PSA: EEEEli Stone

The first three Es in my version of the spelling of the ABC-truncated show Eli Stone (which joined other shows like Daybreak, Samantha Who?, Dirty Sexy Money and a dozen other shows cut short in mid-seasons) stand for "every engagement ends," since with one end-of-the-run exception (which we don't get to see play out), every single engagement in this series (and there are a lot for such a short-running show) gets broken off. There are three broken engagements, I think, between six different characters, and in another case, a divorce.

But other than that, it's a pretty good show. Similar to Wonderfalls and, I imagine (since I've still never seen it), Joan of Arcadia, Eli Stone was a cute show that surprises you with stabs at significance. I always love Victor Garber (who doesn't?), and in Eli Stone he eventually gets to be the dad you always wish he was in Alias. Loretta "the Chief's wife from Grey's Anatomy" Devine has the constant supporting role she deserves (and several very, very respectable singing cameos) as Eli's assistant, and the rest of the cast grows on you. The lead actor from the ill-fated, years-ago show Ed, about a guy who owns a bowling alley (also seen as JD's older brother on Scrubs ), plays Eli's (dead) dad.

The second season cancellation desperation shows, and throws the show for a series of loops that can't really be justified, even with the impending doom of its end. But every show can't be Arrested Development with its brilliant use of desperate measures, nor Daybreak, with its meticulously plotted series finale. And while most of Eli Stone's plot twists feel twisty, it's almost untwisted just by the detritus of broken engagements littering the set stages: when Katie Holmes does a guest appearance (weird weird weird to see post-Cruise Katie on TV), it's clear that they leave room for her reappearance and leave Eli longing for her to return from Kenya -- though she never does -- and when the second-fiddle female lead character Eli's obviously in love with says she's over him, it's never sure whether we can believe her...The effect of so many relationships being mostly but not quite over is that every possibility remains open, always open, and so every possibility remains viable. These characters have choices, not an implacable, descend-on-you fate.

Perhaps that's the real tragedy of this show getting cut short: it's ultimately a show about process, and becoming a better person step by weird step, and it's a pity and an irony that something like that has to end. I'd like to see it unfurl over the years, ignoring character consistency and back-story and staying true instead to people's tendency to change, and change their beliefs about themselves, over time. That's a show I think 20-somethings could use nowadays.

Then again, we all die eventually, so maybe the cancellation and the end to process it represents is also true to life.

I still blame ABC.