Good shows being canceled...
 

Why is it that every time I get into a show that I find interesting and worthwhile. Just this week I got into Defying gravity, subscribed to it via iTunes, and not I am seeing reports that it is canceled by ABC for lack of viewers.

I hate them.

It feels a little like the Firefly thing and it bugging the hell out of me that I am in this tiny, obviously insignificant demographic that will never be catered to like people easier to please with their entertainment.

Yeah, I know exactly how you feel. ABC has also done it with other really excellent, intelligent shows like Commander in Chief, (around 2005) which was growing fast in popularity and then ABC started getting sporadic with the schedule, letting it get pre-empted etc. Then they moved it to a different time slot...and made people ferret through their guides to find it. Finally, they cancelled it for lack of audience!

Ugh... There seems to be at least 1 show every year or so that I get into that get canceled. This year it was Reaper.

Reaper is cancelled? oh noes! Probably for the same religious nutcase reasons that saw Point Pleasant get canned.

The Unit was CBS' highest rated prime time show - and they cancelled it. One hopes it is picked up, especially since it was produced by 20th Century Fox.

This has been happening for years. Look at what happened to "WKRP in Cincinnati".

"Reaper" was holding on by thread for a second season as it was. The fact that it's not going to get a 3rd isn't surprising to me in the least. I loved it, but it definitely lost a step once Kevin Smith took another step backwards from it. It was in last place consistently, which is pretty much death for any show ever.

People complain about the quality of TV and movies all the time, and then they watch tripe like "American Idol" or "Dancing with the Stars" and not the things with interesting and original stories to tell. The fact that "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica" ever got viewers in the first place continues to amaze me and batter my theory that Americans Are Stupid In Groups.

Jay Leno in primetime 5 nights a week comes to mind. Ugh!

I'm going to miss Pushing Daisies...

You mean you're going to miss the Emmy Award winning Pushing Daisies. Dumbasses didn't know what they had.

Defying Gravity was dead in its moon boots from about episode 2.

Honestly, though? I'm not sure Firefly could maintain that level of quality for another season. I sure would have hated to see it become as sporadic in quality as some of Whedon's other longer-running gigs.

I don't know if Commander in Chief is the same series I am thinking about, though it did get cancelled quite quickly.

It was about the American President as a young child, his older brother, and the relationship among them with their single mother, whom I believe palyed a high school teacher in the story as well (and she also played a premiere part in The West Wing before this show).

Again, I don't watch too much TV at all, but from what I recall, most of the past shows that I thought had promise before being pulled were all on NBC (around the time of Lost): shows such as Surface (might've been ABC) , Journeyman, and most recently, Kings.

I don't know what's up with ABC, but I just looked at the combined Fall TV schedule, and there's only one ABC show I'll be watching this season - Castle on Monday nights.

I might give Flash Forward a try (while I TiVo Bones) - but it seems stupid that they only go forward 6 months - what's their plan after that?
I agree with ratbastid about Defying Gravity, though - about halfway thru the second episode, I told my wife, "They'd better get my attention pretty quick, or I might not even finish watching this episode." They didn't; I didn't.

Of course, I'm still pissed at ABC for canceling Life On Mars. It's not like I'm boycotting them for it, though - all networks cancel shows I like.
If I were going to boycott a network, it'd be NBC for canceling Life.

The writers' strike sure ruined the success of a lot of good shows.

I almost cried with the end of King of the Hill the other night.

Actually, for a late-summer starter, I thought it wasn't half bad. I've watched it and I've enjoyed it. But up against 500-lb gorillas like LOST? Don't think so. Certainly not with the half-assed marketing effort the network put behidn it.

Yeah, I got into that at the second to last episode. Bastards.

Is Life on Mars a remake of the UK show? (nvrmnd, wiki just told me the answer)

If anything, I'd recommend watching the original British show, along with the companion sequel, Ashes to Ashes. Then again, I haven't watched a single episode of any of the three series in which I'm referring to, but it's on my queue. Honest.


I totally forgot about Life. I only saw maybe 4 episodes of it, but it was interesting, and Sarah Shahi along with Donal Logue was a real treat to watch every other week.

No. This one had a female President, played by Geena Davis. Her character's name was MacKenzie something-or-another. She ascended into the Presidency upon the death of the sitting President. Her political nemesis was played by Donald Sutherland. It was a damned good show.

I could not possibly agree more. I just don't get it. Well, yeah I do. The so called "reallity" programs are cheaper to produce than the mainstream ones. Of course the networks are going to push them. To the point of creating, I believe, artificial interest.

Part of the problem is the shell game, that the networks like to play with thier shows. Time was, if a show was scheduled to be on a certain day, at a certain time, then you could count on it's being there. Now, it seems, time slots are at the whims of insecure programing executives trying in vain to appear to be earning thier mega-bucks. Time slots seem to chosen by the spin of a roullette wheel...bi-weekly. How can you watch, and follow, a show if you never know when they're going to air it?

