Millions of people are kept glued to the small screen every night as of late thanks to the end-of-season television sweeps. Audiences everywhere are on the edge of their seats, anxious to learn the fate of their favourite small-screen characters.
To be picked up, or not to be picked up, that is the dreaded question. Nasty network battles, the competition for ratings, salary expectations, contract renewals – all are essential to the decision of whether or not to extend the life of a television series for at least one more season.

Some make the cut; others fall short or fade away. After 15 years on the air, ER has seen the last of prime-time while newer medical dramas such as Grey’s Anatomy continue to get great ratings. Despite a lot of hype early on in the series, Prison Break has been cancelled after four seasons. And still other shows are saved from the brink as fans rally around their televisions in support of their faves.

For those unlucky ones, the suspense of melodramatic goodbyes culminates in the question of ‘What next?’ Of course there’s always the DVDs to look forward to, but fans are demanding more and more nowadays. Last year, Sex and the City went from the small screen to the silver screen in order to sustain the story just a little bit longer.

But recently another phenomenon has become increasingly frequent. Memorializing television series in literature is very popular at the moment. From websites to articles and books, fans write about their favourite shows nonstop, whether or not they’re still on the air. Some shows get serialized in print during their small-screen runs, while others inspire critical anthologies post-cancellation.

The industries of popular fiction as well as creative non-fiction are continuously finding more and more ways to target fans of television and literature alike. It’s as simple as releasing books about TV’s most popular shows by making use of already existing markets and predictable consumer trends.

Naturally, fans of Gossip Girl will return to the books that inspired the show. Of course Seinfeld fans are going to want to pick up a copy of Seinlanguage. The very nature of popular culture is to leave fans wanting more and more. And they do. So even if your favourite show will never see another prime-time spot – fear not, your favourite characters will be coming soon to a bookshelf near you.

Published in Volume 63, Number 27 of The Uniter (May 20, 2009)