NOT RENEWED

ABC period anthology series Wicked City is the first new series to be pulled from the fall schedule this year, after broadcasting only 3 episodes. The series -which focused on two LAPD officers tracking down a pair of romantically serial killers mimicking a spate of historic murders- has been cancelled due to descending ratings and demo figures.

Original airdate: 2011, Channel 4

Here in the United Kingdom it’s always the best comedy series that get the shortest thrift. Here in the United Kingdom, Trashy, vulgar sitcoms featuring Irish men in drag get three series’, a theatrical film, an animated series and an HBO special. And here in the United Kingdom, the smart and heart-warming series get the chop after only six episodes. It’s a bizarre and often unfair industry, but we should be thankful it gives us those latter shows in the first place.

Sirens is one of those shows. Based on the book Blood, Sweat & Tea by Brian Ellet, the series revolves around the personal and professional lives of three paramedics and their colleagues in the uniformed services. It’s consistently funny, often heart wrenching and yet another example of Channel 4 delivering the best comedy in the UK.

At the heart of the series are arrogant EMT Stuart (Rhys Thomas), his gay best friend and colleague Ashley (King in the North himself – Richard Madden) and trainee Rachid (Kayvan Novak). Though presented initially as three young men too busy shagging their way through the prime of their life to care about anything thrown their way, the show is quick to introduce us to the fact that these characters are challenged by what they see in their line of work and how that spills over into their own unresolved internal issues.

The series deftly manages a balance of slapstick, dry and jet black humour with a genuine warmth - at least, in a (not off-putting-ly) laddish sort of way. At a 50 minute running time, the sentimentality in the episodes can border on the overbearing, if watching in a marathon viewing. However with only six episodes to its canon, Sirens is a series to be savoured.

One sentence review: Brilliantly written and acted, Sirens is another channel 4 workplace comedy that shares company with Teachers and The IT Crowd.

Watch if you enjoyed:

We’ve been here before.

AMC has announced that mystery series The Killing will not be returning for a fourth season. Only a year after the US adaptation was saved from cancellation with a little help from Netflix, the “difficult decision” has been made not to continue with the series.

AKA 'How to Perfectly End a Television Series'.

On May 6th 2004, 52 million people watched the final curtain call on Friends. The international  phenomenon was kept alive in the following months as hunger for the much talked about spinoff series grew. On September 9th of that year, Joey finally premiered on NBC. But it wasn't Friends.

The final season of Friends was if nothing else, a poignant affair. Focusing on goodbyes, season 10 finally gave characters who -let's be honest-  had stagnated a little, some development before moving them all onto the next stage of their lives... Well, not quite all of them. While his best friends were getting married and becoming parents and being Ross and Rachel, Joey Tribbiani spent eighteen episodes playing with dolls and getting his head stuck in a door. Granted, it was known Joey was well in development at this point and there was only a finite number of episodes to establish and execute final stories for the remaining five characters for whom this really was the end. But still, Joey had no solid story in those final episodes. Why the idea of Joey planning to pack up shop and move to LA wasn't included in the narrative is beyond me. If you had the most popular show on television to use as a platform for setting up your new sitcom, you'd use it wouldn't you? Or at least make reference to it? Apparently not.

And therein lies my first gripe. There’s a fragmented relationship between  Joey and Friends season 10, that can leave it feeling disingenuous. The only line of explanation we get for the set up of Joey is in the show itself; "everyone moved on". This is something even Joey clearly would have come to terms with while those events were taking place in season 10 of Friends, therefore things that should have been dealt with in that show.

So, onto the show proper. Oh Joey. Joey, Joey, Joey. Where do I begin?

Quite frankly, it should have been killed in the development stage. Friends was at its peak, a very good show. But it's real strength was in the relationship between the six characters, not the characters themselves, none of whom (I think) were strong enough to lead their own show. While other sitcom characters have spunoff and lead successful series' (All hail Frasier Crane) those came with some drastic alterations to the character. By 2004, Friends and the character of Joey in particular were too well known and popular to be changed and have viewers be accepting of it.

