It's bad enough that "Alias" writers put themselves in such a pickle this season by making everyone ask "Why did Michael Vartan leave?" and "Is Vaughn really dead?", but they may have inadvertantly killed the show too by driving away its fanbase.
ABC moved the hit show to Thursdays where it has struggled to find viewers, especially after killing off the character of Vaughn in the first episode. Must watch TV? Not anymore. The Jennifer Garner show has become dull and as a result, has sank to an ultra low 70th place according to the Nielsen ratings, even scoring lower than the spectacularly bad "Joey" (68th).
But here's a wierd nugget this week: tvguide's askAusiello forum stated that there was a "major — major — development on the Vartan/Vaughn front: The deal officially closed late last week and Vartan returned to work on the 'Alias' set yesterday."
Ausiello's post last week also spoke of Vaughn's return: "Here's what I've been told from a reliable source close to the situation. Shortly after Vartan and J.Ga's big split, Vartan allegedly made it known that he wouldn't be terribly upset if Vaughn were to get whacked while on assignment. TPTB, in turn, made it known that Vartan had a contract to honor and, well, he better suck it up and be a professional. Cut to 2005: Producers, looking for a way to revitalize the show and give Sydney a personal mission in Alias' final season, finally granted Vartan his wish. There was just one problem: Vartan was once again loving his job and didn't want to go.
But the writing was already on the wall, albeit with the presumption that Vartan would return later in the season either as Vaughn, Vaughn's ghost or someone else altogether. And that brings us to the second problem.
For some unknown reason, producers never got Vartan to sign off on that return engagement before jettisoning him, resulting in the stalemate we have now. The good news is that the odds are still leaning in the favor of his returning before year's end — despite the fact that he just landed a movie in Australia. Anyway, that's the poop. Don't shoot the messenger."
