Frustrated with shows being cancelled
Discussion
It's happening more and more. I get really into a show and then discover that either it's been cancelled mid-series or that it hasn't been renewed. The shows never get the chance to give the viewer 'closure' and find out how things end. It's immensely frustrating and almost like a televisual version of being left with blue-balls.
Let me give you an example. I belatedly discovered 'Dirty, Sexy Money' which is - in my humble opinion - superb. Cancelled without warning. My Name Is Earl: cancelled, no season 5 coming. Reaper (mindless fun, enlivened by the presence of Missy Peregrym) - cancelled, so no third season. Same happened a while back with Firefly which was another excellent series (which inspired the film 'Serenity'). None of these were ever 'wrapped up' in a satisfactory way. The ONLY exception to this was 'Jericho', which is based around how events might play out if the US were subjected to multiple nuclear attacks. The show was cancelled after the first series (leaving one hell of a cliff-hanger) and generated so much support from fans that a second season of 7 episodes was commissioned, which allowed the writers to 'see it through' - of a fashion.
Don't the TV execs see the issue with pissing off millions of fans who're invested into the show and want to know what happens? I've known people to swear never to watch shows on that network again in protest - I honestly think it does more harm than good. Often, these shows are poorly-marketed. Jericho aired in the UK, but I'll bet most of you never knew that. The name doesn't inspire you to watch it, and what marketing there was was infrequent and poor. Plus shows often get bounced around the schedules, making it hard to know when the next episode is coming. I think the TV companies create half of the problem of low viewing figures themselves! Often a series will take time to spread by word-of-mouth, and by then it may be too late.
Thankfully shows like Dexter, Fringe, Lie to me, Chuck and House have got new seasons coming later in the year (Chuck won't be ready until next year though). I'm also currently quite into 'In Plain Sight' and Burn Notice which is somewhat cheesy, but in a likeable way.
Oddly, I seem to like the more 'off-beat' shows; shows like Heroes, Lost and 24 never hooked me. Heroes went rapidly up its own arse, and Lost was indeed 'lost' from season 1, episode 2..!
Surely there should be 'notice of eviction' served on the makers of the shows, giving them time to tie up all the threads and provide 'closure'. I'm sure it infuriates them more than us as viewers in fact! At least allowing them to do that would mean the networks who commission the shows avoid pissing off large numbers of viewers whom they may not get back.
Let me give you an example. I belatedly discovered 'Dirty, Sexy Money' which is - in my humble opinion - superb. Cancelled without warning. My Name Is Earl: cancelled, no season 5 coming. Reaper (mindless fun, enlivened by the presence of Missy Peregrym) - cancelled, so no third season. Same happened a while back with Firefly which was another excellent series (which inspired the film 'Serenity'). None of these were ever 'wrapped up' in a satisfactory way. The ONLY exception to this was 'Jericho', which is based around how events might play out if the US were subjected to multiple nuclear attacks. The show was cancelled after the first series (leaving one hell of a cliff-hanger) and generated so much support from fans that a second season of 7 episodes was commissioned, which allowed the writers to 'see it through' - of a fashion.
Don't the TV execs see the issue with pissing off millions of fans who're invested into the show and want to know what happens? I've known people to swear never to watch shows on that network again in protest - I honestly think it does more harm than good. Often, these shows are poorly-marketed. Jericho aired in the UK, but I'll bet most of you never knew that. The name doesn't inspire you to watch it, and what marketing there was was infrequent and poor. Plus shows often get bounced around the schedules, making it hard to know when the next episode is coming. I think the TV companies create half of the problem of low viewing figures themselves! Often a series will take time to spread by word-of-mouth, and by then it may be too late.
Thankfully shows like Dexter, Fringe, Lie to me, Chuck and House have got new seasons coming later in the year (Chuck won't be ready until next year though). I'm also currently quite into 'In Plain Sight' and Burn Notice which is somewhat cheesy, but in a likeable way.
Oddly, I seem to like the more 'off-beat' shows; shows like Heroes, Lost and 24 never hooked me. Heroes went rapidly up its own arse, and Lost was indeed 'lost' from season 1, episode 2..!Surely there should be 'notice of eviction' served on the makers of the shows, giving them time to tie up all the threads and provide 'closure'. I'm sure it infuriates them more than us as viewers in fact! At least allowing them to do that would mean the networks who commission the shows avoid pissing off large numbers of viewers whom they may not get back.
Edited by Funk on Wednesday 22 July 02:06
The problem is these shows cost money to make and don't make much back, garbage like 'America's Got Talent' and 'Love Island' on the other hand require no effort and stupid people phone in making the TV company easy money.