Believe me - I really wanted to like it. I liked the concept of a 6-year mission thru the solar system; Ron Livingston is good in anything he does; there was plenty of eye candy.

And yeah, I know they were trying to reveal the "beta" thing slowly and build suspense, a la Lost. But I just didn't care. And I would've had to shoot my TV if I had heard one more baby crying down the hallway. Okay - we get it - you chose career over a family and got an abortion. Deal with it. And grow your hair - that's two TV shows with the same stupid haircut.

To be fair, it's been revealed in the last couple episodes that Zoe hearing the baby is only one example of Beta messing with the crew's heads. She's not just randomly hearing things. But that's all the further we've gotten on Beta since the beginning of the series.

Feel you on the haircut. WAY cuter in the long-haired flashbacks.

Speaking of Donal Logue, I miss "Knights of Prosperity" and "Grounded for Life". He's come a long way since Jimmy the Cab Driver on MTV. Somehow, Meghan Price has managed to be in two of my favorite sitcoms in the past 10 years with that and "Rules of Engagement" (but Patrick Warburton makes that one).

Grounded for Life I don't believe was cancelled, "technically", but it was let go from Fox, before being picked up by some satellite network and being allowed to continue running new episodes there (the WB or ABC Family, something like that). It did end, perhaps, as a result of not being renewed, but the positive that came out of it is that the series did get to produce a "closing series episode".

I never really watch CBS sitcoms, or crime dramas, ever. I just stay away from CBS altogether for some reason for the past 20 years (exception was Bob Barker's "The Pirce is Right"). But, if you recommend it, I'll try to get into "Rules of Engagement"; Warburton is one of my favorite actors in nearly everything he's involved with (and he is literally in everything).

Agreed on both counts, how Jay constantly beat Letterman is beyond me. I'm glad Conan took over for him, Jay gives me douche chills.

My SO and I loved Pushing Daisies. She boycotted Castle because of it as Castle took it's timeslot.

I can totally recommend the English versions of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. Both are EXCELLENT!

Go rent the original BBC One series. It's MUCH better.

---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:56 PM ----------

Ahh! You beat me to it! The original Life on Mars is excellent. I haven't seen the sequel.

Thanks! I didn't know that! I'll have to see if I can find it out there in reruns somewhere.
It is the only thing that I've ever seen David Spade in (including SNL) where he didn't immediately set my teeth on edge. Part of that is that his character is designed to be as offensive as possible and part is that his surrounding cast (not that he's the lead, by any means) is so awesome that they could just about get a laugh out of me reading the phone book.

Lots of suggestions to watch the BBC Life On Mars - and much appreciated.
But what I liked the most about the show was exploring the different theories about what was happening. It kind of ruins it, knowing what happened.

Okay - that's not true; what I liked most about the show was my weekly Gretchen Mol fix.
And the music.

I'm still pissed that Life was cancelled. Now I remember why I quit watching TV for years...it's full of complete shit and then they cancel something decent!

When NBC canceled "My Name is Earl" I wanted to find the mother$#^&#@!! responsible for it and beat the living shit out of them.


And then I heard that CW canceled "Reaper". That pissed off the Mrs. What happens when she gets a hold of the responsible party will make what I do look like a church picnic.

We may have very different tastes (or not), but I probably watch more CBS shows now than any other network. I like their Monday night lineup (How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, 2-1/2 Men), and also enjoy The New Adventures of Old Christine on Wednesdays.

Other than their sitcoms, I also enjoy NCIS, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI:NY, and Numbers.

I'm still surprised that Fox cancelled The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. so soon. The writing was surprisingly good, and the show's silliness was really fun instead of boring or stupid.

I have had this image in my mind for the longest time that CBS is the geriatric network, and that most of its shows and dramas cater more towards the over-50 crowd. Other than Criminal Minds, I haven't given any of those other shows a decent shot.

to yournamehere:
It seems that every year, I usually just latch onto 3 to 5 shows, and I catch up on them sporadically, via online streaming or the occasional renting of an entire season. I don't watch too much TV at all; save for on the weekend, in the twilight hours (10pm-5am), and now that it's that season, NFL games.

Right now, I've started watching Mad Men, finished True Blood, catching up on Leverage and Burn Notice (only missed an episode or two), and I still wish to start Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes, as well as wanting to start and finish The Shield as well. That'll give you an idea of what my tastes are this year. Oh, yeah, and from what I hear, I think I want to give a look into Hard Knocks, but that time window may have already passed. Last new show for this season in which I'll be affixed to will certainly be Dexter.



---------- Post added at 08:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:26 PM ----------

to bring it back on-topic, I'm not sure if it was ever cancelled, but I would really like to know became of the The Outer Limits (Canadian 90s version was good at times, too) and the original and always creepy Unsolved Mysteries.

