I went back and forth on whether I’d live-blog the Emmys tonight, mainly because, after all, this is a TV blog.

But then I thought about it.

Where’s Battlestar Galactica? Kings? Did Jericho ever get any love?

Sure, critical darlings 30 Rock and The Office, though relatively low-rated (compared with the CSI juggernaut, anyway) get lots of Emmy love – as they well should. But most of the best shows on television rarely get any attention from the academy, unless they’re on HBO. And even there, The Wire never got recognition and it was, bar none, the best show on television during its run.

And if nothing else, this blog is about quality television (OK, and sometimes Charles in Charge, but I was young, sue me). And the Emmy broadcast itself is not quality television. How does the Oscar ceremony win a freakin’ Emmy every year? (Though I have to admit, choosing Intervention for Best Reality Series is a teensy bit redemptive.)

So tonight, I’ll be watching the Curb Your Enthusiasm season premiere and the series premiere of Bored to Death. We’ll probably catch up with the season premiere of Fringe, which I was waiting for my husband’s return to watch.

The Emmys? I’ll probably glance on Twitter every now and again. Or maybe I’ll just wait ’til morning.

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I’ve fallen rather behind both in my television viewing and in my blogging, so I thought I’d catch up with a few things today, seeing as I don’t have access to HBO this weekend and can’t watch True Blood until tomorrow, at the earliest.

First up: Reaper.

I did so love this show.

I’ve said about 8 gazillion times how perfectly cast Ray Wise was as Satan, so I’ll try to keep that to a minimum today.

But I absolutely am going to miss seeing him with those piercing blue eyes, impeccably combed hair and blinding white smile, making mischief in people’s lives now that Reaper‘s off the air.

Like most of the shows I watch these days, I caught up with most of Season 2 in marathon viewings on my DVR. Over three, maybe four nights, I watched the entire season and enjoyed it as much as ever.

Ben’s relationship with Nina the demon was terribly sweet, on both their parts. Satan’s other son Morgan was a lot more like dear old dad, but man did he have no work ethic. Whatever you might be able to say of Beelzebub, he sure does work for a living. And he does appreciate Sam’s ability and drive to get the job done. Which, of course, is ironic considering he’s been a slacker his entire life and works as a clerk in some nameless conglomerate.

And how could we forget Sock’s stint as Wrenchy Bench, culiminating in him beating the crap out of his rival, who turns out to be an old woman? Ah, good times.

The whole storyline of Sam’s dad being undead (yet not a zombie, dammit!) and living in a freezer in their garage was, admittedly, rather odd. And Sock’s storyline of lust and love with his stepsister was … OK, it was downright weird and justalittlebit icky, though I can’t truly say why.

The dead end of Sam being able to get out of hell when Satan recaptures the one soul who managed to get out of his deal with the devil, then Sam’s dad going to the 8th circle and then Gladys (wait, why the hell didn’t they use her a lot more this season? That chick is FUNNY.) helping to translate and the demon who managed to make his way back to heaven having mistranslated it and then breaking Sam’s hand so he can’t win his bet with the very vain Satan. Sorry, it made me a little dizzy. Those sorts of storyline are always a little troublesome, as they would spell the end of a series if they ever came true.

But the series came to an end anyhow, sadly, though the very last few minutes made me scratch my head and say out loud, “WTF?” Except that I didn’t use the initials. I said the three words.

When Steve’s wings come out and he ascends to heaven, but first bringing a whole angel light show, I really didn’t know what to think. Was that really how they wanted to end it? Did they have something in mind? WHAT WERE THEY DOING? WTF????

Still, sad to see the show go. I totally enjoyed it and laughed out loud at least a couple times each episode.

OK, then we have Kings:

I still get angry when I think about the show’s cancellation. It’s a fascinating look at power and what it takes to be in power and Ian McShane could read a phone book and I’d be enthralled (I know I’ve said that previously, but it’s still true).

