Ten blacks

Until 2014, not all good series lived. Part closed due to low ratings, others died for natural plot reasons, and others from old age. We have collected ten series that deserve epitaphs.

Dexter ("Dexter")

2007-2013, showTime

In 2007, it was a quite ordinary series about a maniac that experiences remorse and therefore kills only bad - very bad people. But the main character, Dexter Morgan, changed as the television space around him changed. By 2013, too many skeletons accumulated in the closet at the dester. Because of him, some good heroes died and the others were bent under the weight of unbearable moral cargo. He fell in love with much less scrupulous than himself, a serial killer. The case almost came to incest with the sister (however, consolidated). In general, he behaved all the last season not according to Shakespeare, but according to Dostoevsky, savoring his own fall. The finale of the series put an interesting psychological experiment over the viewer, which is impossible to describe without spoilers. We only note that after this denouement you can no longer say that the dester is not enough for us.

“Breaking Bad” (“Breaking Bad”)

2008-2013, AMC

The favorite series of Anthony Hopkins and Stephen King ended, unlike Dexter, triumphantly: Emmy's prizes for the main male role and the best dramatic series and the highest assessment of critics ( 99 out of 100 ). The final watched 10.3 million spectators, at the end of the series it was decided to remove the spin-off and put the opera of the same name in New York. There are already so many laudatory words about the history of a mortally ill teacher of chemistry, which has become a drug lord that there is nothing to add to this.

"Futurama" ("Futurama")

1999-2013, Comedy Central

The fantastic animated animal, who once collected up to 19 million spectators at the same time, in the seventh, final season, rarely watched more than a million loyal fans. Over the 14 years of existence with the show, what was not happening - from prizes in all ratings of telemults to seven years of animation before moving from the Fox channel to the Comedy Central . Futurama significantly enriched the hipster vocabulary (see the idiom “Blackjack and whores”) and contributed to science: her screenwriter Ken Kiler, the owner of a doctoral degree in applied mathematics, invented and proved the so-called theorem of “Futurama” (something like tasks about a wolf, a goat and cabbage-but about many bodies that an exchange of leisure occurs). This was the whole of Futurama - a wild, in places obscene, but witty trash. Now the creators are looking for a new shelter for this comedian: the Comedy Central channel refused the show.

"Studio 30" ("30 Rock")

2006-2013, NBC

A drunk sitcom about the staff of the TV channel, who, being exhausted, make an evening news sketch. Starring - Alec Baldwin and one of the best American scriptwriters Tina Fei, who came up with this series. Every week, “Studio 30” mocked the invited superstars - then the Winfrey, then Steve Martin, then Jennifer Eniston, which did not prevent superstars from lining up in line for participation in the show. This endless “blue light”, as well as the “news service” of the screenwriter Aaron Sormina, became for the Americans a way of reflection of the national media agenda. All the important that happened to the country certainly was reflected in the series. For seven seasons, he did not so sank according to the ratings, but it seems that the Aleku Balduin and other stars can pay to pay the NBC to continue to pay inappropriate. And although the creative team agreed to cut salaries, the leadership decided to close the show.

"Southern Territory" ("Southland")

2009-2013, NBC and TNT

An exemplary policeman Noir-and so far the only series in the world that managed to show the truthful and everyday Los Angeles, without Hollywood gloss of “handsome” or “prodigal California”. The main characters are simple patrol policemen, going crazy with an abnormal heat, creeping corruption and other local customs. The scheme of their movements around the city resembled a maze. The heroes made mistakes, broke, closed in themselves, Satanels and, apparently, after a season-two would become more dangerous than California bandits-but because of the low ratings of the show were closed. Instead, “ Mob City” is now on TNT -not such a realistic police story about the city of angels in the 40s.

