Another One Bites The Dust: The Cancellation of "The Chicago Code" and the Decline of Serialized Television

The cancellation axe of FOX has fallen hard tonight. The network ditched a handful of series, including newbies "Breaking In" and "Traffic Light" along with older fare like "Lie to Me" and "Human Target." But the most heartbreaking disappointment was the decision to kick "The Chicago Code" to the curb, a phenomenal show that was just beginning to peer over the brink of greatness.

The main thrust of the show tells the story of Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), the first female appointed Superintendent of Police in Chicago, and her fight against crime and corruption in the city. The face of corruption is Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Delroy Lindo), a longtime city official and one of the most powerful men in the Chicago political scene. Colvin appoints her former partner Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke) and his new partner Caleb Evers (Matt Lauria) as heads of a secret task force assigned to expose Gibbons and his cronies. Meanwhile, undercover officer Liam Hennessey (Billy Lush) rises through the ranks of Gibbons' men in order to get the Chicago PD the concrete evidence they need to put Gibbons away.

The latest in a long line of cancelled shows that are heavily serialized (arcs that carry across multiple episodes), yet appear to be procedural (each episode stands alone), "The Chicago Code" was not only a fantastic example of how to effectively strike a balance between the two, but it also happened to be one of the best looking shows on television (premium networks included). The slick look came courtesy of shooting entirely in Chicago, a rarity for productions these days. The Dark Knight famously used Chicago as a stand-in for Gotham City, but didn't film in its entirety in Illinois. Even a show like "Justified" - one that's eerily similar in tone and excution to "The Chicago Code" - that's set in Kentucky is shot in and outside of Los Angeles. By making Chicago its home both in setting and in real life, "The Chicago Code" was able to bring a measure of realism to its locations that truly shined through and raised the bar for cop dramas everywhere.

This cancellation must especially sting for creator Shawn Ryan ("The Shield"), whose previous show "Terriers" was dropped from FOX's sister network FX after just one season. A breezy oceanside series featuring Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James as shaggy private detectives, "Terriers" was arguably a better show than "The Chicago Code" - and that's not a dig against "TCC", but rather a high compliment to both. "Terriers" and "The Chicago Code" had similar make-up; both series were structured in an almost identical way, with the occasional standalone episode punctuating a continuing storyline that swept across an entire season. Both stories had major goals the characters were striving for, but the payoff of finally achieving those goals after a season of struggle (note: this "achieving goals" thing is unconfirmed for "The Chicago Code", since it hasn't aired its final episodes yet) is met with the bitter reward of cancellation.

So in a world after LOST - arguably the premiere example of serialized TV ever created - why is it that audiences now seemingly aren't willing to digest serialized television? In the case of "Terriers", I think marketing had a lot to do with it. The show never really found a large audience because people just weren't sure what they were getting into. Also not helping in the "pulling in new viewers" category was the fact that the story wasn't just a recycled rehashing of the same things we see constantly on TV - it wasn't a doctor show, a cop show, or a lawyer show. But that same reasoning is exactly why "The Chicago Code" should have succeeded: it APPEARED to be "just another cop show" (read: what audiences seemingly want), but it actually delved far deeper, asking its audience to actively watch the show and be rewarded with payoffs episodes later.

The fundamental problem, I think, can be summed up in one sentence: American audiences are lazy. Most people don't want to have to "pay attention" to what they're watching. They work all day, come home, and want to zone out in front of the television for a few hours before they go to sleep, get up, and do it all over again the next day. "Paying attention" isn't in the cards for most people. Perhaps folks are afraid of commitment; perhaps their DVRs or TiVos are already full of the latest episodes of "Two and a Half Men" or "CSI", easy viewing with no consequences if you miss an episode here or there. But for those of us who like to engage with television, who actually see it as a medium capable of telling worthwhile stories on par with film in some cases (example: check out "Mad Men" for a slow burn of character development), it looks like we're in trouble.

It's not just that American audiences seemingly want the same thing spoon-fed to them with a slightly different spin - how many CSI and NCIS spinoffs are there now? - because that's basically what FOX's "Lie To Me" was; Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) is essentially a human lie detector, working with police and federal agents to solve a new case every week with his ability to discover the truth through lies. And even that kind of "sameness with a spin" got the ax. To the untrained eye (ahem, mine), it looks like audiences are content with seeing the same ten stories told over and over again through slightly different characters.

It seems like every new show I've attached myself to in the past couple of seasons has met the same fate, and that's because nearly all of them have had these threads of serialization in common. "Lights Out", a series on FX ostensibly about boxing, was also unceremoniously cancelled after just one season. And though the marketing would have you believe it was a show about boxing, in reality it was "about boxing" as much as David O. Russell's Best Picture Nominee The Fighter was just "about boxing." Both centered mainly on family dynamics and were far more interesting than simply guys standing in a ring punching each other.

It's a shame about "The Chicago Code," because it's the type of series you could easily predict would come into its own in a second season. The show had some rocky moments, I'll give you that, but just as quickly as they occured, the ship was righted by Shawn Ryan and the fantastic creative team. If you've never seen the show, I'd highly recommend checking it out when it eventually arrives on Netflix. Even with only one season, it's totally worth your time. (Ditto for "Terriers", obviously.) I'm honestly surprised that "Justified", a show that shares many of these same serialized qualities, has not been cancelled yet. For some reason, that one's still holding strong - it was just renewed for a third season following an outstanding season two. But hey, if this recent string of cancellations is any indication of the way things are heading, I'll take what I can get at this point. I've only got one thing left to say (and I never thought I'd be praising NBC in a post about the decline of TV): thank God for "Community."

For further thoughts on "The Chicago Code", "Terriers", "Lights Out", and "Justified", check out The Not Just New Movies Podcast. Follow me on Twitter (@BenPears), GeekTyrant (@GeekTyrant), and The NJNM Podcast (@NJNMPodcast).