Which meant we were stuck with French Joey -the bastardised, impossibly unitlligient version of the character, whose idiocy reached new levels of sucking in the season 10 episode The One Where Joey Can't Speak French (hence the name)- for a little while longer. Being the central character of Joey, his stupidity seemed amplified by an extraordinary amount and despite Matt LeBlanc's natural likeability, Joey increasingly became a character who was hard to root for. The character's terminal unintelligence also spread to his charisma, rendering him a complete train wreck with women -and what is Joey Tribbiani without his ability to own every room he walks in? While it was admirable of the writers to try and explore the idea that Joey couldn't always be an unstoppable sex king, they were taking away the only winning feature of a character who was rapidly being deconstructed.

The circle of supporting characters for Joey to interact with are at best only partially formed, leaving him to headline the show. On top of that, they are largely unpleasant individuals, and that's without a comparison to the Central Perk gang. Gina Tribbiani (Drea DeMatteo) is Joey's hostile, heavily drinking sister, who also seems to have inherited the Tribbiani mental defect. Despite occasional flares of vulnerability emitting from Gina, there is nothing to the character that makes her anything other than totally unsympathetic. Even DeMatteo was not happy with how the character was being written and requested her contract to be terminated at the end of season 2.

Bobby (Jennifer Coolidge) is Joey's mentally compromised nymphomaniac agent. Coolidge seems to has made a name for herself playing these kinds of roles and that's exactly what she's doing here, not that that's any bad thing. Bobby is the only consistent source of laughs in the series and bizarrely, provides one of the most emotional moments in it, when the character realises just how uncomfortable she's made the Tribbiani's in her pursuit of Michael. It's all in the eyes, but it's definitely there.

Paul Costanzo plays Michael Tribbiani; Joey's genius nephew (Geddit? Because Joey is dumb!) Michael is an arrogant virgin who idolises Joey's womanising and is the long running target for Bobby's sex crimes. As the foil to Joey and Gina's stupidity, Michael barely gets a look in comedy-wise, and attempts to flesh the character out never really panned out well.

Then there's Alex Garrett (Andrea Anders): a bizarre amalgamation of the ditzy blonde lawyer, stern landlord, sexy neighbour and victimised wife character tropes, each one only coming to the surface when the story requires it. Much like LeBlanc, DeMatteo and Coolidge, Anders has a natural likeability to her, though this isn't always present and the character seems contrived at times, bordering on grating.

As a singular product, Joey was narratively competent, but lacked an angle that made it fresh or innovative in any way. However, when making comparisons to Friends the series seems to suffer, as it treads on much of the same water as its predecessor in exploring Joey's run of bad luck as an actor. Tribbiani was an actor for well over ten years at this point and still had no idea about the basic mechanics of the industry - As evident by his facing firing from Deep Powder for saying things he shouldn't in an interview (didn't he learn anything from The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies?). Again, it's this sort of stupidity that makes it hard to believe Joey could possibly be real -even in sitcom land- and thus hard to root for.

On top of this, Joey seemed to be very much stuck in the same rut as the final few seasons of Friends and many other sitcoms before it, in which guest stars were rolled in, in Lucy lieu of actual story. And with a full roster of near charmless characters, it was hard to get invested in what hijinks they were getting up to.

Neil Cross has confirmed Luther will not be returning to TV screens. Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, the series' creator cited Idris Elba's rising Hollywood profile as a reason for the show not continuing, saying "The show's finished. Idris, as he should be, he's gone on to become a big movie star."

The news shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to fans, with Elba himself recently commenting that series 3 would likely be the show's last. However, Cross also confirmed plans for the much talked about Luther Movie, saying "I think there will be a Luther movie, that's the plan."

The BBC has today announced that The White Queen will not be returning for a second run.The 10 part historical drama launched with an impressive 6 million viewers, with the numbers dipping to 3.5 million for the series finale. Drawing mixed reviews, the series was criticised for its pacing and historical inaccuracies.

The series was based on the first three books of The Cousin's War novel series, by Philippa Gregory and despite speculation to the contrary, the BBC have stated that it was never conceived as a returnable series.

