TVSquad

I'd like to say I'm surprised by this, but I'm not. ABC has canceled Men in Trees. Despite being one of the genuinely sweet and funny comedy/dramas on the network -- one that's more rooted in reality than flights of whimsy and pretentiousness -- Men in Trees has struggled to find a home on ABC. It's been shuttled about from day to day, time slot to time slot, in and out of the line up so that it became a gypsy. How were you as a viewer to invest in the romantic adventure that Marin Frist was on in the wilds of Alaska when you weren't sure when the dang show was going to air? A failed attempt to put the show on Lifetime back in March spelled doom for the show.

(S01E17) After feeling like we've been treading water over the last few episodes, this one really felt like the show started moving forward again. Jack and Lynn are getting married, Mai and Sylvia are planning a wedding, Sarah is moving on with her career, Annie and Patrick are meeting her parents, and Marin is having boy troubles of a different kind. I have to admit that I was getting a little tired of this show after last week but this episode was invigorating.

(S01E16) No, that's not a typo. The title of this episode is really a play on Marin Frist.

Well, I liked this episode a heck of a lot more than last week's. I think Marin had a very relatable problem. She couldn't get comfortable with Lynn and kept trying to overcompensate for it, making herself and everyone else uncomfortable in the process. She's one of those girls who wants people to like her and so she goes a little overboard in buying Lynn a really expensive, gigantic stroller for her baby shower. She also buys muffins and coffee for her contractors, who are walking all over her in renovating her home. She learned a good lesson in the end, but it was Lynn who had to force it upon her. She makes a good point: those two may never be comfortable with each other.

(S01E15) It's men versus women this week in Elmo. I found it laughable that the two New York women (Marin & Jane) kept insisting that they were just like the men in Alaska. Their differences have nothing to do with gender, it has to do with where they're from and how they live their lives. It actually bothered me that these differences were portrayed as differences between men and women. And, Marin's problem with the "no strings attached" relationship is not a girl-only thing.

Grrrrrr.

(S01E10) Good news! Men in Trees performed well in its new 10 pm slot last night. It retained 51% of Grey's Anatomy's audience. That is an improvement over the show in the former slot, Six Degrees, which only held onto 38% of Grey's audience.

This whole episode was about Marin's discovery that she belongs in Alaska, and not in New York City. While I think we all knew that Marin wasn't going to stay in NYC, I still found her journey captivating/sweet. There were a lot of signs that NYC wasn't the right place for her: the broken showerhead, the loud parties, all the people. I liked how she kept apologizing to people she bumped into on the street. The dove was obviously a metaphor for Marin's predicament: the city has caused her to lose her way. She came to the conclusion that Alaska was the right place for her without having to be told anything by Jack, a small gesture on the part of the writers that helps strengthen Marin's character. When this series began, I liked Marin but now I like her even more. She has become less girly (although the list comparing Elmo to NYC was super girly) and more of an independent person.

(S01E09) First of all, let's all give ABC three cheers for finally giving Men in Trees a decent time slot. Actually, it's a pretty terrific time slot-- directly after Grey's Anatomy, which had more than 13 million viewers last week. That's the highest rated show on television right now and it's going to be a lead-in for Men in Trees. Spectacular! ABC has also picked up a full season of Men in Trees. It's funny, really. ABC originally scheduled Ugly Betty and Men in Trees for Friday nights and now they're both on the biggest night of television.