"CULT" DISBANDED

Okay, so now there's a reason why I'm not likin' this whole new CW out of the ashes of The WB + UPN thing - 'Cult', a drama pilot has been dropped from the new network's development slate. According to The "Hollywood Reporter", 'Cult', which was originally sold to The WB, was to be about an addictive TV series that starts to manipulate the behavior of its fans.

Maybe it didn't have long-range potential? I'll be the first to admit that it sounds like 'The X-Files' could have squeezed a two-parter out of the concept at best. That's all the more reason why the networks should start thinking in terms of short-run series like the BBC.

At any rate, 'Cult' sounds cool. I would have loved to have seen that and then maybe try to find a way to hypothetically link it to other shows. For instance, what type of behavior are we talking about? Jumping on Oprah's couch crazy behavior? Dangling your own kid off a balcony to show your fans wacko?

Once we knew what type of behavioral abnormalities arose from watching this TV show, I bet there would have been quite a few TV characters past or present who would have fit the bill as viewers of that TV show.

But now we'll never know.

Who knows? There's always hope. The pilot for 'More, Patience' has been reworked yet again for a third go-round in five years, so maybe Rockne S. O'Bannon, who created 'Cult' and who was behind 'Farscape' as well, can find some other network to take a gamble on it.

And maybe they should re-think it to be a short-term series, like 'Revelations' was.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby