TV is a brutal business; shows
get cancelled more often than not. It is not uncommon for actors to be on
several unsuccessful shows before they get one that actually survives for more
than two seasons. However, there are
some actors that seem to have worse luck than others with their show selection,
almost like they have a show-killing curse. [Just to clarify and avoid any
attacks from readers I don’t think these actors were the actual cause of the
cancellations, they just happen to have bad luck for picking shows].
I started thinking of some actors
who have a knack for picking quickly cancelled shows, therefore gaining the
status of “show-killers”:
Jason O’Mara
| Jason O'Mara |
I love Jason O’Mara. I think he
is handsome, interesting, approachable yet tough; he has all the ingredients
for the perfect leading man, yet his shows keep getting cancelled! I didn’t
realize how bad his show-killer status was until I looked it up on IMDB. The
most recent victim was Vegas and only
last year we had to see Terra Nova go.
Before that, there were a couple other shows: The American adaptation of Life on Mars and ABC’s In Justice. Granted, Life on Mars (*) died because it wasn’t the best
adaptation and Terra Nova had major budget
issues. But I am really hoping Jason doesn’t give up on TV because I want him
on my screen … Maybe he needs to stay away from period dramas and/or high
concept Sci-Fi…
 |
| Joanna Garcia |
Joanna Garcia
Victims: Animal Practice,
Better with You, Privileged
So… she wasn’t always a show-killer.
She was on Reba, which I actually
think went on for too long, but since then she hasn’t been on a show that
lasted longer than a season. And I think, in this case, it is her fault. She’s
been picking REALLY BAD shows which get justly cancelled. Privileged wasn’t the worst thing ever but it wasn’t anything
remarkable either, Better with you was
an underwhelming boring show and Animal Practice (**) was
simply the worst train wreck of this season! I actually think she is a likable
actress [although I understand some people may find her annoying], but if she
doesn’t get it together and starts picking better shows, her show-killer status
could become permanent until she doesn’t have more shows to kill.
Billy Lush
 |
| Billy Lush - The Black Donnellys |
Victims: The Chicago Code, The Black Donnellys,
Trauma
Unlike Joanna Garcia I don’t
think Billy Lush’s show-killer status has anything to do with poor show
selection. On the contrary, he has been on two of my favorite cancelled shows: The Chicago Code and The Black Donnellys.(***) Both shows were
incredible quality dramas that lasted for only one season. I think Billy Lush
is one of those great young actors that haven’t been noticed by enough people
yet. To make things even worse last year he had guest spots on 3 shows that
were also cancelled: Vegas, Awake and
CSI:NY. So successful TV and Billy
Lush don’t go hand in hand lately. Maybe he should start focusing on movies [he
could re-team with Paul Haggis]… Either way I am hoping to see more of him in
the future.
 |
| Summer Glau |
Summer Glau
Victims: Firefly, Terminator
the Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Cape
You know you are geek if you know
and love Summer Glau. I totally do. This former ballerina has had guest roles
on successful shows like Grey’s Anatomy and
The Big Bang Theory; but she hasn’t
been so lucky with her regular roles. Her latest victim was the comic book show
The Cape, and OK that one was awful,
but her two previous shows Terminator the
Sarah Connor Chronicles and the Sci-fi classic Firefly were amazing. We know that Firefly will be a cult-hit classic until the end of days and she
will be our favorite terminator (sorry Arnold) forever, but seriously… give her
a new show and please don’t cancel it!
Everyone on The Secret Circle
Victims: Terminator the Sarah
Connor Chronicles, Life Unexpected, The Mob Doctor, Eli Stone, Commander in
Chief, She Spies and more…
 |
| Thomas Dekker & Britt Robertson - TSC |
No wonder that show was doomed
with so much bad luck going around the cast! Thomas Dekker played John Connor
opposite Summer Glau on Terminator the
Sarah Connor Chronicles, while Britt Robertson was on the short-lived Life Unexpected. After The Secret Circle, Adam Harrington moved
on to The Mob Doctor so he hasn’t
escaped the cancellation curse yet and even Natasha Henstridge had her share of
quickly deceased shows, remember Eli
Stone? How about Commander in Chief and
She Spies? Let’s hope everyone has
better luck with their next projects.
Redeemed Show-killers
However, not everything is lost.
After a series of failed shows, some actors finally get it right. Apparently
the trick is to be on a hit CBS drama: Alex O’loughlin is having a lot of
success on Hawaii Five-0, but only
after Moonlight and Three Rivers were cancelled. On the
other hand Owain Yeoman and Amanda Righetti seem well placed on The Mentalist but some of their combined
past casualties include: Kitchen
Confidential, Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Nine, Reunion and
more. Sarah Connor herself (Lena Headey) escaped
the terminator curse and is now playing Queen Cersei on Game of Thrones, but you know… her character could get killed at
any given moment.
If you can’t get a leading role
on a CBS/cable show, guest starring or a small role on an already established
show seems to be the way to go. That is what James Wolk is doing on Mad Men after he got his show-killer
badge from the great but cancelled Political
Animals and Lone Star, a show famous
for been axed after only 2 episodes.
Potential
 |
| Matthew Davis |
For each redeemed show-killer
there seems to be a new one emerging. Two come to mind. First one is Matthew
Davis… and yes he was on The Vampire
Diaries, but after he left he went on to star on Cult, and we all know how that ended up. Plus he was previously on
some other cancelled shows (What About
Brian), so he better watch it. If they don’t find a way to bring Alaric back
from the dead I want Matthew on a new, preferably good, show soon! Second emerging show-killer is Scott Michael
Foster. He had a good run on ABCFamily’s Greek,
but then he joined the cast of The
River and Zero Hour. So he is not
making the best career choices lately.
These are only a few examples of
some actors that seem to be suffering from the show-killing curse. Everything
may change next season; hopefully a couple of them will find more stable gigs.
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