Confirmation came this morning that Starz, as most assumed, was done with its commitment to Party Down after Friday’s season finale. Ratings were dismal and in little over a year, most of the original cast had been cannibalized by pilots. And when Adam Scott signed on for a lead role in NBC’s Parks & Recreation, there didn’t seem much point in hoping.
But now’s when the hardcore fans—which, in Party Down‘s case, has to be somewhere in the vicinity of only several thousand—will take to the internet, the street or even a sandwich chain, petitioning other networks to make a home for it.
Honesty time! These tactics annoy the hell out of me. Networks and studios are pretty much going to do whatever they do, regardless of how many frozen cocktail wieners a couple hundred die-hards send them in the mail. And when their plans happen to make the fans happy, others take this as proof positive that the industry will fork out millions to silent persistent whiners. That’s why we now live in a world where even the most predictably doomed and undeserving series seem to ignite a passionate fan base, who’ll literally lay out on the side of the street, pretending to be dead, in protest.
I love Party Down. I love it enough to, say, pay $20 to attend a cocktail party to raise money for a potential extension of the series—but only in a world where I thought that was remotely possible. Even if the show hadn’t been canceled, its third season would have been a Frankenstein version of the original, accidentally drowning viewers when all it wanted to do was make them laugh.
Despite her brief return and wedding on Friday’s finale, Jane Lynch is off enjoying the ubiquity of Glee. Ryan Hansen is one of the lucky few not being recast on NBC midseason rom-com Friends with Benefits. Scott, as mentioned, joined Rob Lowe as the new blood on Parks & Recreation. And even though she backed out of her commitment to CBS’s upcoming True Mad Love, Lizzy Caplan has clearly been keeping her options open.
Could the show continue with a few new cast members (like Megan Mullally in season two), sporadic guest appearances from old ones and cameos from the creators’ stable of comedy cronies? Yes, but I just don’t believe it could ever be as good. I initially came on board Party Down out of debt to co-creator Rob Thomas, who awesomely brought on so much of his Veronica Mars cast over with him.
But as it turns out, my blind allegiance wasn’t necessary. Party Down was unrelentingly funny. And as much as I’ll miss it, I think it’s best to leave well enough alone. Resuscitated series often do more harm than good to this fan’s heart. And if you don’t agree, download Dead Like Me‘s heart-punchingly bad direct-to-DVD continuation.
Tags: Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Lizzy Caplan, Party Down, Ryan Hansen, Starz