HBO Canceled Enlightened: 6 Reasons I Think That’s a Huge Mistake

Usually after an amazing workout, I’m in good spirits—like when after weeks and weeks, I finally mastered the dance break down in Beyonce’s Single Ladies video. So why was I humming Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Tha Crossroads as I was exiting my yoga class yesterday?

Because I’d just read Deadline‘s report that HBO sent its critically acclaimed series Enlightened off to TV heaven. And no, I’m not talking about the TV heaven that’s portrayed in those Philadelphia Cream Cheese commercials where the angels who have just died are chilling on cloud couches and eating bagels instead of freaking the freak out about being dead. I’m talking about the TV heaven where shows are canceled, thus sending people like Laura Dern and the rest of the Enlightened cast and crew to the unemployment line to get a check that will just barely allow them to afford boxes of Bisquick and government cheese.

Why, lord, why do bad things happen to good people? I mean, I do understand that the show’s ratings were dismal, which I’ll address below, but the acting was phenomenal, the writing and direction was excellent, and the point of view—a lead female character whose main mode of action wasn’t finding or being saved by a man—was something that pleased folks like me who had their fill of updated versions of damsel of distress on television. Unfortunately, those factors weren’t good enough for HBO to not send the show to the left, but maybe the following will make it reconsider its decision (or inspire Netflix to pick up the series for at least for another season).

Here are six reasons I think HBO’s decision was wrong:

1) Mike White and Laura Dern, Enlightened co-creators and costars, go together like pigtails and double dutch competitions. Seriously, they were one of TV’s most talented combo. Together, they told the interesting story of Amy Jellicoe (Dern), a woman in her 40s who is trying to get her life back on track after a meltdown and a stint in rehab and who hopes to no longer be a cog in the corporate machine. Not the easiest and mainstream premise for a show. I get that. But the people who got into the show, really got into the show. You won’t find any fair-weather fans here. And that’s thanks to White and Dern painting a world that felt so utterly real and moving. Many shows attempt to do that, but end up simply doing a facsimile of reality and emotion. Like you know you’re supposed to be sad because certain plot contrivances are created to get your tear ducts working. However, with Enlightened, White, who wrote every episode, and Dern weren’t trying to find an easy way to make me feel something. And that’s the mark of a true artist. They simple trusted in the quality of their work rather than looking to manipulate the viewer. I sure hope they do more projects in the future.

2) Just like girl friends high-fiving after a pregnancy scare that turns out to be false, HBO having a show as interesting, different, and original as Enlightened was totes natch (a.k.a. natural). This network is known for taking risks with its programming: The Sopranos, The Wire, Big Love, and Oz, just to name a few. Heck, the network’s slogan is “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” So clearly, it’s about going outside the box of what non-cable TV is doing and pushing the envelope in terms of the kinds of stories that are told. And an unmarried 40-year-old who isn’t crying into her Ben & Jerry’s because she doesn’t have chillrens yet is a pretty big envelope to push. And if you can’t do that on HBO now, I’m wondering where can you do it? Netflix? Maybe. Hopefully. Netflix, please pick this show up!

3) The supporting cast is the definition of amazeballs. Because all the actors are so fantastic, my ritual before watching a new episode was similar to a woman’s reaction, when after a long day of bra shopping, she finally finds one that supports her chesticles without being ugly and uncomfortable:

Seriously, the actors on the show were just that good. Sure, the show was really a showcase for Laura, but there were also standalone eps that focused on her drug addict ex-husband Levi (Luke Wilson), her withholding mother (played by Dern’s real life mother, Diane Ladd), and her partner-in-crime co-worker Tyler (Mike White). Doing this allowed them to become multidimensional people right before my eyes. No one is purely a hero; no one is purely terrible. Like human beings, each character had their flaws and their moments where they triumphed. And I never had that thought, which I often do when watching a TV show, You know, if character XYZ wasn’t on this show, it would be perfect. Enlightened‘s cast already was.

