“Sons of Anarchy’s” Kurt Sutter and Charlie Hunnam
Tonight is the 90 minutes season two finale of Sons of Anarchy. It seems like only yesterday that I was declaring it my new favorite show. That’s because it practically was. By early October I was singing the praises of SOA, and now I’ll be going without for the next 9 months or so. I’d be sad, but three month love affairs describe 95% of my loving relationships so I’m used to it.
Plus, despite not officially being renewed yet, SOA will be back! Hopefully that announcement will come soon, but I see no way the show doesn’t get renewed. FX not renewing Sons of Anarchy — it’s highest-rated show by a fairly wide margin — would be way, way, crazier than FOX’s renewal of Dollhouse.
Plus, we have Kurt Sutter’s blog to entertain us between seasons. And you have to figure that in the astronomical event that SOA wasn’t renewed it would at least result in one of the most entertaining blog posts EVER. Sutter has said the show would be renewed and that negotiations for a season 3 are relatively complex because most of the existing contracts are two year deals that need to be renegotiated.
I recently got an e-mail from someone suggesting to me that both mainstream media and websites heaped more praise on FX’s Damages than SOA. I haven’t found that to be the case though, at least not on any of the web sites I regularly read. I could have remembered wrong, but I’m pretty sure Alan Sepinwall wrote last season that he’d decided Damages wasn’t for him and deleted it from his DVR’s season pass list.
Perhaps it could be that originally the mainstream media salivated over Damages more because it’s a show set and filmed in NY and even the Hollywood media has a lot of east coast bias when it comes to New York. Plus, Glenn Close did win an Emmy for her portrayal of Patty Hewes.
But what really matters is what FX thinks and even if the suits at FX wanted to like Damages more than SOA, they look at the ratings and they can’t. SOA’s season two ratings are about three times better than the ratings for season two of Damages.
Of course, we seldom see the data for viewing by households with high annual income for broadcast shows and see it even less for cable shows. It could be that Damages has the wealthier viewers on a percentage basis, but last season the audience for Damages was so small and SOA’s is so much bigger that I’d be pretty surprised if SOA didn’t have more high income viewers on an absolute basis.
Either way, Glenn Close and crew probably never sold any Harley-Davidsons, and I’m pretty sure that Johnny Lewis (“Half Sack”) and Mark Boone Junior (Bobby “Elvis” Munson) have sold a few.
You can catch the season finale tonight at 10pm on FX. If you need something to do between now and then you can listen to Kurt Sutter’s interview with Kim Masters on KCRW (special thanks to Mr. Sutter for listing TV by the Numbers as one of his favorite TV-biz blogs!) and read Maureen Ryan’s in-depth feature on SOA including a lengthy in interview with Sutter (there are no spoilers about the finale).
Hopefully we’ll be posting the info on SOA’s renewal before the ratings for the season two finale, but we should have the ratings info sometime Wednesday afternoon.
It’s weird they haven’t announced a 3rd season renewal earlier given the show’s ratings. But it will be back anyway barring any behind the scenes drama
I am looking forward to the finale.
I also love Damages. Both SOA and Damages are great shows.
I think Glenn Close and Katey Sagal are pretty evenly matched as actresses although I do not think that Glenn Close could have pulled off Peggy Bundy as well!
As for the 3rd season of SOA not yet being announced just start humming the Beatles tune “Money (That’s What I Want)” to yourself and you will understand
Actually yesterday on the fancast live chat creator, Kurt Sutter said the show is go for Season 3. They just needed to finish dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s on the contracts.
No FX official announcement but it’s coming soon.
I think the media/TV critic bias between Damages and SOA has more to do with the subject matter than the show itself. The media can relate more to lawyers than a motorcycle clubs (i.e. L&O, Boston Legal, etc). I’ve read a lot of praise for SOA and yet I’ve read praise and criticism for Damages’ lack luster second season. The question needs to be asked will SOA ever be an Emmy darling, probably not again because of the subject matter those Hollywood types can’t relate to it.
Hopefully the 95% three month love affairs are not equally followed by 95% 9 months going without.
Here is a great interview with Kurt from the Chicago Tribune. Excellent questions and Mr Sutter goes really in depth. Even briefly talking about season 3.
I’m 3 episodes behind but i’m sort of like cherishing them knowing i’ll have to wait 9 months for the next batch. Such a great show.
I also enjoy Damages but SOA is a notch better. More consistant storytelling. Sutter is doing it the right way and I hope it continues.
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/11/sons-of-anarchy-fx-kurt-sutter.html
SOA is a quality, well written show. It’s appointment television. The 2nd season has been an utter joy to watch. I dread the end tonight.
I do enjoy Damages a great deal. The 2nd season didn’t quite have the muster that S1 contained in it’s plot, etc. I am hopeful with the new cast additions and guest stars, S3 will be great. I have faith in the Kessler’s and Zelman.
