File:  Final Entry
Date:  10/09/2001
 

Every farewell combines loss and new freedom - Cooley Mason
 
 

Hello everyone and welcome to my final official entry of Eberts’ Files. For many of you casual readers this may come as a surprise and I apologize for being the bearer of such bad news. However since you fans have been so close to this production and cared for it so strongly I felt that you should learn the truth as quickly as I had. If I am spoiling the official word from the Sci-Fi channel, I hope they forgive me. Seeing how the word has reached me, I must assume that a lot of other folks have already heard and rather than it persist as a rumor or slowly leak on the Bboard, I would simply address right there and now.

The Invisible Man is cancelled.

As hard as it is for all of us to grasp it, it is unfortunately the truth. The decision as I understand it was a difficult one, but in the end economics barely won the day. This is neither the first nor the last time this has happened to a show. Nonetheless, it is still a painful experience for everyone involved.

The immediate questions flood in: How? Why? The answers are largely moot now except to those who will chronicle (no pun intended) this show. Blame will be assessed where due and where not. Someday I’ll venture my own opinions of who and what were responsible, but for now I hold back any spite or anger in favor of celebrating what we accomplished.

And it was a lot.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I didn’t think I-Man would ever have a chance. Reading the pilot script I thought it was immensely clever and well written but ultimately not having enough ‘bells and whistles’ in special effects, aliens and space fights that sci-fi fans have been culled on to be a hit. Even when we received our thirteen-episode pick-up after we shot the pilot I was sure that that would be all that would ever be produced. 45 episodes later I was proved completely wrong. Fans flocked to the quirky, offbeat little show that could. The interaction of characters and the struggle of a lonely thief in an inept agency became a mainstay Friday nights for millions of viewers and millions more in syndication. By the end of season one we knew that we had succeeded in creating a popular show.

We also were able to create a niche on the creative side. The series creator was forced to leave early on. This left a gap in creative control that the cast was able to fill. Fleshing out characters and their interactions with each other was something that happened organically and spontaneously on the set. Darien and Hobbes’ chatter, Bobby’s affection of the Keeper, Eberts and The Official’s banter; all were created and refined on the set by the most talented actors I’ve ever met. They are my idols and my friends.

That’s not to say our writing staff or anyone behind the camera was not a major force in the creation of this show. Craig and later on Dean truly ‘got’ the show and created funny, moving scripts. Directors like Breck Eisner, Jay Tobias, Josh Butler, Greg Yatenias and especially Michael Grossman refined the scripts and our performances. Camera operators Spencer, Raul, Bruce; D.P.’s John Connor and Tommy Jewett; Assistant Directors Jenn and Matt: costume, lights, sound, make-up. - I wish I could name them all because they all pitched in made what should have been an average show an extraordinary affair.

But the most important cog in this wonderful machine was all of you. From the beginning you showed up and supported this show. Each week I would publish this meek little rambling and you would be there in Bboard posts, E-Mail and fan mail to show your approval. You became such and influence that the rest of the cast came to me for updates on what the fans liked or disliked in each episode. You were such a force that you were mentioned in scripts and even in the opening credits. You were so respected by all of us that we placed the fate of Darien in a two-parter in your hands when you voted on the internet. Rarely, if ever has there been such full interaction between a show and its fans. And yet you deserved it all.

So with that, I end as I started two years ago, by thanking you. I’ve lived a dream of mine and nothing can ever cancel that. I invite you to watch the rest of our final season in January. In particular I am proud of our last two episodes and the way that they finish off the show. I’ll lurk the board from time to time and maybe post a file on my own site, but this is my swansong on the I-Man board.

In true I-Man fashion, I leave you with this...

"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."

-T. S. Eliot
 
 

On behalf of Vince, Paul, Eddie, Shannon and myself,

Thank you,

Michael Patrick McCafferty