TVSquad

Television history is chock full of long-running shows that rank among the greatest of all time. Cheers. M*A*S*H. Gunsmoke. Cosby. The Simpsons. Then there are some long-running shows that have been recognized for their quality at some point or another, even though they may have had a few final years of mediocrity. ER and Law & Order are falling into this category.

But there were some shows... boy, they just wouldn't go away. They were never critically acclaimed, or caught any watercooler buzz; they often didn't even win their timeslots. But for one reason or another, the network saw fit to renew them, year after year, until they started crawling up the list of all-time longest-running shows.

I've been trolling the message boards, and I can see that Mac and Harm (if you've never seen the show and the names confuse you, Mac is a woman and Harm is a man) finally "got together." But I also see that there was some sort of ambiguous ending (involving a coin flip?), and too much plot about Vic, whoever that is. I have to admit I haven't watched the show since the fall of 2000. If anyone watched it, let us know the details in the comments below. I do know that the finale had great ratings. 

Approximately 490 times in the past week, CBS has run a teaser for the series finale of JAG (tonight at 9), asking viewers the question "how will it end?" Let's look at the possibilities:

• Harm wakes up in his bed after a nightmare, turns on the light, and finds Suzanne Pleshette in his bed.
• Mac discovers that Harm is a robot.
• In an ode to The Crying Game, Harm finds out that Mac is...
• Harm and Mac end up together

You can go to the CBS.com site and take a (real) poll. But look at the question and the options: The question: Mac & Harm: Will they or won't they? And the answers are "definitely will," "definitely won't," and "I'll watch the series finale to find out." Now, first of all, will they or won't they what? Have sex? Get married? Buy a new computer? Cash in their 401ks? And as for the options, can't you answer that they will or they won't and that you're going to watch the finale?

CBS has cancelled the long-running (it lasted 10 years?!) drama. The last original episode will air in April. David James Elliot had already announced that he was leaving the show, so it's not a huge surprise that the show is kaput. But it's amazing that it has lasted this long, considering it was cancelled after one season on NBC in the mid 90s. Meanwhile, during those 10 years, fantastic shows like fx's Lucky, CBS' Buddy Faro, Fox's Profit, Keen Eddie and John Doe are cancelled after only a handful of episodes. There is a place in hell reserved for the TV execs who cancelled these shows, where they are forced to watch an endless video loop of the American version of Coupling over and over and over again. 

It's time for the networks to start making hard decisions about what shows to keep and what to let go. We're not surprised to learn American Dreams probably won't be back and two stars have already signed on to other shows. Third Watch is already gone. Medical Investigation is dead weight that can easily go. A big surprise might come when JAG sees its last days now that David James Elliot leaves. Although many a Maxim cover can attest that Catherine Bell could carry a show on her own, just not with the female fans of JAG. I don't see why actors like Catherine Bell can't get their own shows. I'd also like to see folks like James Marsters wind up in a current show that needs new life, like say Law & Order (any of them) or The Shield (OK just fanboy wishing there).