He's certainly taking a chance, but I don't think he sees it that way. Thanks in part to the popularity of the show, he's got a cult following. Those people will ensure that he won't be forgotten. They'll follow him on the road, back to his stand-up roots. Kudos to FX for allowing him to go, for giving him the creative freedom to explore, for taking a leap and putting the show on the air in the first place.
As I see it, Louie C.K. cares enough about his show to walk away from it. To make sure that it doesn't lose an ounce of integrity, that he doesn't get tired of doing it. It's hard to keep the creative juices flowing day-in-and-day-out, especially on a TV series. You can't force creativity. I have no doubt that when it comes back, it'll be just as quirky and endearing as it's ever been.
According to Top Of The Rock: Inside The Rise And Fall Of Must See TV, Seinfeld had an initial run of only four episodes-- one of the smallest sitcom orders in television history. When the network ordered more episodes, Larry David said he didn't want to do it: He was out of ideas.
Luckily, someone convinced him otherwise. Seinfeld went on for nine seasons, totaling an astounding 180 episodes. And you know what? I still miss it. And I miss Cheers and The Cosby Show and Mad About You and The Golden Girls.
We should all be reminded that the best shows go out while they're still on top. The best performers know when to take a bow, when to turn away, and when to do something different. That's what makes them iconic, what makes them memorable. It something that happens so rarely these days.
Today, breakout stars burst onto the scene with unbelievable force. They're overexposed, overdone, and annoyingly in-your-face, all the time. More often than not, they burn out before they've reached their own potential-- if they had potential at all. New shows get cancelled before they ever get a shot at finding an audience and other shows seem to go on for years and years beyond their glory days. Remember how tired Friends felt in its last few seasons? It was beyond embarrassing.
So, no one should be whining about Louie. It's not like it's going away. In fact, its absence will give an up-and-coming show a chance to be seen in a highly sought after time slot. That alone, is something I'm sure Louis C.K. would be proud of.
Copyright © 2012 by KLiedle
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