Bust For Boomtown?

My favorite cop show this year, Boomtown, the new drama from NBC, hasn’t been on for a few weeks, so I went to their site to see what’s up. The site proclaims, ominously, “An upcoming episode has not yet been selected. Please check back later.” Uh,oh. . .

Then, I see a review in the local paper for a new NBC drama, “Kingpin.” It’s in the same time slot where Boomtown was. It’s scheduled all the way into March—in that same slot. Why don’t the shitheads at NBC just admit it—Boomtown is getting the axe. NBC used to be the one network that had a reputation for sticking with quality shows and allowing some time for an audience to develop. No more, apparently.

I was afraid this would happen. Boomtown was too intelligent, and too innovative in its format and story line to draw an audience in today’s vacuous entertainment climate. The replacement, “Kingpin,” sounds like a poor man’s Sopranos—featuring L.A. Mexicans and, you guessed it—drugs—instead of New Jersey Italians and labor racketeering.

Latinos/Drugs—how overworked is that one? I’m not holding my breath. Network TV has reached a dumbed-down level this year that rivals the bad old days. Thank God for HBO.

As for the fate of Boomtown, maybe my fellow fan of the show, Dave Rogers, Professor of All Things Southern Californian, has heard some scuttlebutt down there in the palm canyons. Tell me it ain’t so, Dave.