Today in TV History: ‘Terriers’ Was The Best Show That No One Watched

Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone. 

IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: September 8, 2010

PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Terriers, “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1) [Watch on Netflix]

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Generally, TV shows that struggle to find viewership and are subject to best-show-you’re-not-watching pleas from critics are shows with more offbeat premises. The granular code breakers of Rubicon; the too-realistic high schoolers of Freaks & Geeks; everything that happens on Hannibal. It’s rare to see a show from one of TV’s protected genres (cops, lawyers, doctors) that’s both good and under-watched. And when there is (take a show like Southland for example), it usually manages to find life some way or another.

This is all just a long way of saying that Terriers, a show about private detectives, but really a show about charming characters and zippy dialogue in a sunny locale, deserved so much better than the one season and a cloud of dust that it got.

Premiering in the fall of 2010 on FX, Terriers was the brainchild of screenwriter Ted Griffin, who wrote the scripts for Ocean’s Eleven (the closest analogue to Terriers in terms of its caper-y lightness and endearing characters) and Matchstick Men and then a bunch of eyebrow-raising crap like Killers and Tower Heist. Griffin’s secret weapon on Terriers were his two stars.

Donal Logue was a veteran actor and familiar face who’d bounced around from E.R. to indie movies like The Tao of Steve (after Terriers was cancelled, FX gobbled him up for a stint on Sons of Anarchy, the very definition of cold comfort). Michael Raymond-James was really only known for being on the first season of True Blood, sporting an outrageous Cajun accent. The two made for an unlikely pair of private eyes on paper, but they were DYNAMITE on screen, quick and bantery and charismatic. I’ve said before and I’ll say again that Michael Raymond-James on Terriers is one of the top five most attractive TV characters of all time. The man was God’s gift to henley shirts, and I will stand by this.

Alas, the ratings were dismal, perhaps due to a terribly unhelpful title (“Terriers” doesn’t evoke a single thing about the actual television show) and promotional campaign (seriously ENOUGH WITH THE DOGS, people thought the show was about dog-fighting). They honestly should have just run the opening credits as ads; it didn’t say much about the show either but it got the tone right.

Critics pleaded and wept and threw pages upon pages of content (content like this!) at potential viewers, but it wasn’t enough. Terriers was done after one season, cancelled right around the same time as AMC’s Rubicon, also finished after one season. Hell on Wheels is on its fifth season. FIFTH.

[You can watch the entire series run of Terriers on Netflix]

Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.

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