Why do the good shows get cancelled?

[old.Tohtori]

I'm really curious on a real answer to it.

Been watching Titus, for example, which is just a perfect comedy show, but it got canned.

Futurama was there.

Firefly...let's not go there.

And so on.

Is there just a lack of viewers, or is there some other reason the good shows get cancelled?

Like...umm...the general public is stupid and doesn't know what's REALLY good?

 

[FuzzyLogic]

The shows you mentioned there are all Fox, they have a reputation for dicking shows about, giving them poor timeslots, changing timeslots at random (so people don't actually know when they're on), airing episodes out of order or simply not giving them much of a chance (ie air 2 eps and complain that the show isn't getting an instant 20 million viewers despite getting the vast majority of the target market) then cancelling them based on poor viewership.

Blame the executives, bunch of idiots who work there.

Weirdly the good ones get punished for taking chances. The guy who commissioned Lost was sacked for allowing an unusually large budget for the pilot.

tl;dr, Fox suck (and ABC for being muppets)

 

[kamorrista]

/clap

 

[old.Tohtori]

Quite right.

Though...weirdly...without Fox they wouldn't have aired at all and we wouldn't be annoyed by the cancellation?

Ah well, luckily there's the Hate! Boobs! Ohyeah! channel

Maybe someone should form a rejects channel which brings back all the cancelled, but internet sanctioned, shows.

 

[soze]

One example is NCIS which gets 20 mil viewers a week. Dexter gets under 5 so if Dexter was on the same network as NCIS it would be a failure due to numbers. So some shows like Reaper which i liked and Chuck which is heading that way are dropped because the numbers are not strong enough for the the Network that makes the show.

 

[cHodAX]

Jericho, Deadwood, Rome, Brotherhood, Drive, The Unit and I could probably name a dozen more. In short, nearly all the the American networks are fucking stupid and only want mega ratings from reality show drivel.

 

[old.Tohtori]

"What makes that guy think he can threaten us with a gun?!"
"He has a gun."

You don't get lines like that anymore

 

[soze]

Yep American Reality Bla pulls in higher rating which equals more money at a lower cost so they do that. Criminal minds just lost 2 and a half actors due to budget cuts as well. I wonder how many of these pilots in the coming month will be picked up.

 

[fettoken]

Fox network was honourable once upon a time, when they created X-Files and let it air for 9 seasons.

 

[Ch3tan]

No they were idiots for letting it go past the 5th season.

 

[fettoken]

Shush now and go back to watching True Blood or something similar.

 

[georgie]

Yep American Reality Bla pulls in higher rating which equals more money at a lower cost so they do that. Criminal minds just lost 2 and a half actors due to budget cuts as well. I wonder how many of these pilots in the coming month will be picked up.

Did they axe a dwarf?

 

[Huntingtons]

im pretty sure that dwarves axe you. In Russia at least

 

[Imgormiel]

Simple answer...finance, advertising and ratings. If it's a US show, ratings is everything =/

 

[Ch3tan]

Shush now and go back to watching True Blood or something similar.

eh? True Blood is great, I hope they never stretch it out beyond it's creative limit either. X-Files was great for 4 solid season, okay for the 5th. It went rapidly down hill after that and was only kept going because it was a cash cow.

Shows being dropped to soon is a big a problem as shows going on too long. Look at Lost, SG1, Friends.

Chuck for example may not last much longer, but to be honest, I'd rather it end on a high than just carry on for the sake of it.

And to answer Tohts question, it's all about money and ratings. Some of the best shows just don't make the money or get the ratings. It's not always their fault, wrong timeslot, not enough advertising. The problem is, you can't really blame the network that was willing to take a shot on them either. If they show was commercially viable, someone else would pick it up.

 

[cHodAX]

eh? True Blood is great, I hope they never stretch it out beyond it's creative limit either. X-Files was great for 4 solid season, okay for the 5th. It went rapidly down hill after that and was only kept going because it was a cash cow.

Shows being dropped to soon is a big a problem as shows going on too long. Look at Lost, SG1, Friends.

Chuck for example may not last much longer, but to be honest, I'd rather it end on a high than just carry on for the sake of it.

And to answer Tohts question, it's all about money and ratings. Some of the best shows just don't make the money or get the ratings. It's not always their fault, wrong timeslot, not enough advertising. The problem is, you can't really blame the network that was willing to take a shot on them either. If they show was commercially viable, someone else would pick it up.

Firefly was commercially viable but placed in bad slots up again Monday Night Football iirc, then it was shunted into other bastard slots. Jericho was exactly the same, dumped into a slot against American Idol right at it's peak when it was pulling 25 million viewers per episode.

Other networks didn't pick them up because they couldn't see a proven track record, effective those shows were strangled at birth and never given a chance.

 

[soze]

Did they axe a dwarf?

Blond one is gone the other girl with a gun is down to half the episodes and one of the blokes is gone.

 

[kamorrista]

eh? True Blood is great, I hope they never stretch it out beyond it's creative limit either. X-Files was great for 4 solid season, okay for the 5th. It went rapidly down hill after that and was only kept going because it was a cash cow.

True Blood for many people is very good, for me just the background script and the original idea looks very nice, in the end is all about vampires having sex, simple dialogues and gossip for teenagers, with all my respects for watchers, at least was a good try.

Moonlight sometimes put interesting scripts into scene, but lacks of a variety of secuences, in the end is always about a new vampire comes to the area behaving badly, hunt him down, and wait for next chapter... anyways it has very nice and interesting situations and background stories.

and not forgetting the topic, money is the key for "weird" changes and cuts about good shows

 

[Lamp]

(Futurama is back on the air (EZTV.it have them all) - the 6th season is quite funny)

 

[Zenith.UK]

This is all that matters to TV execs.
Nielsen ratings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They don't care about popularity if it doesn't translate into eyes watching adverts.

True Blood and Spartacus are HBO which is a pay-TV channel. They know what people watch... sex, blood, violence, swearing and more sex.

 

[cHodAX]

This is all that matters to TV execs.
Nielsen ratings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They don't care about popularity if it doesn't translate into eyes watching adverts.

True Blood and Spartacus are HBO which is a pay-TV channel. They know what people watch... sex, blood, violence, swearing and more sex.

Spartacus is Starz iirc but yes it is cable.