Network serial killings expose TV's dark side

PASADENA, Calif. -- The question, from a TV critic to Fox Entertainment president Peter Liguori, came in the form of a hurt accusation: ``After the way Fox handled `Reunion' last year, why should people watch `Vanished'? "

``Vanished" would be one of the new shows in Fox's upcoming fall lineup, a season-long mystery about a senator's missing wife. ``Reunion" was a new Fox series in 2005, a serial that was to follow a high school class through 20 years of life, leisurely unfolding at one year per episode. It was unceremoniously yanked, because of low ratings, after only nine episodes.

Its loyal viewers were incensed; some launched a petition to keep ``Reunion" on the air. And critics, who are gathered here this month for an annual television writers' conference, began to buzz anew about the dark side of serialized TV.

New shows are commonly axed if the ratings don't materialize; last year, ABC pulled the sitcom ``Emily's Reasons Why Not" after a single episode. But with serials, which ask viewers to make a long-term investment in an ongoing story, the chance for hurt feelings and lasting resentment seems much higher. And viewers have grumbled about other pitfalls of continuing dramas, such as the number of reruns of ``Lost" ABC interspersed with new episodes last year.

Liguori, here to promote the fall lineup, acknowledged viewers' anger about ``Reunion." He said Fox gave the show's producer an opportunity to do a wrap-up episode, but ``it was too daunting for him," given the complex concept.

Liguori also echoed other network executives who have talked about using other media -- such as the Internet and iTunes -- to bring closure to cancel ed shows.

``Be it online, be it other digital platforms, I think there is a way that we can . . . satisfy an audience," he said.

Audiences need coddling when a series airs, and Liguori said Fox is trying to incorporate the viewer's mindset into its programming decisions. The chance that viewers might mistrust serials, he said, is one reason why Fox has scheduled three serial dramas -- ``24," ``Prison Break," and ``Vanished" -- on Monday nights.

``An appointment night, an appointment location, that should pretty much hedge our bets," he said.

He also talked about Fox's commitment to running as many continuous episodes of a serial as possible, as the network did with ``24" last season and will do again when the series return s in January. Fox will also delay the season premiere of ``The O.C." until November, he said, in part to increase the number of consecutive new episodes.

``Our strategy has been, when on air, to go as continuously as possible, and it's paid dividends," he said.

Other networks are responding in similar ways. ABC recently announced that it will run episodes of ``Lost" in two continuous blocks: six straight episodes in the fall, then 16 more beginning in early February.

In part due to the success of shows like ``Lost," networks are loading their schedules with serials, despite the risks.

NBC has several new ongoing dramas in its lineup, including the supernatural show ``Heroes" and the high-school football series ``Friday Night Lights."

Speaking to TV writers last week, NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said his network, too, has had to contend with serials that didn't stick. When it came to the cancel ed crime drama ``Heist," he quipped, ``We wrote personal letters to the two viewers who were watching."

Still, he acknowledged that viewers' resentment is real.

``We don't like [ticking] off the customers," he said. ``And, by the way, I get the e-mails. I wake up in the morning and I get, `Dear Moron.' We know that takes a toll."

Joanna Weiss can be reached at weiss@globe.com