I would hope that Katey Sagal is nominated for an Emmy. It would be absolutely criminal if she isn’t. The cast is fabulous but Sagal has been purely awesome from a critical standpoint. Close has won the Emmy two years in a row. It’s time for Katey to shine.
By the halfway mark of S1 this show went from good to brilliant and it hasn’t looked back. After the end of the Shield and aging shows like Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck the people at Fx shouldn’t even have thoughts of renewing it for season 3 on their minds. They should be aiming for a 4th and 5th season.
The Other Tony — I linked to Mo’s post in the blog post to begin with! Don’t sweat it though, I’m not great at reading down to the bottom of blog posts either. But it is definitely a great read, so no harm in multiple linking — any fan of SOA should give it a look.
I’m halfway through the nine month wait for more True Blood, so I know exactly what Rob’s going through.
Maybe cable shows are like children: they take nine months to arrive, little things about them can get annoying but you still love ‘em!
(Does that win “weirdest simile on the site”?)
But thinking about what happens in “Screw” Blood, that simile probably doesn’t work like I intended…
I’m planning to catch the finale of SOA.
SOA is definetly getting a third season, critics may not like it as much as Damages but it has struck a chord with FX’s viewer in the same way that The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck did and it’s evident in the ratings and Damages while very good is complex and would turn off regular viewers which is why it gets sub 1m but yet it gets critical praise and awards but the sticking point for FX is that it’s very expensive and the next season will be the last unless ratings improve which is very slim.
FX needs both shows around for different reasons. SOA gets the ratings and mass appeal, and Damages gets the Emmy cred. Too bad they can’t have a show that can do both, but having one of each helps emphasize their brand. I love both shows, but Damages just a little more because it’s so twisted.
Sons of Anarchy will be renewed. When who knows but the show is safe. FX already has 2 veterans departing next year and 2011 (Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me), not to mention fellow veteran Damages, only doin subpar (hopefully it will do better this year). FX needs new freshman dramas Justified, Terriers, and Lights Out to do well in order to keep their drama slate afloat. Its also good that FX is expanding with thei comedy slate.
I absolutely love your (Robert Seidman) love for SOA. If a person wasn’t a fan already, your enthusiam would be catchy. It deserves so much of the praise it receives and more. It’s one of the most well written and thought out shows ever for any primetime show, it has two of the most unique and well written characters, ever, in Jax and Gemma and one of the most creative writers. I’ll follow KS to whatever his next project is, after SOA. I hope we hear about a renewal soon, I love to gush.
Sons of Anarchy is very similiar to HBO’s True Blood. Both premiered September 2008, and both did only OK in their first seasons. However during both’s second seasons their popularity and ratings increased considerably . Now both shows are the highest rated dramas for their respective networks (if im not mistaken)
Sagal has never won a single acting award, has she? I remember back when the failed Mary Tyler Moore sitcom was on — this was the first time I ever saw Sagal in anything — and thinking, “That chick’s gonna have an Emmy someday.” And… we’re 24 years later and we’re still waiting for her to get that first nomination.
oh my god..a 9 month cliffhanger…dam you TV people..dam you
It better get renewed! It definitely makes you want more. After the season 2 finale I just watched I’m already missing it!
I can’t believe what just happened. WOW!!! For those who haven’t seen it, I won’t ruin it for you but hold on to your seats, ladies and gents!
I can’t believe we have to wait sooooooooo long for season three. I’m already having withdrawals…
LOVE THIS SHOW… I’ve already given the old lady the green light to buy season one, and season two when it comes out…
I can not say enough about this show. Hope your around for a long long time…
I just watched the Season 2 Finale, it was by far the best episode of the year. I cannot wait for season 3, the ending of this episode has me already counting the days for season 3 to air.
man soa is the first real ball grippin show since HBO’s the WIRE and all the diffrent aspects make it whole from alverz to leroy to chuckie to unser i love this show and ill shit and go blind if soa dont come back ps tig needs to die
Borrowing from another poster but 9 months? Really. *disgruntled frown* LOL. I’m going against the grain here but the first half hour really dragged for me but just like Sutter has proven, it only gets better. By the end of the show I was on the edge of my seat. It was mindblowing, completely out of the blue (for me as I am spoiler free, don’t know about the rest of you) and just a twist Sutter would throw at us. I wish I could just ramble on but don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. Why oh why do I/we have to suffer 9 months of practically no TV viewing that entertains me as much. I’m not having a kid. I’d rather they do 3 months on, 3 months off.
The fact that the ending of the finale ends as it did ONLY leaves us with a third seasons coming, NO WAY a series will get the axe with such an ending, IMPOSSIBLE.
Such a great show. It’s not gonna win any awards for having deep intellectual scripts but man is it one hell of an engaging thrill ride. Despite being pissed about one of the characters dying and the end was rather similar to the Season 1 finale for Lost it was a good episode that kept you guessing and as always on the edge of your seat.
I don’t see how SoA isn’t the foundation of the FX original programing for the next half decade. God knows that even if they stretched it out to a 8 season show it would never reach the level of absurdity Nip/Tuck keeps digging for.