The Demise of Agent X (TNT). 

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John Case might save the President, but even that can’t save his show. TNT’s

‘Agent X’ airs its series finale tonight, when it should be heading for Season Two.

John Case has had a hell of a year. He’s been infected by a biological agent, had to face the ex-girlfriend he still loves, gotten kidnapped by the mentor he thought was dead, and now he’s been cancelled by the network.

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last week, opting not to order a second season presumably based on low ratings. Statistically, the series maintained just over half of its

lead-in, drawing an average of 1.07 million viewers over its first seven episodes.

started rough. It leaned too much on the action pedal and not enough on the character development, and it took several episodes for the real picture of the show to become apparent. But once those pieces fell into place, here we had a fun action show with the most surprising actor of the season, and the writers had just handed him great material on a silver platter. The potential was there for something real and different.

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Instead of another good guy versus bad guys show, what we ended up with was a journey for John Case (a magnificent Jeff Hephner) as he sacrificed everything only to find out that the institution for which he had sacrificed was deeply flawed. That was the real story: Does saving the country really trump everything? How much was Case a tool of the Agent X program, and how much was he able to assert himself?

What about newly inducted Vice President Natalie Maccabee (the very welcome Sharon Stone)? The entire concept of

‘s premise was that the VP was actually able to do something, and Natalie was willing to accept that responsibility and become more than a figurehead. How far would she go to fulfill her own obligation to serve?

These are all questions that we won’t get the answers to, just as they became ones we wanted to answer.

is the latest victim of a larger problem: TV series not being given the due opportunity to do what they need to do to survive. In this era of instant gratification and more choices than ever before, the creative side of TV is often also the losing one.

Most shows are not that good right out of the gate. There are series that have had impressive pilots and just taken off from go; the first episode of

, for example, was pretty much note-perfect. But that’s the exception and not the rule. Writing a pilot is hard – it’s trying to introduce characters, establish their world, show why the audience should care, and then with whatever time is left tell a compelling stand-alone story.

It’s usually not until several episodes in – when the pipe has been laid and the writers can just tell stories, and the actors have had more than a few weeks to find their characters, and both sides have learned how to work together – that a program truly clicks. To expect people to immediately be at their best in what is really a process doesn’t make sense.

, it was even more of an uphill battle. Being an action series it had to do all those things and also leave room in the story for the stunts. It had work to do in its early episodes and that’s what probably damned it in the long run. There’s very little room for error. By the time it gained steam, audiences had moved on and now they’ve missed out.

But those low numbers aren’t entirely fair. Yes, the show ceded half of its lead-in, but its lead-in was an existing series that is a spinoff of a successful trilogy of TV-movies.

, while also a great show, is also tonally different from

. Aside from the action-adventure element, it’s not a given that they’d share an audience. (It would’ve been a better fit with

, but TNT probably didn’t want to pair a new series with one that was struggling.)

‘s ratings average (1.07 million) is comparable to the numbers pulled in by each of the final three episodes in the first season of

was given the chance to come back and at least try to reinvent itself. So why not give the same shot to

After all, there’s an honest case here for letting the show hang on. Basically, TV is like investing. A network puts time and money into a series, and then has to decide which ones are worth it and which ones aren’t. If a show is truly bombing and isn’t going to get any better, obviously that’s one you let go.

But sometimes it’s worth biting the bullet for a while, especially on a series where there is an established mythology or multi-episode plotline. Many of those shows are specifically built for the number of episodes in their initial order. They’re playing the long game. If you make a cancellation decision when there’s still story to play out, it’s a bit like judging your entire meal by the appetizer.

Furthermore, it basically waves the white flag as far as ratings go. By announcing that

was over after episode seven, that sent a message to casual viewers that they could stop watching – or even not bother starting – because it wasn’t going forward. That means that just as the show could’ve seen the improvement that was wanted, especially after airing a great episode in “Long Walk Home,” the numbers may actually go down instead. (That’s exactly what happened to

Even then, you have to do a little cost-benefit analysis. What it boils down to is that in cancellation, TNT is saying it’s okay with letting go of the year’s most surprising actor in Jeff Hephner. It’s letting go of Sharon Stone, who has star power and who hadn’t done a multi-episode TV arc in five years, but was willing to do this series – so that certainly means something.

And it’s saying farewell to a creative team that really stepped up for their show – not just the two leads, but creator Blake Herron and supporting actors like Olga Fonda and Carolyn Stotesbery. The

crew was out there in press and on social media in a way that other shows never even get close to. Given the talent that’s been assembled here and their willingness to do their part for the network, wouldn’t it be worth taking a flier on a second season just to keep these people in the fold, especially since their creative output was getting better?

This problem of series not being able to get off the blocks isn’t going away unless we change the way we look at shows. The ideal solution would be for things to go back to the way they mostly were years ago, where networks didn’t reveal their moves until the season finished airing. This would ensure that shows would get their full shot and the ratings picture would be complete.

Any network worried about a gamble could order a shorter season of eight or ten episodes so there would be less on the line, and then the creative teams could plan accordingly. As for viewers, we’ve just got to learn to have a little patience, because sometimes a show can surprise you.

. I’ll freely admit that I was skeptical of the show when it started, and I’m also willing to admit that I was proved wrong. This series grew into something dynamic and with so much untapped potential, and it deserved a chance to keep getting better.

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