In the arena of popular culture, May is always one of the saddest months.

Why?

Well, because invariably, some long-running and beloved television show comes to the end of their line during season-ending sweeps. Sometimes there’s even a nationwide frenzy surrounding a treasured program’s demise, the most extreme example to date of mass audience mourning being the overheated reaction to the Seinfeld finale of several years back. But whether it’s an over the top reaction such as the farewell afforded Jerry and his associates, or the more low-key bye-bye’s directed towards several of this year’s departing programs — like The West Wing and Malcolm In The Middle, or the slightly more elaborate send-off’s bestowed upon Will and Grace and That 70’s Show — America annually gets out their collective hankies to bid adieu to some of their favorite TV characters.

Except, of course, when those TV characters originated inside the pages of a pulpy four-color comic book.

Think about it — has there ever been a comics-related show that went off the air blissfully wallowing in a country-wide swathe of melancholia? Back when the iconic Adventures of Superman shut down production, people weren’t yet conditioned to mourn the passing of a favorite television show much the way they would a close relative — and besides, until George Reeves met his unfortunate end, there was always a possibility of that show coming back for yet another season.

Then there was Batman.

When that Adam West camp-fest burst onto the scene in January of 1966, it was an immediate sensation, the likes of which had rarely been seen before — or since. Little over two years later, though, it quietly limped off the air, its welcome worn out in seeming record time. There were no “Final Batman episode” parties in March of ‘68, folks! (Though, considering what I’ve written about the show in the past, you can be excused for thinking that yours truly may’ve been throwing a celebratory shindig that very evening — but no, didn’t happen…)

After that, what have we got? Spider-Man? The Flash? Sable? Birds of Prey, fer gosh sakes? None of those shows lasted long enough for most Americans to even realize they were ON the air, so there was certainly no sentimental outpouring when they left those selfsame airwaves. And syndicated offerings like Swamp Thing, Superboy, and Night Man were off in their own obscure corners of the ever-expanding television schedule, so only their loyalist fans ever took the time to shed a tear or two when their inevitable end came.

The Incredible Hulk? Wonder Woman? Both shows had decent runs, true, but I wouldn’t term either one an across the board hit, either. I’ll be honest here — I only ever watched the debut episode of The Incredible Hulk (though I DID catch the trio of latter day reunion telefilms, which I suppose, was SOME evidence of the show’s enduring appeal amongst a more general public), and just a handful of Wonder Woman episodes, mostly in its forties-era situated initial season. Without actually having viewed their final shows, I’m reasonably certain that they WEREN’T the sort of “hail and farewell, tie up all loose ends” thingies that Friends, Cheers, and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer got to go out on. I think that’s mainly due to the fact that these shows don’t actually go out on their own terms, but were canceled while still desperately trying to hang on.

Which brings us to Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

This show ran four seasons on ABC and was a mild hit for the network. I liked it quite a bit myself (well, at least until the last season, but more on that in a moment). The series was a lot of fun, a nicely done mix of comedy, romance, and adventure, ably acted by an attractive cast. Hey, sorry Noel, Phyllis, and Margot — Teri Hatcher immediately became my favorite Lois Lane — AND the main reason I took a chance on Desperate Housewives last year! Dean Cain did a fine job as well, though I always thought it was interesting that he was made to look more appealing as Clark Kent, with the often wind-swept hair, than he was as Superman, who generally had HIS locks slicked entirely back, making him look like a muscle-bound Gilbert Gottfried! Well, at least he didn’t SOUND like him too…Things all went suddenly, shockingly downhill when the pair got hitched during the last season — and no, I wouldn’t blame the show’s deterioration on the mere fact that Lois and Clark married. The concept COULD’VE worked, but only with decent writing, but sadly, decent writing was nowhere to be found that last season. Truth is, I STILL have several of the program’s last episodes on tape somewhere, unwatched. I MEANT to get to them, honest I did, but somehow, I could never quite bring myself to do so, not with the memory of that horrific wedding episode still fresh in mind. I hear tell the couple were thinking about having a baby, but even that intriguing potential storyline wasn’t enough to save the show, and after such a promising start — both quality and popularity-wise — it simply vanished from sight in the spring of 1996. Faster than a speeding bullet indeed…

(Gee, y’know, that kid would be ten now, wouldn’t he (or she)? Wonder if he (or she)’s being kept in some kryptonite-aided stasis field buried deep in “Susan’s basement on Wisteria Lane? Hope not, cuz that’d probably be enough to kill THAT show, too…)

But y’know, there actually WAS one comics-based network televised program that was given a moderately respectful send-off after a long run: Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

While hardly of Seinfeld proportions, when Sabrina’s magic finally faded (not to mention star Melissa Joan Hart’s waning youthfulness) in 2002 after seven solid seasons, the folks at ABC were accommodating enough to allow the producers (many of whom were members of the Hart family, coincidentally enough) to do up a final episode, invite a few departed cast members back, and tie up the long-running romance between Sabrina and the mortal Harvey in a reasonably satisfactory manner.Hey, I’ll admit it — I watched every episode!

Partially, that was due to the fact that daughter Julie was six when the show debuted, and she was already a fan of star Hart’s earlier Clarissa Explains It All over on Nickelodeon, so it seemed like it’d be good show for us to watch together, what with its four-color roots. We kept watching because, at least over the first several seasons, it was also a genuinely good show. It was clever, it was hip (Penn and Teller had recurring roles early on, for instance), and it was actually able to pull off the trick of being funny without ever resorting to the pervasive — and oh-so-easy — suggestive material found on every other sitcom, without ever seeming sugar-coated in the process. Look, I have no problem with raunchy yocks, but I had to admire the way Sabrina was able to skillfully avoid them, and yet STILL manage to regularly elicit laughter.

But, after a fast start, the show eventually leveled off, and it seemed as if every year, the concept was overhauled and new background characters were continually rotated in as others were discarded without explanation. They even dumped Sabrina’s two aunts that last season, only one of which later elected to return for the big send-off (Penn and Teller were nowhere in sight either). Sabrina the Teenage Witch got to say goodbye all right, but it was maybe two or three years later than it should have. There were no fluffy interviews eating up time on network news programs to mark its passing. Too bad — I would’ve loved to have witnessed Barbara Walters asking that talking cat what kind of tree he wanted to be!

(Nick Bakay as Salem — he was the TRUE star of that show, and the source of an awful lot of my heart felt guffaws those seven magical years!…)

So currently, that leaves us with Smallville.

This show seems to be a hit of sorts, though being on a smaller network, I’m not really sure how wide-ranging a fan-base it truly has. Odds are though, when it does shut down production, it WILL be given the fond farewell salute. The intensity will no doubt fall somewhere between that of Seinfeld and Sabrina (closer to the latter, I’d imagine), and its finale, much like the freshly departed West Wing, will be more of a beginning than an ending. Just as that show morphed into “Mr. Smits Goes To Washington” as Martin Sheen tuned his office over to successor Matt Santos, the eventual end of Smallville can only mean one thing:

SuperMAN.

Gee, I wonder if Gilbert Gottfried’s gonna be available?…

Stay tuned…

But in the meantime, you can always visit Hembeck.com, my MySpace page, or send along a personal message — ain’t the Internet grand?

Copyright 2006 Fred Hembeck

Comments: None