Grace canceled. After this season. Which was extended.

Well, boys and girls, its official.  Saving Grace has been canceled. A year, or so, from now, Grace Hanadarko will … er … grace our television screens no longer. Yeah, I said a year.  TNT moved the second half of this season, originally scheduled to run this winter, to next summer, and added three more episodes, for a total of nine. It’s definitely the kind of cancellation I would have loved for Journeyman, Firefly, or Defying Gravity (just hedging my bets, but Brett is going to remind us all how poorly it’s doing).

It will be a shame to see this show go. Nothing I’ve seen on TV has taken such an interesting approach to examining religion. The hard living Grace as some kind of unwitting agent of God, assisted by her “last chance angel” Earl…. That’s just not a pitch I expect is heard often in the offices of network executives. The show could be uneven at times (I’m still trying to figure out when Ham and Grace stopped seeing each other this season; I know it happened, but I don’t remember it happening), but overall, Grace was a unique show, and a great part of TNT’s lineup.

Extending the season the season to include a couple more episodes probably gives the writers an opportunity to bring the series to a natural close (not sure how much, if any, of the back half has been broken or shot), TNT marketed tonight’s episode as the “season” finale (though, had they been doing that before the cancellation announcement?). I hope they know where they want to take things, as I think the overall narrative of this season as been pretty lacking.

You might as well call this summer Saving Grace 3: The Search for Neely, as it has been the main storyline much of the season. Frankly, that search worked about as well as its Star Trek analogue: Ultimately successful, but boring as hell in the meantime. We never were given a reason to care about her. We never got to know her, nor were we (or Grace) ever told why she was important, just that she was important. Grace may have not truly connected with Leon Cooley until the very end, but the audience got to know him from episode one. Not so much here. I think that the show has suffered greatly with the importance placed on the character without ever really explaining it.

I also think that there was a lot of opportunity missed with evolving Grace’s character this season. Let’s face it, the woman went through a lot, but came out from each instance seemingly unchanged. When you look at the list, it looks like God was testing Grace, but as there was no consequence, there was no change. Certainly feels like they dropped the ball. Along those same lines, Bobby sure recovered from his demons rather quickly at the beginning of the season.

Don’t get me wrong, though, as otherwise I think the show had a very strong season. Other storylines have worked considerably better and certain elements of each episodes have really stood out. What — examples you ask for? Well, Earl’s reaction to Grace’s kidnapping, including the “angel search party,” is an immediate stand out. Grace being tempted by another angel, Grace’s reaction to her family being targeted, the introduction of Butch’s fiance…. All good stuff, but that good work is easily discarded when two women survive a jump from a twelve story building.

What I will miss most about the show (other than the practical jokes), was the constant undertone of survival. Many television shows are set in New York, so we occasionally see the affects of 9/11 on their characters. Grace, set in Oklahoma City, lives in the shadow of the Murrah Building bombing. Especially early in its run, the exploration of how that event still reverberates in that community fourteen years later. The writers have done a great job reminding the rest of the country of a tragedy I think we too often forget.

Clacked by Ivey West
on Aug 19, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT