Fastlane

It’s no secret that I am not above watching some trash TV or some cheezy movies. So you won’t be shocked to learn that I am officially pissed at Fox for dropping one of my favorite new shows from last season, Fastlane. For those of you that never saw it, (MTV’s) Bill Bellamy and Peter Fancinelli (the jerk boyfriend in a cheezy movie favorite, Can’t Hardly Wait) play undercover cops who work for “The Candy Store”, a special unit of the LAPD that uses confiscated property to front the main characters as hardcore street criminals. Tiffany “Don’t Call Me Amber” Thiessen played their boss, Billy.

Though the critics hated it, this was one of my favorite shows from last year. It was like Miami Vice for a new generation. It was produced by McG, the same guy that directed the Charlie’s Angels movies and is also producing one of my new favorites, The O.C.. Each show was cut like a music video and had snappy dialogue that kept things moving. It was something different than your normal boring cop drama - see the played-out Law and Order - and kept thing interesting with fun plotlines and cool guest stars - see Jamie Pressley making out with Theissen towards the end of last season. Nice.

As of this May, it looked like Fastlane had made the cut. Fox dropped the lame-looking John Doe in what appeared to be a show of support for Fastlane. Wrong. Fox now has no mention of the show on its fall line-up and I am bitter. I did some searching around and found out that the show was indeed cancelled. Apparently the price tag for each show - around $2 million - was more than Fox was raking in on advertising. Maybe if they hadn’t screwed it by moving it to Friday nights things would’ve been different.

Fox is apparently trying to mount a challenge against an ostensibly vulnerable NBC on Thursday nights this season. What better move could they have made than to trot out The O.C. at 8 followed by Fastlane at 9? I - I mean my Tivo - would’ve watched.

I would threaten to stop watching you, Fox, but I can’t do that. You have me right where you want me with the Paradise Hotel finale next week and The O.C. coming back after the World Series. Damn you, Fox. Your programming department is a cruel mistress.