Who’s The Bigger TV Show Killer: Christian Slater Or Summer Glau?

Until yesterday, I had never heard of Mind Games. That’s probably why ABC cancelled it this week after only five anonymous episodes. Apparently, it was a comedy-drama about “two brothers who run a problem solving firm that employs solutions based on psychological manipulation” created by Kyle Killen (R.I.P. Lone Star) and starring Christian Slater. ABC should have known better: Killen + Slater = NOPE.

Mind Games continues Slater’s impressive streak of choosing the worst possible projects (or do the worst possible projects choose you?), and he’s now widely considered to be TV’s #1 Show Killer. Or is he? Let’s compare Slater’s recent history (post-2002) with that of another murderer’s, Summer Glau.

Summer Glau Main

Firefly (14 episodes)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (31 episodes)
The Cape (10 episodes)

Summer Glau Recurring

The 4400 (8 episodes out of 44)
The Unit (7 episodes out of 69)
Dollhouse (4 episodes out of 26)
Alphas (4 episodes out of 24)

Christian Slater

My Own Worst Enemy (9 episodes)
The Forgotten (17 episodes)
Breaking In (20 episodes)
Mind Games (5 episodes)

So who’s the “winner”? It’s gotta be Slater. At least one of Glau’s show lasted longer than 22 episodes (the approximate number of episodes most networks order in a season), not to mention Firefly was turned into a great movie, Serenity. The lesson learned: Chuck Lorre will cast Summer Glau and Christian Slater in his next show and it’ll run for 24 seasons, because no one, not even these two, can stop CBS.

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