Even though it happened nine years ago, I’m still not over the premature cancellation of TNT’s terrific midlife dramedy “Men of a Certain Age’’ after only two seasons.
Heck, I’m still seething over NBC’s unconscionable decision to pull the plug on seriocomic teen gem “Freaks and Geeks’’ after just one season, and that happened 20 years ago. (The lead to my Globe story on the “Freaks and Greeks’’ cancellation in March 2000 was: “Sometimes, television goes out of its way to break your heart.’’)
We all have our personal roster of cherished but gone-too-soon TV shows. One of the more recent additions to my list is “Great News,’’ a beguiling media-workplace comedy that lasted only two low-rated seasons on NBC before being canceled in 2018. But in this streaming era, unjustly discarded shows can enjoy a robust afterlife: “Great News’’ is now on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Here’s your chance to catch up to it.
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Created by “30 Rock’’ alum Tracey Wigfield, with Tina Fey as a co-executive producer, “Great News’’ starred Briga Heelan as Katie, a producer at a national cable-news program, and the peerless Andrea Martin as her meddling mother, Carol. The ultimate helicopter parent, Carol lands an internship at her daughter’s show, which massively complicates Katie’s career and life. Yet the bond between mother and daughter remains a loving one.
While not in the same class as “30 Rock’’ — few sitcoms are — “Great News’’ had some of the same quick wit and absurdist flavor. An added bonus: A priceless performance by John Michael Higgins as the most amusingly vain news anchor since Ted Baxter.
Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter@GlobeAucoin.
Don Aucoin can be reached at donald.aucoin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeAucoin.