Going, going, gone

June 7, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

Things are different since Vladimir left. Now when I rant, mutter, or converse in more measured tones, there’s nobody listening.

Vladimir responded in his own unique Quaker Parrot way and most of it went over my head. What I could understand was his laugh.

And I could use more laughter. These are difficult times. Several of my favorite TV shows are going away. And I’m not talking hibernation. The usual end-of-season-fadeway only to reappear in the fall.

We’re talking going, going, gone. Cancellation. Kaput.

Unfortunately, I’m hooked. Hooked on the characters and hooked on their stories. Like a junkie with no junk and worst of all, no connection.

There are no new episodes of “Awake” out there to score. Unforgettable” may have to be forgotten.

And it’s not fair.

Because there are bound to be new varities of “The Real Housewives of Housatonic” or “Undercover Assistant to the Assistant.” At this very moment, someone’s hard at work developing “So You Think You Can Whistle.”

The thing about both “Awake” and “Unforgettable” is that they were clever. In “Awake,” a cop survives a traffic accident but something has happened to his mind. He has two lives now, not one. In one reality, his wife has survived but his son has died. In another reality, his son is alive but his wife is dead. It is very hard to know where reality ends and delusion begins.

He has two different therapists. Each insists that his/hers is the one true reality. He has two different police partners. I’ve got the last few episodes on my Tivo but am hoarding them like a slightly crazed squirrel, aware there just aren’t enough nuts for the winter. A winter without “Awake.”

“Unforgettable” is about another cop, played by Poppy Montgomery. Poppy and I go way back to her days on “Without A Trace” when she co-starred with another of my favorite actors, fellow Australian Anthony LaPaglia. Anyway, her character, Carrie Wells, is one of the very few humans to possess total recall. She remembers everything she has seen or heard. All of which helps with crime-solving. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been able to solve the one crime that haunts her the most, the murder of her sister.

Now, there is the slight chance that TNT or Lifetime will save “Unforgettable” so I haven’t yet abandoned hope.

There are other shows I’m mourning. Like “The Finder.” I’m really going to miss “The Finder.” It was so very quirky: the retired US Army Major with the uncanny ability to find what is missing; his girlfriend, the US Marshal; his friend, the retired attorney with an anger management problem; and their charge, the young Gypsy shoplifter.

“Flashpoint,” the Canadian-made TV police drama is gone. It was made with great sensitivity and sophistication and never shortchanged the complexities of contemporary policing.

“In Plain Sight” is over and then there is “House.” I have loved Hugh Laurie’s mostly miserably brilliant diagnostician for eight years.

So I’ve turned, in my despair, to “The Bachelorette.” Which is much like falling down the rabbit hole.

“The Bachelorette” takes place in another universe. It’s about love, more love, and even more love. Maybe a bit of human love but some alien love thrown in with it.

This season’s “Bachelorette” is Emily Maynard, a blond beauty with a young daughter who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The Bachelorette” is a lot more confusing than “Awake” which proved too confusing for the studio execs who axed it. Emily was chosen by “The Bachelor” but that didn’t work out. You should know that very often these made-for-TV relationships end up on the rocks.

Anyway, Emily is again looking for love. And she’s got a truckload of bachelors to choose from.

There are several things I find fascinating. There is abundance everywhere. Drinks, dresses, homes and hotels. You’d think with 25 guys someone would talk about tough times. Unemployment. The trade imbalance with China.

Or war.

Do any of these people know we’re at war.

Nobody on “The Bachelorette” seems to care.

There are no drones. No IEDs. No PTSD. No Afghanistan. No Iraq. No recession. And certainly no Depression. Or depression, for that matter. Nobody mentions Obama.

Nobody is mad about student loans. Or gas prices. In fact, nobody ever mentions what anything costs.

It’s all about love. Everyone wants to fall in love. Everlasting love with the One. Everyone believes that Emily is the One. Just like Ashley was the One. Or Ali.