                            "What's wrong with my sperm, Linda?!"

Written by Doctor Who scribe Tom MacRae, Threesome was Comedy Central UK’s first foray into original programming and went down a treat with critics and audiences alike (quite rightly). Debuting in 2011, the series quickly found a fan base and a second series was ordered for 2012.

Before the launch of series 2, Comedy Central stated that if it was as popular as series 1, Paramount (owners of Comedy Central) could deliver a mass budget increase, allowing a 22 episode third series - a very rare thing in the UK- to be produced. However, series 2 finished airing in November 2012, and as of yet there has been no firm word on the future of the show.

 It's hard to find any information online regarding the future of Threesome. The closest thing you'll find is the official Facebook page updating every time the series is repeated on TV. The fact that the page is still being updated every now and then suggests that the series is still very much on the network's minds, but the total lack of new information could be seen as worrying.

What would Comedy Central's reasons be for not renewing it? There aren't any, really. The faith they had in producing a 22 episode series suggests that even if the series didn't quite hit the rating heights it had hoped, there would be enough scope to produce another 7 episode series. However, there's nothing to suggest that it didn't perform as well as expected. In fact, speaking of the channel's audience growth throughout 2012 in January 2013, managing director of Comedy Central UK said "We are especially proud of the success of Threesome. Watch out for continued development of our home grown comedies in 2013."

Those are promising words, but far from a confirmation of more Threesome. It may be that the series is being worked on as we speak but production hasn't yet reached a position to be talked about. The programme has so far consisted of 2 series of 7 episodes. If indeed the third will be 22 episodes it will obviously take longer to produce, especially if MacRae maintains his auteur-like figure on the series (so far writing 11 of the 14 episodes and co-writing one other). That being said, it's arguably more likely that more writers will be brought in to help with the series, should it be that length.  

Another factor that should be taken into account is the availability of the series' stars. Since the first series, Emun Elliott has had roles in Game of Thrones, Prometheus, the upcoming Filth and has a lead role in the BBC period drama, The Paradise. Steven Wight also has a role on The Paradise, and BBC Three comedy Bluestone 42 (both of which will be continuing into 2014) while Amy Huberman is continuing her career as a novelist. Tom MacRae also has other projects on the go, including writing his first musical with The Feeling's Dan Gillespie. Together, the Threesome foursome make for a pretty busy collective.

Good/bad news everyone!

 Following the cancellation of it's historical drama, The Borgias, Showtime is releasing an e-book that will wrap up the story the series never got to tell in full.

The series was cancelled earlier this year - one year shy of the planned four year run- due to what was thought to be a matter of production expense. However, Showtime hired series creator Neil Jordan to write a 2 hour film that would cover what remained to be told of the infamous family's story.

For whatever reason, the production of this film didn't quite work out and Showtime have instead repackaged Jordan's script as an e-book. It's not quite the finale the fans have been hoping for, but it's more than a lot of shows get.

Original airdate: 2011

Here in the United Kingdom it’s always the best comedy series that get the shortest thrift. Here in the United Kingdom, Trashy, vulgar sitcoms featuring Irish men in drag get three series’, a theatrical film, an animated series and an HBO special. And here in the United Kingdom, the smart and heart-warming series get the chop after only six episodes. It’s a bizarre and often unfair industry, but we should be thankful it gives us those latter shows in the first place.

Sirens is one of those shows. Based on the book Blood, Sweat & Tea by Brian Ellet, the series revolves around the personal and professional lives of three paramedics and their colleagues in the uniformed services. It’s consistently funny, often heart wrenching and yet another example of Channel 4 delivering the best comedy in the country.

At the heart of the series are arrogant EMT Stuart (Rhys Thomas), his gay best friend and colleague Ashley (King in the North himself – Richard Madden) and trainee Rachid (Kayvan Novak). Though presented initially as three young men too busy shagging their way through the prime of their life to care about anything thrown their way, the show is quick to introduce us to the fact that these characters are challenged by what they see in their line of work and how that spills over into their own unresolved internal issues.