It’s only gotten more interesting as it’s gone on. We know that the king and his queen aren’t quite the happy couple they appear to be. The royal brother-in-law is a bad guy, mostly, but not totally. The princess is one of those do-gooder types, but seems to truly have her heart in what she does. The prince is actually gay, but he can’t be if he wants to be king, which he does more than anything else on the entire planet it seems.

And then we have our David, who somehow, just somehow, always manages to make the right decision, even in the midst of making the wrong decision. His belief in what he does and says is so pervasive and overwhelming that no one can really disagree with him, even when they totally disagree with him.

He is also the one anointed, it seems, by God to follow in the king’s footsteps. A footsoldier who managed to work his way up to the highest office in the land. And why? Because of the butterflies.

OK, I’ll admit, the butterflies are a bit … weird. Except that they are also a metaphor for transformation.

So what might have happened if Kings had continued?

I can’t even imagine that it wouldn’t have continued to be utterly enthralling. See my comment about McShane, above. And all the characters have so many layers, that it could have been so many things to so many people: a period piece on the price of power, an allegory for David & Goliath, a nighttime soap. A little bit for everyone.

Instead, NBC canned it and is giving us 5 primetime hours a week of Jay Leno, 3 of one of the Law & Orders, 2 of The Biggest Loser and a fourth season of Heroes, which is TOTALLY past its prime.

Sigh. At least there’s still The Office and 30 Rock on Thursdays, but c’mon, NBC.

And then there’s Harper’s Island:

I put it on my “to watch” list solely on the pedigree: It came from the good folks who brought us Jericho, and that made me want to give it a chance.

You know what? It was a heckuva lot of fun, lots of thrills and chills and suspense. The music was great, the casting well-done (virtually all new folks, only a couple of faces I even recognized, including Harry Hamlin – who, by the way, has aged quite a lot since LA Law).

I’m not sure what they would have done had it been renewed; my understanding was that it might have been another locale with a different backstory, but then I’m not sure how it would have still been called Harper’s Island.

But various Jericho folks have shows on the fall schedule: Human Target, written by Jon Steinberg, and The Forgotten, starring my favorite deputy, Bob Stephenson. The Jericho team is far too talented to be left behind for long, and each new show they create will have a built-in audience to start. Not every showrunner can boast that.

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We never got around to watching Damages this year when it was actually on the air, but we dutifully recorded it to catch up with some time.

There, an entire season sat, taunting us.

I remembered that last year, with Season 1, we knew, somehow, that we were going to like the show, but just couldn’t get ourselves to hit “play” on the first episode.

We’re not big on the procedural in our house. Only the star power of the cast – Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson – and the fact that it was on FX made us take a second look.

About five minutes into the first episode, we were completely hooked.

Oddly enough, the same thing happened this season.

It ended weeks ago – April 1 – and we hadn’t started watching it until over the Memorial Day weekend. We’d exhausted most of the other shows and movies on the DVR that we watch together.

So we finally caved in and started watching Season 2 of Damages.

About 5 minutes into it, we were completely sucked in.

I’m not sure how they do it, but the writing, the acting, the lighting, the cinematography is stunning.

Glenn Close is a revelation; her character is mercurial and changes from happy and pleasant to angry and bitter at a moment’s notice. And both are believable. Rose Byrne has earned my respect as an actress.

And Ted Danson? I forgive you for the Three Men and a Baby movies, Ted.

The success of Damages on cable is bittersweet, though. It makes me realize that a fantastic show like Kings would probably have aired its entire run in consecutive weeks and have been renewed for a second season if it had been on FX rather than NBC. It makes no sense that the highest quality shows on TV today (OK, besides Lost) are all on Expanded Basic Cable, or whatever they’re calling it these days.

I’m reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace right now and in his descriptions/rants about the entertainment technology of the future, it reminds me too much of now.

The Big Four Networks running the show makes no sense. Once Lost & 24 are over next season, I’ll have little reason to stick to the major networks. OK, I think Fringe is going to keep me hooked for a couple of years.

