The Martyrdom of "Lone Star"

So the show I just lauded as the best of the new season, a little gem on FOX called Lone Star is the first of the year to get the premature axe. Sound the sad trombone, kids, because we've just lost a good one. I maintain that this show had the most compelling new characters and the most potential to prove that network TV is not a place where excellent TV shows go to die, but I have once again been proven wrong (on the latter point, that is). A little fatalist perhaps, but this show was too good for network TV, and would have found a much more nurturing home on HBO or even the USA network. Southland is another show that was too quality for network TV, and it was prematurely canceled, only to be saved at the last minute by TNT, a better fit for its gritty, character-driven style than NBC could have ever been. Lone Star really could have been a great show, too. It's a shame to see it go so quickly. I'm going to pout about this one for a little while.