fails so that fate can take it's course. It's here that the writers begin to question Tru and her abilities raising doubts in her heroic but distinctly grey re-shaping of fate. Jack is certainly a hardened, callous soul, but can we call him evil, or is doing the right thing just harder? He even goes so far as to state several times that he hates his job, and we believe him. Episode 4 of season 2 notes a challenge for Jack that he almost doesn't come back from and if developed, Jack and his arc would have been fascinating, especially with the direction the writers have said that they were planning to go in.
Unlike shows like Ghost Whisperer, in which the same thing truly does happen every week, Tru Calling was becoming more and more interesting, but a premature cut off at episode 6 of season 2 saw the end of a perfectly good show that could have been great.