R.I.P. Men In Trees – Another Bubble Show Bites The Dust

In another WTF turn of events, ABC has officially cancelled Men In Trees. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it is a consistently charming romantic comedy about a relationship expert, Marin Frist (played by the wonderfully talented Anne Heche), who finds herself transplanted from her native New York to Elmo, Alaska while promoting her new book. When she finds out that her fiancé had been cheating on her, she decides to make the change in latitude more permanent. The show starts as a fish out of water story, with the city girl having problems adapting to a small town mentality. But the incredible ensemble cast quickly turns the tale into a quirky comedic masterpiece.

So who are the other characters? Well, there’s Jack (Marin’s eventual love interest), Jane (Marin’s agent, who visits Elmo but keeps us anchored in the New York part of the story), Annie (Marin’s cute-as-a-button #1 fan from New York, who also moves to Elmo), Patrick (also a big Frist fan, the one who set up this stop on the book tour at his B & B – he’s also the town’s radio DJ), Chief Celia (Patrick’s by-the-book mother, and the only local police), Ben (owner of the Chieftan, the one bar in town, where everyone meets), Theresa (Ben’s wife and a bartender at the Chieftan), Sarah (the honorable town prostitute – did I mention there’s about 5 women in the town? The boys get lonely), Buzz and Mai Washington (he’s the pilot of the Elmo’s single plane, she’s his mail-order bride) and Jerome (the loveable town drunk). These characters play incredibly well off of one another, and the relationships between them evolved into a story that could vary between funny, sad and heartwarming, all in the span of a single episode.

So, why did this great show get the axe? As with many bubble shows, the network it aired on didn’t give it enough room to grow. ABC aired Trees in a variety of different time slots over its run, making it hard for viewers to find. Without that stability, it was surprising that it even got a second season. But even the second season wasn’t a show of confidence. Faced with no real original programming in the face of the writers’ strike, ABC still kept MIT on the bench – even though it had the largest stockpile of fresh episodes. And currently, again running out of new material in May (that’s TV sweeps season, I remind you), Trees’ run has again been interrupted – it won’t restart until the end of May, and will live in obscurity in the summer months while the episodes burn off.

I guess I should be happy that things lasted as long as they did. At least the writers saw the foreshadowing and had enough time to put together a “series finale” scene for the last episode. But with the amount of crap the network was forcing on us (they pre-empted MIT for the thankfully-canceled October Road, and let’s not forget the reality fodder), it’s hard to force a smile.

So, for now we can just enjoy the last few episodes – the final batch starts with the May 28th airing. And for those of you who haven’t gotten a chance to experience the joys of Elmo, Alaska, hopefully there will be a DVD release. Until then, you can check out the episodes ABC has streaming on their web site. Too bad more people didn’t catch on…