Alas, this is my final opportunity to run a photo of Piper Perabo.
At least until she takes on her next project. USA Network honchos announced last week that they have decided to cut Perabo's Covert Affairs loose after five seasons.
Why? The old familiar story -- declining ratings. Only 1.5 million viewers bothered to watch Season 5 each week. That's the hardcore fan base and way down from the glory days of 6.7 million in 2010 and 5.6 million in 2011.
Even 2013 pulled in almost 4 million viewers, but the plunge to 1.5 million was the final straw. Most shows have a natural lifespan and five years is a pretty good run these days.
Still, the pink slip came as a surprise to some, including the show's producers who left us with cliffhangers. Maybe they saw the writing on the wall and wanted to have something hanging just in case they came back.
At the end of Season 5, Annie (Perabo) had a new job at the CIA. She also left Ryan's (Nic Bishop) marriage proposal hanging, and Auggie (Christopher Gorham) had decided to leave the company and travel the world with Natasha (Liane Balaban).
At least Annie's not gut-shot and bleeding on the floor as was our hero Jim Longworth (Matt Passmore) on The Glades.
I stuck with the series to the bitter end, but as with most dramas that survive this long, some seasons were better than others. When a co-worker overheard me talking about the demise, he groused, "I used to watch it, but they've been phoning it in for at least two seasons."
And that's how a series fades away.
• Black Sails. Season 2 of the lusty pirate adventure begins at 8 p.m. Saturday on Starz. A third season has already been approved despite mixed reviews.
• Mad Men. AMC will air the final seven episodes beginning 9 p.m. April 5. The series conclusion may not be what you are expecting.
About the ending, creator Matthew Weiner says, "I think people sometimes have to be protected from what they want to see happen. To delight them with a surprise, you can't give them everything they want."
• Legends & Lies: So, you think you know all about Davy Crockett because you saw Disney's Fess Parker version in Davy Crockett at the Alamo back in the day? Maybe not. Fox News Channel is planning something different -- a 10-episode series titled Legends & Lies: Into the West. The series investigates the real lives of such characters as Crockett, Jesse James, Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid.
Fox anchor Bill O'Reilly will be executive producer and appear in each episode. The series debuts at 7 p.m. April 12.
Full disclosure: I'll be keeping a close eye on O'Reilly because I'm related to Crockett. My paternal grandmother was a Crockett and she had some fairly scathing family stories about her great, great, great Uncle Davy. We'll see if O'Reilly comes close to being fair and balanced according to my Bamma.
• Channel changes. There is no more TV Guide Channel. You didn't notice? Nobody did. No one has used the molasses-slow scrolling grid for years.
The TV Guide Channel (formerly the Prevue Channel) changed its name in 2007 to the TV Guide Network and again in 2013 to the snappier TVGN.
Last week, the outfit decided to completely start from scratch and rebranded itself Pop. Catchy, right? Pop will concentrate on pop culture stuff with the mission "to show the fun of being a fan."
Examples of Pop programs include The Story Behind, a backstage look at beloved TV shows; Schitt's Creek, an original scripted comedy starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara; and Unusually Thicke, a former TVGN reality show starring Growing Pains' Alan Thicke. Kids, Alan is Robin Thicke's father.
• Coming to Syfy. Syfy is developing a new hour drama about a dystopian future where the nation's prison population gets to be too much to handle. 51st State shows what happens when the U.S. buys Greenland and ships all the inmates there as a prison colony.
Promises are broken and drama ensues.
• House of Cards. In case you missed the memo, Netflix will download all 13 episodes of Season 3 on Feb. 27. Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is now president. You have been warned.
Teaser trailer featuring Robin Wright as the first lady:
Claire: "We're murderers, Francis."
Frank: "We're survivors." (But you need to pronounce that in an oily South Carolina accent -- "We-uh suhvievuhs."
• Dude! Netflix is also making an eight-episode prequel to the 2001 cult favorite Wet Hot American Summer with almost the film's entire cast reuniting. They include Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Christopher Meloni, Marguerite Moreau and Molly Shannon.
Prequel? How will these older actors play their younger selves? Evidently that'll be part of the joke.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 01/22/2015