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Being Human: TV's most underrated gem

Being Human Reviews Syfy

(Image via Syfy)

Last week I said to myself that I wanted to write a blog entry on Syfy's Being Human and how it's television's most underrated show in the fantasy genre. A few hours later I was browsing through twitter and my heart sank when I read the headline: "BEING HUMAN Cancelled By Syfy." (I cursed it!)

Like the mature adult I am, my first reaction was to of course berate the handler of the official Syfy twitter account. Fans were already going in pretty hard and rightfully so because it didn't make any sense. Ratings for the show have always been consistent, producing quality numbers for an obscure cable network. Just last year the president of original content at Syfy said of the series: "This show has become a signature series for Syfy and we are thrilled to have it return in 2014.” So why the sudden change of heart?

Sam Witwer (who plays Aiden on the show) confirmed via his twitter page that this was not a cancellation, but a creative decision from the show's writers to end the series after four seasons. He also tweeted out this video:

This is an interesting move. They told the story they wanted to tell and now they're ending it. Many shows just continue on season after season while the plot gets tired and old. 4 seasons may seem short-lived, but at least it's going out with quality over quantity. I do wish however, that they had announced this at the beginning of the season rather than 6 episodes before the series finale. Fans felt a bit whip-lashed from the announcement. 

Being Human premiered in January of 2011 and was an American adaptation of a UK series of the same name. Some find it hard to warm up to American-made remakes, but Being Human US was able to distinguish itself from it's UK sister. The premise involves a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost sharing an apartment complex together. Sounds ridiculous, right? That was my first reaction too. Like, how many "monster" series am I supposed to care about at this point? 

Many writers would take these characters and fill them with nothing but angst (Rawr! I'm a monster and I can never love anyone because of what I am! RAWR!). While there is some of that, Being Human took a different approach to it's characters. Like the title suggests, it humanizes these so-called monsters. I don't even like using the word "monster" because that's not how we see these characters.

While other supernatural series love their stoic characters, Being Human used mankind's greatest and weakest quality to their benefit — emotion. We've seen these character love, we've seen them hurt, we've seen them make mistakes (Sally sallying everything up! but we still love her), we've seen their highest and their lowest points and that's what makes this show so special. Even though the characters are supernatural beings, viewers can still relate to them. You can see yourself in some of these characters.

I'm sad the show is ending, but I'm glad that it's going to get a proper ending. Nothing is worse when a show goes off the air with a cliffhanger. I do hope to see the cast in other projects soon because they're too talented to not be working!

The last five episodes of Being Human will air Monday nights at 9pm on SYFY.