4) #RealTalk, HBO has worse shows on its lineup. I’m talking about you, True Blood. Sure, the show started out being great, campy fun, but it has dissolved into a hot mess. The cliffhangers are now tiresome, too many of the characters are underwritten, and I’m so tired of vampire Bill saying, “Sookie,” in that atrocious Southern accent every 30 seconds. I know him doing this is supposed to get female viewers all hot and bothered, but my vajayjay reacted the way I do when I’m trash-talking someone at work until I realize she’s standing right behind me and is surrounded by co-workers holding a birthday cake as they’re about to sing “Happy Birthday” to her, so I have to pretend I was just kidding and that I’m really into her and her b’day:

The point is that TB‘s quality has steadily declined, despite maintaining a decent-size audience, while Enlightened, which got better from season to season, was given the axe, and that makes zero sense to me. The amount of money that HBO makes from shows like True Blood and Game of Thrones is way more than the entire budget for both seasons of Enlightened. So it couldn’t have been a financial burden to keep that show on the lineup. And from a brand perspective, it’s actually in HBO’s favor to keep both water-cooler shows as well as the high-quality ones that don’t garner huge ratings. Doing so makes a statement to the rest of the TV landscape that it’s not just in the business of making money, but in the business of having better taste than the non-cable networks who just don’t “get” underground shows.

5) Just like when people challenge me to a game of Words With Friends and I go, “Oh, I don’t know. I can’t read,” and then I school them, HBO played Enlightenment by acting as though it truly supported the show, but then rarely, if ever, promoted it. Let’s get straight to the point: Enlightened‘s ratings were as much of a sight for sore eyes as Stevie Wonder still wearing braids even though half the hair on his head has put in their 15 years’ notice a.k.a. he’s been balding for almost half as long as I’ve been alive, so cut the damn braids off, put on a Kangol hat, and call it a day. Moving on. Enlightened simply never had many viewers. As the Deadline article noted, “Its second season premiere only managed to get 300,000 as it lost a third of the viewership of its lead-in, Girls.” But is that entirely the show’s fault? I don’t think so. I’m going to be honest; I didn’t even know Enlightened existed until about a month and a half ago. During its first season, it aired on Mondays. Really? Does anyone watch HBO on Mondays? We all know that Sunday is its prime night for original programming, so HBO’s decision to place it on Monday nights and only do a paltry amount promotion, was a recipe called “I Hope E’erybody in the Cast Has Updated Their Monster.com Resumes Because This Show’s Not Gonna Last Long.” And even when HBO tried to do Enlightened a solid by having it air after Girls during the second season, it didn’t do much beyond that. Again, the promotion was not there. It was almost as if HBO accepted the fact it was working from a deficit, so it didn’t even try.

__6) Shows about grown-ass women need to be on the air. __Yes, it’s true that we are in the midst of a golden era for actresses on TV, but honestly, it’s really a golden era for girls, not women. In an episode of New Girl, Zooey Deschanel’s character couldn’t say the word “penis” (cue eyeroll), on Girls, Lena Dunham & Co. struggle with not mooching off their parents, and on The Mindy Project, Mindy Kaling’s character, despite being a successful doctor and having a full life, literally behaves like a boy crazy high-schooler any time there’s a single dude around. These are girl problems. But where are the women problems? And I don’t mean menopause, but rather, problems that have gravitas and aren’t solved by a cute guy showing up. Amy Jellicoe filled that void. She wasn’t a scheming senator’s wife or an ingenue with big eyes and a “Golly, this world is kind of big and scary,” look on her face. She was a grown-ass woman who was really trying to do something great with her life (and screwing up along the way). And yes, we have learned that’s not as easily marketable as Lena Dunham dancing to Robyn’s Dancing on My Own, but I challenge HBO and other networks to keep making and start promoting shows about adult women who are just as multilayered as the Walter Whites and the Tony Sopranos of the world. And I challenge audiences to view a TV show that has a female at its center, who is just as complex, tricky, and unlikeable at times as male leads are allowed to be (and are celebrated because of those factors), as not a female show; therefore, unrelatable or not as worthy, but as a show that demands to be watched and is worthy of being talked about.

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What do you think? If you watched Enlightened, are you as upset as I am about it getting canceled?__

Photo: HBO