Dec 17, 2015
Tradecraft: TNT Cancels its Spy Shows Legends and Agent X
In one fell swoop, TNT has disavowed all of its spy shows. After previously cancelling Transporter: The Series, the cable network today (per Deadline) also axed its fun freshman series Agent X, and sophomore Legends. In both cases, this is really too bad. Agent X, starring Sharon Stone and Jeff Hephner, was lots of fun and delivered weekly escapist action in the Alias-vein. Legends, from Homeland and 24 executive producer Howard Gordon, started strong last season but had become absolutely brilliant in its second year after a thorough re-tooling. The Sean Bean spy series based on Robert Littell's novel had become an excellent and worthy companion for Homeland. I will miss this one greatly, and dearly hope that Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime scoops it up for a third season. This series has already shown an amazing ability to survive, surfacing on TNT a year after being passed on by NBC, so anything seems possible....
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3 comments:
Sean Bean's character lives but the series dies? THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG.
I'll miss both of these, especially seeing as the terrible Quantico endures - presumably due to some form of contract with Satan.
These two shows are the polar opposite in terms of my own enjoyment anyway. Personally, I think Agent X is abominable. I appreciate the lighthearted aspect of it, but I think they could have put a little something more in the scripts, than what a teenager could come up with. It's filled with cliches, tacit racism (the episode in Mexico is cover-your-eyes bad), incredible leaps of faith, and is just downright cartoonish (mid 60s Batman almost!). It makes a decent enough show for the treadmill though - it's good eye candy at least. I figured it would get the heave ho and rightfully so.
But cancelling Legends is truly a tragedy. In some ways it's TNT's own fault, as I felt they wasted Season 1. It was pretty good, enough for me to stick with it. But Season 2, as you alluded to, is something special. They went from "typical TNT fare" to something you might see on BBC in 1979 or 1980. It's dense, complex, and believable. Bouncing from place to place and decade to decade. I'm a big boy, and I can handle that. Prefer it actually. I'm pinching myself that this is actually on TNT. Had they started with this set of episodes, I think they would have had a Homeland or The Americans style hit. But the network seems to have given up before it started and plays to that dumb-downed advertisers rule of 18 to 49 age set. And who the heck watches shows live now anyway? It's a DVR world. These networks at some point need to realize that adult fare is going to take more investment than immediate ratings will allow for. Otherwise it will be back to the lowest common denominator of stupidity, and American TV will be back to the dark ages of the 80s and 90s.
I hope a mature network will pick up Legends for a Season 3. It's some of the best non-pay-cable TV I've seen in some time.
I tried to give Agent X a shot. It started out well but became a talking heads show.
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