Staying In

Every year, dozens of pilots are passed upon and never see the light of day. Viewers are none the wiser and continue to watch American Idol.

But this year, one pilot made quite the brouhaha when it wasn’t picked up: The CW’s Body Politic, a drama about twentysomethings working, living and loving in Washington, D.C., as congressional staffers, journalists and the like. See some clips from the pilot presentation here.

Bloggers and entertainment sites like Zap2It.com, E! Online and The Sofa Chip were declaring it “the best pilot you won’t see next season.” Online TV fans were up in arms, having no doubt latched onto the pilot thanks to its cast of talented, young actors, each of whom comes with his or her own built-in cult fanbase: Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Gabrielle Union (Ugly Betty, Bring It On), Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars, Moonlight), Brian Austin Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Jenny Wade (Reaper) and Jay Hernandez (Six Degrees).

While I would definitely watch this show, I understand why the CW didn’t pick it up. Minka Kelly, who plays the lead, was my least favorite actress on Friday Night Lights and her voiceovers are quite irksome. Thankfully, her character’s name was changed from the very loaded Hope to Frankie. The ending made me roll my eyes. Basically, it’s not as perfect as all the raves suggested. But very few pilots are.

The bigger problem is that Body Politic would stick out like a sore thumb among the CW’s shows. It’s a hopeful, earnest show about friendship, politics and how one person can change the world. Sure, there’s sex and melodrama and pretty, young people, but nobody here is modeling or taking drugs or getting arrested. They’re sitting on a rooftop patio cutting out newspaper articles. When’s the last time you saw someone on the CW read a newspaper? It’s a great change of pace and a nice, fresh POV for CW viewers, but the network has developed a brand. A “pretty, young rich people with high-scale problems” brand.* And they seem to be happy with it. Judging from the pilots the network did order to series, they’ve managed to polish that brand even further into something shiny and enticing. I have nothing against it. I watch and enjoy most of these shows.

*The one exception on the CW’s pickup slate is the warm, funny midseason show Life UneXpected. Perhaps the network only had room for one show about normal people?

Could Body Politic have changed that image and been a turning point for the CW? Maybe. Could it have failed and been canceled before season’s end? Definitely. Look at that cast. It’s fantastic, but you know what most of them have in common? They were on shows that were canceled. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reaper, Veronica Mars, Moonlight, Six Degrees and Friday Night Lights is only still around because of DirecTV. Their fans are loud and mighty, but ultimately a small, vocal minority that can’t sustain a show. Because of the shows’ crossover appeal, it’s doubtful that all those fanbases coming together would make one giant audience. I watched four of those canceled shows. I imagine I wasn’t the only one to watch more than one of them. I am only one person playing for four different teams.

But as the Body Politic actors move on — Union has joined Flash Forward, Green is guest starring on Smallville — maybe it’s time to put down the pitchforks and look at the bigger picture.

Body Politic is only one victim of the network’s shunning of D.C.-based shows. According to a New York Times article from June, five D.C.-based series were in development for the fall season. In addition to Body Politic, CBS had House Rules and Washington Field, while ABC had See Cate Run and Inside the Box.

Not one of them was picked up.