Scott Kara: Twilight of the Gods

There are not enough original ideas coming out of NZ as it is, without one of the most outlandish and unique shows on TV being pulled. Photo / Supplied

I'm not in the habit of writing obituaries. But last week it was The Checks and today it's The Almighty Johnsons.

Our very own Kiwi-based Norse Gods have been banished for good - even if, at the time of writing, TV3 are saying it's not a foregone conclusion that the show has been canned.

But when the creator/writer and lead actor say it's finished then it's over.

And I can't help but feel I contributed to the on-screen demise of Odin, his brothers, and their stoned surfer grandad Olaf.

You see, I watched it religiously first time round but come the second season, like many viewers, I dabbled. So maybe that's it; the ratings have spoken.

Then again, I'm not going to blame myself - and the other not so dedicated Johnsons' fans - for the axing of the show.

It seems to me that if New Zealand's not careful it's likely to end up with a TV diet of reality renovation shows, cooking programmes, and talent quests - because there is an especially plentiful number of the latter on our screens at present.

And it's not that I'm bagging them, since I'm a sucker for all those sorts of shows - especially when I can fast forward through the filler.

However, there are not enough original ideas coming out of New Zealand as it is, without one of the most outlandish and unique shows on TV (both from here and overseas) being pulled.

And the other, possibly even more important point, is the fact there are very few TV shows for us blokes to call our own.

Yes, though the Johnsons' female cast is strong, it's really about the lads getting up to laddish God-like things and Odin's quest to get the girl.

But mostly it's about girls when it comes to TV shows. Go Girls is the most obvious example, and two new local shows, The Blue Rose and Agent Anna, star three of the Outrageous Fortune lasses.

So what's a guy to do? I would get my bloke fix from the rugby, but the All Blacks are going from bad to useless. Which means my current options are either super-violent (Strike Back and Underbelly: Badness), scary and adulterous (check out dirty old Ben's form in American Horror Story) or plain mindless (repeats of Two and a Half Men).

So maybe I should just get a good book.

-TimeOut