RIP Perfect Couples... You Were Just Getting Good

I like to bring up the NBC series 100 Questions, because it used to air after Community – the disconnect from a nimble, funny show to a clunker with a laugh track was so insane that it used to make tears well up in my eyes. Going from Community to 100 Questions (with only one commercial break in-between) was like finding yourself passive and bored with the rebound relationship after a short and incredible but ill-fated relationship with someone you genuinely liked and understood.

In September 2010, with Community safely renewed and airing its second season, NBC seemed to throw the same type of curve-ball at me. By this time I knew exactly the flavor of heartache to expect. Perfect Couples was a huge stinker. Generic, had a laugh track, was about three yuppie couples. I turned the TV off in disgust, "They're going to shit-can that show so hard all the actors will need neck-braces."

Between September 2010 and February 2011 Perfect Couples became a decent show to watch. It was a pleasant surprise. Apparently they had learned from their errors and made improvements. The cast was alright, and even though the show was still on the generic side, it actually had some funny moments. Of course the show was shit-canned recently and replaced by a bizarre and twisted wreck that nobody loved. I was right, but at what price?

I feel sorry for NBC. Perfect Couples could've been one of those shows that ends up being better than what it copies. Friends wasn't as good as nostalgia leads you to believe. It was, quite often, an arid wasteland of puerile yuppie pretensions and sexual tension (which really sold the show). With Perfect Couples the relationship units were already established, so there was less tension,  but then again, one of them contained Olivia Munn. The rest of the cast was also good, but everyone is waiting to see if Olivia Munn is going to end up anywhere other than the one-a-month reports for Jon Stewart.

There's not much more to say. I can't find the show anywhere and I don't want to look around for it. If it was still on TV I might've watched it another two or three times in my life, and it probably would've amused me. It just worries me that networks don't have the patience to try out many shows beyond the first season, and that their analysts apparently don't give breathing room for increased performance.

Remember Cheers? Cheers was not at first a smash hit, but TV afficionadoes still refer to it like it's a god. But I guess Cheers was a 'critical success'... who holds those keys, anyway?