The series deftly manages a balance of slapstick, dry and jet black humour with a genuine warmth - at least, in that laddish “You’re my best friend, you dick” sort of way. At a 50 minute running time, the sentimentality in the episodes can border on the overbearing, if watching in a marathon viewing. However with only six episodes to its canon, Sirens is a series to be savoured.

One sentence review: Brilliantly written and acted, Sirens is another channel 4 workplace comedy that shares company with Teachers and The IT Crowd.

Magic City will not be returning for a third season, Starz have announced. The period crime drama, set in 1950’s Miami, debuted last year to a mixed critical reaction and struggled to attract an audience large enough to justify it’s production costs.

This week on What If? we're looking at another ill-fated Joss Whedon series AND another ill-fated Eliza Dushku vehicle. No, we're not giving you a two-for-one. This time round, Whedon and Dushku decided to save Fox some money and produce a show together. The result was Dollhouse; a series with a fascinating premise, but never quite lived up to its potential.

Dollhouse revolved around the Rossum Corporation, a worldwide underground business with the ability to programme individuals with temporary skills and personalities - these individuals are known as 'Actives'. The corporation's rich and powerful clients would hire Actives to perform a variety of services ranging in anything from sexual relief to governmental aid (and sometimes both in one!) .

The series struggled with ratings and critics in its premier year, something that can be at least be partially attributed to network interference (from Fox? Surely not!). At the risk of facing a shitstorm of Firefly-esque proportions from fans, Fox renewed Dollhouse for a second season. Season 2 improved greatly on season 1, however the audience for the show still wasn't there and so the series was cancelled.

The second season order came as a surprise to the writing team, who had been so sure of cancellation they hadn't given it that much thought. However, story ideas for a possible third season were given more thought.

Speaking to assignmentx in 2010, writer and executive producer of Dollhouse, Tim Minear, spoke about how the final third of season 2 featured a lot of story that would - in a perfect world - have made up season 3...

"Well, I think one thing that helped Season Two was that we got canceled, because remember, we got canceled before we finished that run, so we had to take the last four or five episodes and cram a lot of what would have been in Season Three into Season Two, and what that ended up doing was, it gave it a certain amount of momentum in the second half of Season Two that I’m not sure it would have had had we not had the axe dropped on us prematurely, or maybe it wasn’t prematurely – it’s hard to say."

Minear also spoke about how Echo would have developed into a character with more of a...erm... character, had the series been given the time...

"What I think we came to was, by having Echo become this sort of superhero and having her become the sum of all these different imprints, of all these parts, and allow her to become this sentient being with [all of this incorporated into her], we found a way to make her a character. I think the problem in Season One was, you had this concept that sounds great when you’re pitching it, but when you sit down to write it, it’s, “Okay, so now we’re writing a show about a main character who can’t remember what happened last week.” Which I think was a little boring for the audience, because they’re so far ahead of her. So when we started allowing her to remember things, and then started taking the concept and making it into what her superpower was, it started turning into something else. I think what you would have seen in Season Three is [a series] a lot more embracing of its mythology and turned into more of a superhero show. It would have been a little bit more like Buffy (The Vampire Slayer)  in some ways."

 Dollhouse was a series I was heavily invested in when it was on the air. After its cancellation it took me a while to be able to take a step back and realise that the series had some fundamental flaws; namely that the main characters of the series were (for the majority of the show's run) not characters in and of themselves at all. It's good to see that this was also on the minds of the writers and something they were planning on addressing. On top of that, those final few episodes of season 2 -however good they were- were also quite rushed. It would have been nice to have seen the end of the world played out over a full season or two and later have a big, post-apocalyptic sandbox to play in for further adventures (Although the comic continuation did give us a glimpse of what that might have been like). That being said, Dollhouse remains my favourite series by Whedon for it's sheer audacity and willingness to explore some pretty grim themes in a much more direct way than any other primetime sci-fi series I've seen (How Whedon and Dushku persuaded Fox to buy a series effectively about prostitution, I'll never know). Also, Enver Gjoaki. Damn, that boy can act.