About 10 years ago, I was channel surfing on a Sat night (cuz I was cool like that) and stumbled on a quirky little show called Cupid. And fell in love. It was the first show I can really remember being completely addicted to (well, I guess other than ER but who wasn't addicted to ER at some point or another). I'd avoid going out on Sat nights just because of it . . . obviously I was giving up quite the social life. And I finally even bought a VCR(!) so that I wouldn't miss any episodes. Anyway, the show was about a guy who believed he was Cupid, sent down from Mount Olympus after angering Zeus. I wondered then, and I wonder now, why the Roman god Cupid would be taking orders from the Greeks, and normally this sort of confusion would keep me from ever enjoying a tv show. But in all other ways, the episodes were perfect, so I let it slide.
Cupid was banished to live as a mortal until he could match up 100 couples and go back home. Or so he said. His shrink, a practical self-help guru, definitely did not believe him. And that was pretty much the show -- "Cupid" trying to match people up and his shrink trying to get him to face reality and figure out who he might be. It was smart, funny, and most of the episodes kind of tore at your heart strings a little. I LOVED it, and critics agreed, but it never seemed to gain much of a fan base, despite its very attractive Sat night time slot. Rob Thomas wrote it, who of course went on to write Veronica Mars. Jerry Piven played Cupid. And basically, it rocked for an entire 10 or 11 episodes and then got canned.
I was so crushed that I even emailed Rob Thomas (and he wrote back!)
Now, I guess ABC decided to give it another go. First episode aired at the end of March. And I wish I could encourage everyone to go check it out so that it makes it this time around. But I think its already floundering. Reviews have been so-so. I finally saw the pilot last night, and I think I can see why. First of all, they've changed the actors!!! Jeremy Piven WAS Cupid, dammit. And the chick that played the shrink (Paula Marshall) was awesome too, I don't know why they didn't bring her back. The two of them had awesome chemistry too, I don't really see it here. They changed the setting -- I think the original took place in Chicago. They changed the theme music. And they changed the episodes entirely. Dude, the show was good for a reason. If it ain't broke, why fix it?
Of course, I'm going to stick it out to the bitter end. But I have a feeling that I won't be as disappointed when it fails this time around. And the episodes that I go back and watch over and over again will most definitely be from the first run. NO, they're not still sitting around in VHS tapes. Years ago, when I mentioned how much I loved the show to G (years after it ended, I was STILL thinking about it), he found pirated versions online and downloaded them for me.
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