To be honest you have forgotten two absolutely stonking shows that were cancelled:
'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
Prison Break only made it to the second half of series 1 by the skin of it's teeth but this did show fan pressure can have a positive effect.
At least we still have a few decent channels like HBO and FX churning out great/obscure/new shows to enjoy.
Essentially the problem is that most TV viewers are morons and don't appreciate great entertainment.
To be honest you have forgotten two absolutely stonking shows that were cancelled:
'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
Prison Break only made it to the second half of series 1 by the skin of it's teeth but this did show fan pressure can have a positive effect.
At least we still have a few decent channels like HBO and FX churning out great/obscure/new shows to enjoy.
Essentially the problem is that most TV viewers are morons and don't appreciate great entertainment.
T89 Callan said:
To be honest you have forgotten two absolutely stonking shows that were cancelled:
'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
Not so much 'forgotten' as 'never even heard of'. Will look them up - available on DVD one would presume?'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
HereBeMonsters said:
andy400 said:
While we're on this topic, when did they become 'shows' and not 'programmes'?
Is a "programme" not a series of shows..? EG the Light Programme on Radio 4..?The Lucy Show
The Phil Silvers Show
The Johnny Carson Show
The Bill Cosby Show
Funk said:
...I'm also currently quite into 'In Plain Sight'...
I'm liking that too, it's probably my favourite tv programme of the moment, via dodgy download of course, as I don't think it's shown in the UK yet.The American tv industry seems to work differently to the UK one, they seem to film shows whilst the season/series is in progress whereas the uk seems to pre-record the whole season months in advance. This allows shows to be dropped mid-season and never concluded, at least if British shows perform poorly they just shove it to some ungodly hour.
I think the future of decent quality television is on subscription channels such as HBO. This provides a much more stable budget and removes the need to get massive advertising returns. You can also get away with smaller audiences as long as those viewers love the show enough to stump up the subscription fee.
Funk said:
T89 Callan said:
To be honest you have forgotten two absolutely stonking shows that were cancelled:
'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
Not so much 'forgotten' as 'never even heard of'. Will look them up - available on DVD one would presume?'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
Anything Aaron Sorkin writes is worth a look.
louiebaby said:
Funk said:
T89 Callan said:
To be honest you have forgotten two absolutely stonking shows that were cancelled:
'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
Not so much 'forgotten' as 'never even heard of'. Will look them up - available on DVD one would presume?'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60'
Both excellently written, cast and produced and a credit to American TV, both were dropped against protests.
Anything Aaron Sorkin writes is worth a look.
Truckosaurus said:
Funk said:
...I'm also currently quite into 'In Plain Sight'...
I'm liking that too, it's probably my favourite tv programme of the moment, via dodgy download of course, as I don't think it's shown in the UK yet.The American tv industry seems to work differently to the UK one, they seem to film shows whilst the season/series is in progress whereas the uk seems to pre-record the whole season months in advance. This allows shows to be dropped mid-season and never concluded, at least if British shows perform poorly they just shove it to some ungodly hour.
I think the future of decent quality television is on subscription channels such as HBO. This provides a much more stable budget and removes the need to get massive advertising returns. You can also get away with smaller audiences as long as those viewers love the show enough to stump up the subscription fee.
Edited by Funk on Wednesday 22 July 11:49
Funk said:
'Dirty, Sexy Money' which is - in my humble opinion - superb. Cancelled without warning.
My Name Is Earl: cancelled, no season 5 coming.
Reaper (mindless fun, enlivened by the presence of Missy Peregrym) - cancelled
]
I had no idea those shows where cancelled. I watched the first series of Dirty sexy money and Reaper, but I think they got cut short due to the writers strikes. And as mentioned elsewhere they are not heavily advertised so I usually forget they are on. But I do/did watch all three of those very good shows.My Name Is Earl: cancelled, no season 5 coming.
Reaper (mindless fun, enlivened by the presence of Missy Peregrym) - cancelled
]
Why is Heroes still going? That show lost the plot in the second series and hasn't picked up where it left off then. Series 3 they started a brand new plot all together.
7 Sevens said:
Deadwood, three seasons of building tension and then cancelled. So Frustrating.
agreed, but i had wondered how they were going to come up with a suitable finale.to be honest, the only tv show i was bothered about being cancelled was family guy, but the dvd sales brought that back thankfully.
kidnapped [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapped_(TV_series)] was an awesome series that shouldn't have been canned either.
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