The Futon Critic: Why Roswell Should Be Renewed

Wow, this is a fabulous article. Click on the hyperlink and go read the whole thing, it’s worth it!

From “The Futon Critic”:

“Roswell: Why You Should Care About Aliens Posing as Teenagers”
by Brian Ford Sullivan

Excerpt:

Make no mistake this is no easy task. Shows that use fantasy or science fiction elements as a means to explore the human experience tow a fine line between alienating (no pun intended) the audience with something totally unfamiliar to them. That’s why it takes a special group of writers, actors and directors to pull it off.

Such a show is “Roswell.”

“Roswell” is the story of 16-year-old Max Evans, his sister Isabel and their friend Michael’s struggle to find out who they really are. They receive signs and portents to such things through their own daily routine. They go through the same emotions we do, the same questions I brought up before. But you see they have their fears, hopes and questions personified in the form of the fact they are aliens and they do not know their place in this world. They wonder if they can love, if their love will be the same as everyone else’s. They wonder if the world will fear the truth, that when they see who they truly are, they will judge them.

Doesn’t sound too alienating to you does it? The truth of the matter is that all the alien business is just way to give all the questions, fears and doubts of growing up an actual physical presence. That’s the metaphor in all this – that the story of our own struggles growing up can be given a valid form that’s easier to understand, easier to deal with.

But the possibility of spending six or seven years following the journey of Max Evans and company is in strife. While I have no doubt that “Roswell” will return next season (see the sidebar for more on that), there has been rampant speculation and internet rumor that it will not. Such fears and speculation apparently have given form to an apparent threat to the show. That’s why I wrote this feature, to stop those rumors and give people the hard facts about what’s going on, not to mention to fully explore how I feel about the show.

[The full article is not available anymore.]