Originally, "Action" was slated to air on HBO, with other well written comedies such as "Sex and The City" and "Arli$$". Unfortunately, Doug Herzog and the people at FOX decided to pick it up. They knew they had a winner in their hands. It was fresh, sardonic, incisive, and outrageous. And most of all, it was a well written Hollywood satire that will turn many heads, even if it pushes the envelope off the precipice. This show would become the "All in the Family" for the next millenium, a controversial show breaking away from the television mainstream, entertaining its wide audiences with is outrageous dialogue while bringing up certain social issues like violence in the media.
But the Doug Herzog and the FOX executives didn't know what to do with this gem. One could imagine this very intellectual group saying to themselves. "Gee. We have an exceptional show on our hands that could be an instant ratings bonanza. What better way to jump start this prize horse than to bury it beneath a time slot that features traditionally high rated shows on other networks?" The result in the subsequent season is "Action", along with "Family Guy", being placed in the timeslot that is competing with NBC's "Must See Thursday". If I were a network executive, I would know that if people were given a choice between a perennial favorite "Frasier" and a new FOX series they never heard of, they would pick the former. In the end, after about six weeks on the air and ratings in the lower nineties, FOX decided to cancel "Action" and make "Family Guy" a summer holdover, which they then subsequently cancelled. Doug Herzog, reasonably, lost his job following the debacle, and the rest of us, the fans who were enjoying the show, were suddenly left to watch the sterile comedies the other networks were offering us. FOX's sister network, FX, tried to compensate the viewers who felt betrayed by showing all the episodes of "Action" that FOX didn't show, but it's hardly a consolation to this viewer, who felt this series should had had a fair chance to succeed which it deserved. (**** out of four stars)
But the Doug Herzog and the FOX executives didn't know what to do with this gem. One could imagine this very intellectual group saying to themselves. "Gee. We have an exceptional show on our hands that could be an instant ratings bonanza. What better way to jump start this prize horse than to bury it beneath a time slot that features traditionally high rated shows on other networks?" The result in the subsequent season is "Action", along with "Family Guy", being placed in the timeslot that is competing with NBC's "Must See Thursday". If I were a network executive, I would know that if people were given a choice between a perennial favorite "Frasier" and a new FOX series they never heard of, they would pick the former. In the end, after about six weeks on the air and ratings in the lower nineties, FOX decided to cancel "Action" and make "Family Guy" a summer holdover, which they then subsequently cancelled. Doug Herzog, reasonably, lost his job following the debacle, and the rest of us, the fans who were enjoying the show, were suddenly left to watch the sterile comedies the other networks were offering us. FOX's sister network, FX, tried to compensate the viewers who felt betrayed by showing all the episodes of "Action" that FOX didn't show, but it's hardly a consolation to this viewer, who felt this series should had had a fair chance to succeed which it deserved. (**** out of four stars)