Yeah, well it was a Carlton Cuse project. Who else would do a sci-fi cowboy western? He created Nash Bridges and Martial Law and is now co-EP for LOST. Guy's one of my TV heroes.

According to Wiki, Defying Gravity isn't officially cancelled yet but only being "Rescheduled". We'll see I guess. The last episode was a real cliff hanger regarding Beta's true nature so It'll be a real pisser if they don't go any farther.

At the very least I bet they post the remaining episodes online like they did for Daybreak; ABC's Lost summer replacement that also ran for 13 episodes but didn't make it all the way through on air.

I only get CBS on my tv, so I hulu everything else. I've learned to hate CSI and Letterman. However, Big Bang Theory is my 30 minutes of joyful television every week. I'm bummed that Defying Gravity is up for debate. With all the drama of school, I look for shows that are entertaining and intelligent, not Dancing With Big Brother and shite. I miss Dead Like Me. In which, by the way, the chick that plays Zoe had longer hair. :)

"Big Bang" and 2&1/2 Men" are two of the best comedies I've seen over the last year or two...in fact, I really enjoy 'em and can't understand anybody thinking these are geriatric comedies. They always make me laugh out loud and they've retained some decent writers, unlike soooo many other shows.

All the reality shows have driven me to read more books (NIce) and do lots more interesting things so I guess that's that. I use Netflix a lot - seen some oldies than are incredible!!! That has been great help delivering me from "TV Mind Fuck." Not even Tivo seems worth an effort to "tape"most of the offerings. IStill like NUMBERS (I always tape it)... but it's almost on the borderline & I hope it gets better this year than last. They are getting too predicatble! Damn I hate that when you fingure out who did it & why after 15 minutes!!!

I miss the NUMBERS cool smart redhead....why or why did she leave!?? Maybe becuase they didn't have a juicey love-interest for her! HA!

2 and a half men has never been something that I've sought out, but I will admit to finding it very funny when I have caught the odd episode here and there.

Last year The Shield, this year the Unit. Fucking hell. I liked My Name is Earl, too.

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I kinda liked Pushing Daisies. Besides, Kristin Chenoweth's got it going on for her age.

I used to like NBC best, but the past few years I've been liking CBS best.

Kristin Chenoweth's got it going on for any age. She's incredibly sexy.

i really liked Eli Stone and its sad to see it gone.
I'm also a huge stargate fan so it sucked to see atlantis get cancelled. i know they're coming out with stargate universe soon, but it looks very different from SG1 and SGA.

i would also hate to see defying gravity go, that show is incredible.

Here's the thing, it isn't always about how the show rates in the US. Ratings are just a part of the picture.

Other things that are taken into consideration:

• Production Costs. How much does it cost to producer per episode. for example, Firefly is a lot more expensive to produce than Two and Half Men.
• Ad sales. There has been a sharp drop in ad revenue on free to air networks. This hits their production budgets (see above).
• International Sales. Is the program selling to broadcasters outside the US? This wasn't always an important factor but as ad revenues have been dropping the importance of the international market, and the license fees earned has made it important.
• Domestic Syndication. Given all of the above, is there a strong indication that the series will achieve the magic number of 100+ episodes that will open it to the domestic syndication market? Is the content of the series such that it lends itself to syndication? There is a lot of money to be made in license fees and ad revenue through syndication.

A show only needs 60 or 70 episodes to be syndicated.

Just to expand, this is about right. It depends on the rotation, airing schedule, and acquistion rights most often than not, but having at least around 60 or 70 ep. produced in a series works well enough, though having more certainly helps.

Consider the fact that Bones was syndicated quite fast off the mark from Fox to TNT. At the time, I believe the crime-centric forensic show had only produced 58 episodes (4 complete seasons) when signed on to air daily on the Ted Turner-owned network.

Also, both Futurama and Family Guy were picked up by another Turner-based network, Cartoon Network's late-night schedule of mature comedies by the title of Adult Swim. At the time of syndication, both series had been cancelled and had produced a total of 72 and 50 episodes, respectively. This was before the 2005-06 renewal of Family Guy, and it was mostly due to the exposure on Adult Swim and reinvigorated DVD sales that have allowed both of these animated comedies to make a comeback with newly-produced episodes that we are seeing now.

My work schedule prevents me from seeing primetime for the nearly a decade and a half. I am a slight bit behind but I did indeed fall in love with Chuck and Pushing Daisies.
As the original poster, I couldn't believe another decent program cut short for offering intelligent, witty and thoughtful programming.

I didn't know about Life on Mars. I am a fan of the British Life on Mars, Eleventh Hour (another one the Americans remade) and Ashes to Ashes. I consider the British versions superior.
Overall, I do prefer British television.

One I didn't seem mentioned was Drive. Only four episodes and it disappears while this bundle of reality tv has made me practically ignore all network television.

This! I was floored that they canceled My Name is Earl and kept Parks and Recreation.