But give me shows like Damages and Breaking Bad, short seasons, off the broadcast spectrum, and I’d be a happy TV camper.

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As it is with every year, a whole bunch of science fiction-y shows were canceled at the end of the season, but I have to give it to the networks for trying a bunch of new ones next year.

It was so hard to keep track of the comings and goings during the upfronts, but SciFi Wire thankfully charted it all in a very understandable fashion.

The clear winner, IMHO, is Fox.

Sure, Fox canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, better known as TSCC because it’s a lot freakin’ shorter. But it did keep Dollhouse around for at least another 13 episodes. (Side note: This comic is probably a bit too close to reality for comfort when it comes to how the decision was made.) I’m thinking that Fox didn’t feel like incurring the wrath of the Whedonverse again, whereas TSCC ended at a spot that could full well be the series’ end. (Not that I wouldn’t have loved to see where it would have picked up in the fall.)

Fox also kept Fringe, which is one of my favorite shows. So the net gets brownie points for that. It’s also picked up Human Target and Past Life, each for 13 episodes and for midseason.

Human Target is based on a D.C. comic book and focuses on a guy who goes undercover, basically, as his clients whose lives have been threatened. It was written by Jonathan Steinberg, who was the co-creator of the late Jericho.

I’m not sure I completely understand the premise of Past Life, and the description on Zap2It didn’t help much, but from what I can tell, it’s about a bunch of investigators who solve crimes by dredging up their clients’ long-lost memories. Whether that means memories of dead clients or memories of past lives for solving cold cases or just stuff people have forgotten, I’m not quite clear on. I’m guessing it’s one of the first two, otherwise the whole “science fiction” aspect of it is lost on me.

NBC is second in the science fiction Olympics, though it canceled more sci-fi-ish shows from this season than it has old and new ones put together. Off the schedule: Knight Rider, My Own Worst Enemy, Kings (I still haven’t forgiven them for that decision) and Medium (which CBS decided to pick up).

But it decided to renew Chuck (midseason) and Heroes (really? Talk about a show past its prime, despite it having been around for only 3 seasons) and has three new shows, though two of them are summer series: Day One, The Listener and Merlin.

Day One sounds the most promising to me, what with its post-apocalyptic Melrose Place-ian-ish-ness. Of course, that means it stands an excellent chance of not succeeding.

The Listener is about a paramedic who can read minds, it seems. And Merlin – well, if you can’t guess what it’s about, you need to go back and read King Arthur.

ABC lost more than it’s gained, but it has one of the best sci-fi shows ever: Lost. This is the show’s last season, though, so hopefully one of the new shows will pick up the mantle. Canceled were Cupid, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies and Life on Mars (which is the only one of the four I cared about; I tried to like Pushing Daisies, but it was just too precious for me).

But it has V, a remake of one of my favorite miniseries ever. I’m sorry the guy originally responsible for it isn’t involved, and I’d sure like to see Michael Ironside in it, but what is he now, 65, 70? I have great hopes for it, especially if they redo the hybrid alien baby and don’t use a really lame puppet.

ABC also is trying out Eastwick and Flash Forward.

Now, Eastwick is based on the John Updike novel The Witches of Eastwick, which was quite memorably adapted into a movie starring Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and Jack Nicholson. I tried reading the book at one point but it was a bit too dated and I just couldn’t hack my way through it. I’m willing to give the show a shot, though.

Flash Forward has a lot of promise, though, with a premise in which the entire world blacks out and glimpses 2 minutes and 17 seconds of an undetermined time in each person’s own future. It’s based on a book, whose author is even writing one of the episodes. It’s being written as if it will be five seasons of 22 episodes apiece and could become a worthy successor to Lost, if it catches on.

CBS gave up on two shows: Eleventh Hour and The Ex-List, but kept Ghost Whisperer and snagged NBC’s cast-off Medium. That’s all.

The CW kept Smallville and Supernatural. Though this season is likely to be the final season of SPN, that’s great news they decided to keep it on. But it killed Valentine and Reaper, the latter of which I mourn deeply. I still have three or four episodes on my DVR, so I still have more Reaper to see.

