Winters of My Discontent

What is it with Dean Winters?  He shows up everywhere on TV but never sticks around very long.  This week I watched 30 Rock for the first (and last) time, and there he was as Dennis, the King of Beepers.  30 Rock is the kind of show that looks like it is supposed to be good, but it's so awful that you wonder why so many talented people are involved in it -- how could they churn out such crap?  But, back to Dean.  Despite the overwhelming mediocrity of 30 Rock, they pretty much dumped him this week.  I imagine they would have killed him off but for the fact that the show itself will be killed off before they have a chance to do in Dean in a future episode.

Fast forward to this week's CSI:Miami, another show that I've tried to like but just don't.  I just can't take David Caruso chewing up the scenery, unlike some people I know (Hmmmmm, N.!).  In any event, I ended up watching CSI:Miami this week because DOG The Bounty Hunter (Now that's good stuff!) was a rerun.  I have to admit my interest was piqued as soon as I realized that they were in Brazil looking for Raymond Caine, who happens to be played by, you guessed it, Dean Winters.  Unfortunately, by the time they caught up to Raymond Caine, he was so messed up that he was basically unrecognizable and it wasn't Dean Winters playing Raymond as he died.  Yes, he died.  Now, Raymond Caine has already had one faked death on this show, so it's possible that he will arise from the dead and Dean Winters will give me a reason to endure this show again, but don't bet on it.

Where else have I seen Dean Winters?  Oz, Sex and the City, Rescue Me, and Law & Order: SVU.  The Sex and the City was a one shot deal.  I never saw the whole series of Oz so I don't know what happened to him there.  Dick Wolf and the SVU crowd got him out of there pretty quickly;  I don't think he finished the first season.  He seemed to finally hit a show where he was on almost every episode, season after season, with Rescue Me.  (I know there were a couple of episodes where his character was played by someone else, but he originated and finished the Johnny character.)  And then this past season, they definitely killed him off in Rescue Me.  There's no hope of a CSI-like twist where he'll be back from the dead due to some soap-opera-implausible story.

So, I ask, why?  Why do they always kill Dean Winters off or otherwise get rid of him with some finality?  I know that bringing him back to TV more frequently isn't going to bring peace to the world or do anything important or heavy like that, but, damn, it would make my world just a little bit brighter. 

Comments

[Nancy]

I feel the exact same way about Dean. I just don't get it. I watched Oz every season but the last and I fell for him hard. I even watched SVU just for him when it came on (well him and Richard Belzer but that's just 'cause I'm a huge Homicide fan). He's talented, intense and just a wee bit hot, all the ingredients one needs to make me happy.

[Renee]

Just catching up on my blog reading and came across your post about Dean Winters. He was in Oz from episode 1 right through the end and was fantastic. I'd highly recommend watching it on DVD, if you aren't afraid of a little nudity and violence.