"Spartak" ("Spartacus")

2010-2013, Starz

The first season of Spartak seemed a sharp blade cast from a alloy of three noble metals. The first source of inspiration is the “gladiator” of Ridley Scott, who has already become a classic of a study about human dignity, male fraternity and the struggle for freedom. The second is the steroid action filter “300” of Zach Snyder with his computer visionary, bloody ristles and an almost fascist cult of the body. Beautiful naked women in the cinema and series are an obligatory point of the program, but the authors of Spartak, like Snyder, took care of those who like to admire naked men. If stripper players played by the Spartans, then in Spartak the gladiators depict fitness models and bodybuilders. However, according to ancient tradition, the series is rich not only in spectacles, but also with bread. As in Rome, HBO -the third source of inspiration for the creators of Spartak, each episode is something like a “other day” and talks about the life, morals and culture of the Roman Empire. Alas, after the first season, actor Andy Whitfield, who played Spartak, was diagnosed with cancer. While he struggled with the illness, the prequel came out - the “gods of the arena” - about the exploits of secondary heroes. But it turned out that the show was held precisely on Whitfield, the owner of not only impeccable muscles, but also dramatic talent. In 2011, the actor died, he was replaced by similarly, but not internally by Liam Maccontire. By 2013, the epic ended quietly. There are rumors about a possible continuation - where it will be about the coming to power of the Triumvirate (Julia Caesar, Mark Crassus and Gnei Pompey), but it will already be more likely a cooperative of the Lake, and not the “gladiator”.

"To start!" ("Go on")

2012-2013, NBC

A comedy about a group of psychological support, which began for the hero as a severe duty, and eventually became a new family. Sports commentator Ryan King, who lost his wife, is played by the aged Matthew Perry (Chandler from Friends). He is the most normal in this show, the rest are real freaks. The series often overdo it with the centers and ultra -toned humor, but performed the therapeutic function one hundred percent. The characters are written in such a way that every viewer can find himself in them and make sure that all problems can be solved. Strictly dosed cynicism and irony kept this story from falling into a melodramatic abyss. Perry, taking advantage of the connections, lured his colleagues in “Friends” and other TV stars into the series. Alas, this did not help: the ratings fell steadily.

"Ripper Street" (Ripper Street)

2012-2013, BBC

England, the end of the 19th century, the work of Jack the Ripper is closed, but London is still paralyzed by fear. Inspector Edmund Reed and his two assistants - an adventurer from America and a conservative Briton are trying to put things in order. As it was started on the BBC channel, the heroes not only investigate crimes, but also study history together with the audience. Through stories - the construction of the subway, the spread of opium, the first film screenings, colonial wars, ethnic conflicts, and a telegraph revolution. Starring - wonderful actors, inspector Reed plays Matthew McFadien, known for the film adaptations of Emily Bronte, Jane Ostin and Leo Tolstoy. His partner is Jerome Flynn, who played the mercenary of Bronn in the “Game of Thrones”. By the way, Reed is by no means fictional: his prototype not only made a brilliant career in Scotland Yard, but was also an aviator, a focalist, a singer, actor and a little druid. He had his own theory regarding the gip: that he committed all his murders in alcohol unconsciousness. I would like to watch the series, where it turns out to be a gip, without suspecting it himself, the inspector Reed himself.

"City of Dreams" ("Magic City")

2012-2013, Starz

The response of the Starz channel to the famous "madmen": also the very end of the fifties, also the plexus of human destinies against the background of great changes. In this case, we are talking about the managing luxurious hotel in Miami (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a comedian from the Keeper film-comic book), his wife-dancer (ex-girl Bond Olga Kurilenko) and mafia boss (Danny Houston, the main vampire from “30 days of the night”). The authors, it seems, not so much understand and feel the format of retro drama as they imitate it. It turns out not very substantial, but scary beautifully - clubs of cigarette smoke, white tuxedos, black glasses, toy convertibles, Elvis, Sinatra and the Cuban revolution at the side. But for inexperienced spectators, all this is too non -obvious compensation for the clumsy drama. And the sophisticated quickly felt falsity.

Park Avenue 666 (666 Park Avenue)

2012-2013, ABC

The story at the junction of two classic topics for American cinema - the embodiment of the American dream and clashes of inhabitants with omnipotent evil. A beautiful, young and purposeful couple of newlyweds moves to New York to make a career. Temporarily they huddle in the elite condominium on Manhattan - as assistants to the owner. The omnipotent Mr. Dran (Terry O'Kuinn - he is John Locke from Lost ) controls the residential complex, in front of which even super -successful residents of the elite house - financiers, writers, surgeons, movie stasods. The main intrigue of the series is given by the name: Daran - Satan himself, the tenants were sold to him into slavery, and now the battle for the souls of two newcomers begins. The show is most of the time on Twin Peaks and the American Horror History, but in one of the series, the corporate part of Satan finds quite Bulgakov outlines, in the others something like a sincere youth drama. It did not reach the second season: the competition in the segment of the city devilry is too high.