Thoughts on Why It was Cancelled

Hi!

Here are some thoughts on why Almost Human may not have caught on with enough viewers.

Personally, I love it, but I think I can see the other side, a few flaws that may have improved in a 2nd season.

1. Every episode introduces a new technology. It's almost as if the show is tech-centric instead of being centered on the characters and their emotional arcs.

2. Shows like The Walking Dead keep the rules of their fantasy simple. So when you are thinking about "What will they do next? What would I do?" it's a game that's easy to play. You know what to expect, where the limits are. In Almost Human, new abilities and new tech create a sort of deux ex machina -- anything can happen -- that lessen the tension and cleverness of getting out of tight spots. Skills tend to get used once and never again.

Here's an example of what I mean by this. In the old campy Batman TV show, once Batman and Robin got stuck in a well that was being flooded with gas. That was the cliffhanger to the next episode, making you wonder, how will they get out?? Well, they put their backs together, creating enough pressure in the tight space that they can walk up the wall together. Very creative. Imagine what if Batman had just taken out a portable helicopter thingy that had not been foreshadowed and that we'd never see again. It would have seemed a cop out, lazy writing. That's why it's important to keep the rules simple.

In a way, the show acknowledges this problem by having an episode where the robot lacks a chest plate (i.e., woops, we shouldn't have made him bulletproof) and one where he's running out of energy (woops, we shouldn't have made him invincible). Unfortunately these aren't long-term fixes. The Walking Dead handled this problem by just ignoring precedent. The zombies in Season 2 are not as smart and walk slower. Almost Human might have, I don't know, had an episode where the reason the robot goes crazy is because he's so invincible that he's not mortal enough to be human, so he decides to shed his armor in a key moment so he can think straight and save the day.

3. In a cop buddy story, each cop should contribute in a way matching their own personality, showing that they need each other. The human in the series doesn't quite use human intuition to save the day enough. The robot seems to be the really special one. That may not have played well with viewers, who naturally enough prefer something like on Star Trek where the robot Data is continually trying to be more human, or the older Star Trek where the Vulcan has special skills, but the human is special also. We get it, he's a renegade, but he's not that unique a character. The robot is the special one.

4. I didn't sense much romantic tension (at least not through episode 6) between the protagonist and his love interest. The cops don't buddy around much with secondary characters. That is something that surely would have improved in a season 2.

5. As with Deadwood, at least up to where I am (Season 1, Episode 6) I don't get a sense that the show is going somewhere. There's not a build-up to a war coming, the plot with the guy's ex-girlfriend gets no mention outside the pilot. It's okay for a show to be have one badguy per episode (a procedural), but these episodes are genuinely interchangeable. Modern audiences expect some long story arcs and character progressions. Procedurals that do this well include The Blacklist, The Mentalist, and Burn Notice.

6. A few character mistakes add up. Surely it was a mistake to give the robot the strength to flip cars. It makes him too powerful for conflicts to be a hardship. Surely it was a mistake to make the human protagonist so angry that he shoots a robot with little provocation in a room full of people. It makes him unlikeable. These off-moments slowly ate away at a wonderful premise.

I still personally find Almost Human fascinating because of the ideas and the chemistry between the main performers. I do hope that they bring it back for Season 2. A show with some experience can learn from its mistakes and produce a far better Season 2 than starting from scratch with a new show that's had no time to breathe yet. Take for example, Star Trek the Next Generation or The Killing, which each had bumpy seasons 1.

I want to stress that I am far from an opponent of the show! I just think that supporters would benefit from trying to understand the reasons why the show did not catch on. The premise for the show is exceptional but the character arcs explored to me are ordinary. Maybe that's why.

Does anyone know if the writers and showrunners even want a Season 2?

-Johnny

Johnny Monsarrat Consulting. All content by Jon Monsarrat!