A series TV show is not a novel -- alas.

When you pick up a novel and start to read it, you're assured that the author has thought it all the way through. In the end, the plot and the characters will somehow be reconciled --to your satisfaction or not -- but it's all part of a vision the author had when he/she started the story.

Scripted shows on TV -- from sitcoms to legal nail-biters to paranormal thrillers -- are a different animal. They start with a certain premise and introduce you to characters, who you become familiar with over a series of weeks, and then, suddenly: BLAM!

The series is cancelled.

It happens all the time. Most recently two of my favorites -- Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money -- were dropped. No more episodes except those already in the can, and probably those before anyone connected with the shows had any warning. What that means is that the remaining hours were probably building toward others that will now never be aired. All those characters I had become so interested in, even involved with, will soon be history.

Poof!

Someone, somewhere, decided to ax these very inventive and addicting series. Just when I was getting to like or at least be interested in the characters.

Hey, I understand that it's the prerogative of those who put up the money to terminate any series they don't think is producing enough revenue (i.e., advertising money), but it's always a shock to those of us who really liked the show in question.

You may not personally care for those I mentioned, but the principle still applies: If you give us this show and set us up for expectations that we'll be seeing these characters go on for a while, do you have the right to shut it down, on short notice or no notice, with no input from us, the audience? Is Hollywood and TV really just about profits? What about creativity and audience loyalty? What about us, the people who watch these shows and look forward to the next episode? Don't we count?

Apparently not. TV is a business, and those pulling plugs retain the right to pull plugs. To them, it really is all a business, and the shows we love are just products -- like light fixtures or washing machines or copiers. Move the product or pull it. If this one doesn't sell, find another one.

So, my advice to any of my fellow watchers of scripted TV shows is to not get too attached, too devoted, because the plug can be pulled at any time by the least creative people in Hollywood. In the end, it's all up to the money men, and they are looking only to make more money.

Which brings me back to my original premise: A series TV show is not a novel.

When a writer sits down to write a novel, he or she is almost certainly not looking to make a sale to Hollywood (except for writers whose names you know and that appear bigger on their covers than the title of the book). Anyone writing a serious novel is trying to tell a good story that hasn't been told before, at least not from this particular point of view. That novelist will develop the story and resolve it and, in the meantime, give you some characters you haven't seen before.

When the writer of a sitcom -- or any scripted TV show -- sits down to write, it's to please his or her bosses. What he/she writes may be very original/interesting/funny/etc., but it has to fit within the parameters set out for him or her by someone above him/her, an executive at the producing studio. And what he/she writes will likely be re-written many times over, often by hired writers from outside, before it sees the light of day or night on your TV screen. In other words, when it comes to your favorite TV show, what you're seeing is not the vision of a single author -- like with a novel -- but a pastiche of re-writes by writers who have decided it's easier to make money re-writing other writers' material than coming up with something of their own. The money is good, the work isn't that hard, and the hours are easy. Wouldn't you do it?

But it's still sad when our favorite TV shows come to an end, abruptly, with no explanation. For every MASH or Mary Tyler Moore grand finale, there are so many series that just . . . stop. Here we were, following the plot and getting to know the characters, and -- just like that -- it's over. For those of us who love to read novels, that's not okay. We need resolution of the plot and to know what happened to all those characters.

I'm sorry that the masters of TV don't always understand or appreciate when they're producing something of quality instead of just turning out something that makes more money (e.g., the endless round of reality shows). I'm sorry they don't know that they have a hand on the controls of media in our country right now and could opt to give us better stuff but keep pandering to the least smart among us, just to make money. I can't solve that problem.

What I can do is ask that, when they have a well-received series, comic or dramatic, and they're thinking of cancelling it, they come up with the dollars to have writers script a satisfying end, just like they would with a novel. It's the least they can do for their audience, don't you think?

Don't they owe us that much?