It’s airing the new show Vampire Diaries, though, which I’d imagine might be a good pair with SPN. It’s based on a pre-Twilight series of books, The CW would like you to know, thankyouverymuch. It’s about a girl who can’t decide between two vampire brothers – one good, one evil, of course. They’re battling for her and the souls of all the people in her small town.

So that’s it. Of course, there will be some shows on SyFy, USA, FX, AMC and a whole other slew of acronyms, but these are the big five, so to speak.

Which shows are you looking forward to, and which ones will you miss the most?

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OK, I guess the TV seasons before most people had televisions were worse, but this season was for the birds, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The four major networks (that’d be CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – sorry CW) lost an average of 16 percent of viewership in the coveted “demo” – adults 18-49. That includes DVR use.

Fox was on top, followed by CBS, ABC and NBC. But “on top” still includes a steep drop.

Why is this?

A whole mess of things.

First off, a lot of people are watching online – legally and illegally (Hulu an example of the former, BitTorrent an example of the latter). I know some folks who don’t have televisions, even, and only watch what they like online.

Second, a lot of people watch on DVR, but not within that 7-day window included in ratings. For example, my husband and I haven’t watched Season 2 of Damages yet. The entire season is sitting there on our DVR. We just finished up the entire first seasons of Dollhouse and Better off Ted in a few days in marathon viewing sessions. (I’ll be writing about BoT in a couple days). I still have episodes of Reaper, the season finale of Supernatural and Sunday’s episode of Breaking Bad on my DVR, waiting for me to have a chance to sit down and watch ‘em.

Then there’s the whole DVD experience, too. A few years ago, we caught up on the first two seasons of Alias by borrowing them from the library. I’ve been watching Season 1 of Torchwood on DVD, a Christmas present.

The ratings were as of Wednesday night, which marked the “official” end of the TV season. Did you even know that? Didn’t think so.

There is no such thing as a TV season anymore. We just were treated to a third season of Burn Notice this winter, and another one is coming this summer. Some shows never start until “midseason” (24, American Idol, Lost). Others bounce around the scheduling calendar (Battlestar Galactica, Kyle XY).

Yet the ratings system, other than adding the DVR and DVR+7 ratings into the mix, hasn’t changed in forever.

It’s time to change. We’ve lost too many good shows (Jericho, Kings) to the poor way ratings are measured. All the networks own multiple stations now; if the ratings for Kings are too low for NBC proper, why not send it on over to USA or even SyFy?

C’mon. The Nielsen ratings are so … 1980s.

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I was chatting with a friend on Twitter yesterday about the crime that is the all-but-certain cancellation of Kings.

I first met Dan during the (partly successful) fan uprising to keep Jericho on the air.

For those of  you unfamiliar with the late, lamented CBS show, here’s the basics in a nutshell:

A tale of a small Kansas town and its residents in the aftermath of a nuclear attack on most of America’s major cities, Jericho debuted in September 2006 to decent ratings, which it held onto through the fall before going on an unannounced winter hiatus.

By the time CBS brought it back in the spring, many people had forgotten about it; some thought it had been canceled. The network didn’t really publicize its return, either, leaving some fans happily surprised to stumble upon it.

It ended its season with OK, if not stellar ratings, but a very passionate fanbase, who were stunned when CBS announced, after the finale aired, that the show would not get a second season.

Harkening to a line spoken by Skeet Ulrich, who played the lead character Jake, in the finale, fans started sending peanuts by the truckload to CBS headquarters.

After receiving enough peanuts to feed every elephant in the world for the rest of their lives, CBS relented, somewhat and greenlit a short second season as a midseason replacement.

Again, the network stumbled, and waited to put it on the air until after the writer’s strike was over and new programming was once again finding its way to the airwaves. In the end, Jericho was canceled a second and final time, though it has found an extended life on The CW and Sci Fi (now SyFy) networks and its creators are still pursuing the possibility of a movie.

