Daily Musing: Does Network Goodwill Exist?

For this viewer - Yes!

I realized today that I have a major weak spot for ABC.  The goodwill I hold towards the network may have started with TGIF and the Wonderful World of Disney, been perpetuated by my love for Alias, and then snowballed as it changed the television landscape as we know it with Lost (as much as television landscapes can be changed in any case), and brought the juicy soapy entertainment that is Desperate Housewives, the charming Ugly Betty, and Dancing with the Stars, one of the few reality shows that doesn't make me want to pack my bag and move to another country.  I even give the alphabet the title of being the network whose soap operas I most watched (RIP All My Children and One Life to Live and good luck escaping that cancellation bear General Hospital).  

Ah, so many positive associations, so much so that it has even managed to weather my hissy-fits relatively unscathed when it comes to its many infractions - cancelling some of my favorites such as Pushing Daisies and Better Off Ted, letting Grey's Anatomy deteriorate into whatever it is today, giving up on (and if conspiracy theories are to be believed, purposely sabotaging) soap operas ... I could go on.  

Bottomline:  ABC somehow always wins me back.  No easy feat, as I am STILL bitter against FOX for cancelling Dark Angel (and in retrospect Fireflies, which I ironically did not watch when it first aired because I was boycotting for Dark Angel's cancellation) and perpetually annoyed at and judgmental of CBS for playing it safe and focusing on old-people shows procedurals and the fate of Jericho (I do love How I Met Your Mother and am liking 2 Broke Girls, but then Two and a Half Men sort of kills all that positivity ...).  I'm pretty blaise about NBC - the Friends and Frasier goodwill is running low these days, and while it hasn't really cancelled anything to make me cry bloody murder, it hasn't really offered anything worthy of such a reaction either - mostly the network seems to just let its more promising shows crumble to the point that cancellation would be seen more as a gift than a curse (see the epic fail of Heroes after its epic-ly brilliant first (and arguably even second) season; now that I think about it, same goes for the Apprentice, though that's likely more inevitable) - at least it's got the Olympics.  As for the CW ... I'm not sure I can even muster any feeling for this network, especially as I slowly age out as its target audience - basically, I'm done once they cancel Nikita (okay shh so I may still catch Hart of Dixie as a guilty pleasure if it sticks around, but that is IT!  I'm so behind on Supernatural anyway so will just stick to the DVDs).

Back to ABC - it's hitting it out of the park with me this season, with a monopoly over my Wednesdays and Sundays - Revenge and Once Upon a Time are two of my favorite new shows this season (the other being Person of Interest, but boring CBS will probably cancel that just to spite me).  Today, for example, marked the return of the network's Weds comedy block + Revenge, and I was not disappointed.  Suburgatory is really growing on me; Modern Family is at its quirky hilarious best; Happy Endings switched up the usual comedic pairings of the group of friends and teased a new potential couple (and it worked for me!); and to cap off the night, Revenge was even more intense than I had expected (and for a completely different reason!).

So, hats of to you ABC - keep up the good work and try not to prove me wrong.

P.S. looking forward to GCB (loove Kristin Chenoweth) and Don't Trust to B---- in Apartment 23 (if only to see Dawson again).