Suspense Will Be Missing On ABC Finale

When ABC airs the final new episode of "thirtysomething" at 10 p.m. tomorrow on KOMO-TV, what was supposed to have been a cliffhanger will instead be more like a wake.

Last week, as the fourth season for "thirtysomething" headed toward its conclusion, ABC announced it was not renewing the series. For while "thirtysomething" has been handily winning Emmys (10), it hasn't be winning Nielsen numbers the way, say, "America's Funniest Home Videos" has.

And while the audience for "thirtysomething" hasn't been dwindling, neither has it been growing in the way that, say, NBC's "L.A. Law," TV's other drama for grown-ups, has.

Those of us who have been fans of "thirtysomething" since the start can only boo ABC for its greed, its unwillingness to sacrifice a few ratings points for quality since, line for line, performance for performance, "thirtysomething" is up there with the best of television.

And after four seasons, its company of actors - Ken Olin and Mel Harris (Michael and Hope Steadman), Timothy Busfield and Patricia Wettig (Elliot and Nancy Weston), Polly Draper (Ellyn), Melanie Mayron (Melissa Steadman) and Peter Horton (Gary Shepherd) - have, in the eyes of this viewer, at least, become the characters they portray. As an acting ensemble, they are top of the line.

Having worked together for four seasons has also made it easier for the writers. This season a great variety of writers created the "thirtysomething" scripts, just as there were a variety of directors, but by now the characters have become so solidly established they've taken on a three-dimensional life of their own.

And make no mistake - writers were at the heart of the success of "thirtysomething." The use of words, of references, of verbal exchanges between the characters were always surprising - "thirtysomething" is one of the few shows where it's virtually impossible to put words in the actors' mouths. You may know pretty well what their reactions will be to a person or situation but not precisely how those reactions will be phrased. You can, however, be pretty sure the words will be exactly the right ones.

If the dialogue was well written, it also helped that most "thirtysomething" scripts were about something.

This season Richard Kramer's splendid season-beginning episode, dealing with the birth of Michael and Hope's son and what it means to be Jewish, was as engrossing and provocative as later scripts that explored Catholicism, as debated by Elliot and his mother (beautifully played by Eileen Brennan). A variety of writers explored various ramifications of Nancy's bout with cancer while other writers examined the concept of marriage, as Ellyn wrestled with whether or not she wanted to be married to Billy.

"thirtysomething" was also one of TV's few attempts to really examine work in a serious way. "L.A. Law" and other series deal dramatically with law and medicine - but most problems are easily solved or over three or four episodes, at the very most. Problems that arose at work on "thirtysomething," for instance, continued to plague - witness the continuing presence of the dangerously enigmatic Miles Drentell, played so wonderfully by David Clennon. (Work is also important on "Murphy Brown" but there it's usually played by laughs; if there are laughs about work on "thirtysomething" the laughs are usually sardonic!)

Perhaps it's the insistence by the show's creators, Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, not to put everything into neat little packages, not to tie up all the loose ends that fascinated me. Loneliness or the homeless or personality conflicts, such as the relationship between Susannah, Gary's wife, and Gary's friends, may be the central theme of any given show - but while the subject may be examined from several points of view, the viewer is often left to come to his or her own conclusions.

While detractors of "thirtysomething" complained that "nothing happens" on the show, it's true it's more of a show about thinking than acting. Still, this season, Nancy seemed to have won her battle with cancer, at least for the moment, while Gary was killed in an accident. Ellyn got married, Elliot quit the ad agency and temporarily went to California to work and, just two weeks ago, Michael quit in protest over Miles' insistence he fire an actor in a commercial who had also been photographed at a peace rally.

Producer Joseph Dougherty's scripts about Gary's funeral and Michael's decision to quit the advertising firm were as thoughtful and insightful as anything you're likely to find on TV, the kind of writing that contributes to the believability of the characters - and surely must be a welcome challenge to the performers.

The episode about Michael's resignation said more about America after the Gulf War - and was tougher on the advertising world - than any other dramatic show that I've seen. It was, in fact, precisely the kind of episode that could have garnered negative advertiser response in the real world - in much the same way as the episode was dramatizing.

Over the years, "thirtysomething" has developed its own style, as well as an acting company, and the judicious use of fantasy sequences was not only a trademark of the series, but reinforced the characters, as well. No episode more clearly explained Hope's compulsion to be perfect better than the comedic episode where one of Hope's college advisers was, in her fantasy, constantly grading her attempts to throw a surprise birthday party for Michael. The series also used music in a most imaginative way, whether it's familiar music, such as Ray Charles' recording of "Come Rain or Come Shine" at Ellyn's wedding, or Stewart Levin's brooding, haunting original score for the episode in which Gary was killed, an episode exceptionally well- written, by the way, by another of the show's producers, Ann Lewis Hamilton, and directed by Olin.

Since its premiere Sept. 29, 1987, "thirtysomething" has emerged as the kind of show which you either love or hate. Those who love it give many of the reasons stated above. Those who hate it claim the characters spent all of the their time pondering life, how they feel about it, themselves and each other. That to me, hardly seems a complaint. Not only do most of us do that, at least part of the time, but the idea that the unexamined life isn't worth living traces its origin to the early Greek philosophers.

But while that may have been good enough for the Greeks, it didn't cut the mustard at ABC.

John Voorhees' column appears Sunday, Monday and Thursday in The Times.