An undercurrent to the entire ordeal was this: Jericho did great on DVR ratings and online viewing. The regular old Nielsen ratings weren’t measuring the show’s true viewership, fans argued. The network didn’t listen.

What does any of this have to do with Kings?

Once again, a network has to realize that the regular way of measuring viewership is dead. Ratings will never be as high as they once were and perhaps the networks have to start looking at shows with smaller ratings, but high quality and a passionate viewership.

Kings might not have ratings that traditionally would be considered strong enough to stay on a broadcast network, but the thing is NBC Universal owns USA, SyFy and other cable networks. Why not just shift it to there?

The show stars Ian McShane, for goodness sakes! The man is basically incapable of performing poorly. I think he could read the phone book and I’d watch, mesmerized.

NBC gave the OK to the Kings pilot at the last minute before the writer’s strike at the end of 2007, and it started airing in March (2009). On Sunday nights at first, long the venue for HBO’s top-shelf shows and Fox’s Animation Domination, it was moved to Saturdays a couple weeks ago. Then it was put on hiatus until June.

Look, folks, if you want to build up an audience for a high-concept show — a modern-day allegory for David and Goliath, where a young farm boy becomes enmeshed in high society and the royal court after all but single-handedly defeating the huge, militaristic neighbor to the north — don’t start moving it all over the map and then putting it on haitus.

In some ways, it’s not the worst thing; there’s less new programming on during June, when most shows have ended, but the “summer season” hasn’t really begun. But if you move a show around enough times, you make it harder for the audience to find it. Especially when the primary news about its moves and changes comes out in the trade press and then blogs – and not from the horse’s mouth.

Kings is superbly written and acted and has a beautiful, CGI-altered New York standing in for Shiloh, the capital of McShane’s beloved Gilboa. It has enough soap opera elements (the king has a son by his mistress, whom he truly loves, and a son and daughter by his wife, whom he married for the political connections; our contemporary David is in love with the king’s daughter; the crown prince is secretly gay but must give up his love if he wants the crown – plus, he’s jealous of O.C.D.) to appeal to those who don’t like the deeper Biblical paralells, but deep enough for those who like a little meat on their nighttime soaps without the silliness of, say, Dirty Sexy Money.

I have no illusions that this blog post – or any other, for that matter – will save Kings from cancellation.

Unless someone has access to a huge supply of cocoons about to open into beautiful butterflies that we could send by the truckload to 30 Rockefeller Center in New York.

Anyone?

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When I first heard the premise for Kings – a modern-day interpretation of the David v. Goliath tale from that old chestnut, The Bible – I was intrigued.

I love it, frankly, when there’s a modern-day take on a classic tale – biblical or not.

One could argue, of course, that almost everything is a modern-day take on a classic tale if you look at it hard enough. But that’s an issue for another blog post entirely.

Beyond that, however, was the opportunity to see the great Ian McShane in another role. McShane was the incredible Al Swearingen on the late, great, truly lamented Deadwood.

Hell, if he were in a car commercial, I’d watch it.

McShane as King Silas is brilliant; every time you think you hate him (much like Swearingen), he does or says something that makes you realize he’s more or less a product of his circumstances and is pretty much an alright kinda guy, for what he is.

Add to that you have a hotshot supporting cast – note Miguel Ferrer as the general from Gath? Macaulay Culkin as the king’s nephew-in-law? Maqua from Last of the Mohicans (known in real life as Wes Studi) as the Gilboan general?

So of course it was with no surprise that I read that Kings was kinda sorta canceled. It wasn’t really; just moved from Sunday night to Satuday night.

That’s pretty much the death knell, of course, seeing as no one watches television on Saturday nights. Of course, you’d think that a show wouldn’t have to get good ratings to survive on a Saturday night.

As I’ve said in the past, however, a short run of the show might not be such a bad thing.

But one season for Kings? That seems almost criminal.

I think the powers that be at NBC should be banished to Port Prosperity, just before the turnover to Gath.

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