Larissa Ione

Dear Network Execs

Remember the good old days when you used to give warning before a show was cancelled? You know, so the show could wrap up all the storylines at the end of the season?

It's bad enough when, even with notice, you cancel great shows garnering good ratings. Remember Angel, WB? You know, the show that had a huge, loyal following? The show you cancelled and forced to switch gears mid-season in order to wrap up 5 seasons worth of history in just a few episodes…resulting in the worst series finale in history? I'm still bitter over that incident. I haven't watched The WB since.

So that's bad enough. But I've noticed a growing trend over the last few years. You started cancelling shows between seasons. Shows that ended their seasons with killer cliffhangers. You don't bother announcing the cancellation, so eager viewers wait all summer for the fall premiere of the show, only to wait…and wait…and wait.

Then…no premiere. After a little research, the viewer finds that the show was rudely canceled. Last year, Fox got me hooked on Tru Calling. Last summer, it ended with a great cliffhanger. I was SO looking forward to the fall premiere. No such luck. Thanks a lot, Fox.

So cancelling a show between seasons without giving the show a chance to wrap up is bad, too.

But nothing…NOTHING is so heinous, so diabolical, as canceling a show MID-SEASON. What are you thinking, people??? Cancel Firefly??? Not just cancel it, but rip it from television after 9 episodes without letting the season wrap up? Oh, Fox, you're on a roll.

Fortunately, the folks at Universal Studios were smart enough to recognize the brilliance in the show, and they gave the thumbs-up for a movie, which, if successful, will be followed by two sequels.

Obviously, I've been steaming for a while over the above examples. But the last straw, the spark that fueled this rant, was the fact that last night I wondered why Life As We Know It hadn't been on for a couple of weeks and again wasn't scheduled for this coming Thursday. Well, I did a little digging. Sure enough…canceled. Right in the middle of the freaking season.

Would it be too much to ask for a little notice? Maybe an apology? "Hey, loyal ABC viewers. Sorry to do this to you, but we superior minds think you'll like Supernanny better, because doesn't everyone like watching idiots who can't control their bratty kids? So we're cancelling the entertaining show you like, and forcing you to watch the bad acting in Hope and Faith, and the men of Rodney and According to Jim, who pull such moronic stunts that no one can understand why their beautiful model-wives don't leave their dumpy, dumb asses. Enjoy, loyal viewer, who is clearly too stupid to know what you should like."

And you network brains wonder why you're having trouble building loyal fanbases for your shows. Gee, think it's because viewers are afraid of becoming emotionally invested in shows that get yanked just when they get good?

ABC is going to be airing a new show called Blind Justice soon. Looks like it might be good. Am I going to watch? Hell, no. Because I just know that I'll get hooked and it'll get canceled. :angry:

Yep, I'm going to be shutting off the TV and doing a lot of reading in the future. At least with romance novels, you know that the stories are going to be wrapped up in the end.
:satisfied:

24 Responses to “Dear Network Execs”

I’m still mourning Angel and Firefly.

PS Happy Valentine’s Day!

by Jill on February 14th, 2005 at 8:26 am
Oh, I’m just waiting for the cancelation of House. It’s the best thing on Fox since Firefly and American Embassy and Keen Eddie and the multitude of intelligent shows Fox cancels in favor of stupid people! Which means it should be over any day now!

by Mica on February 14th, 2005 at 8:29 am
Larissa - boy do I hear you! My dh and I have had this happen to us so many times. Right now we’re waiting for the axe to fall on House - our current fave new show.

It happened to us with Spy Game and The Agency, among others. Those two came to mind first. Oh, and Stat - from the early 90s - a precursor to Scrubs. It was hilarious. And that really campy show, also early 90s, called Covington Cross.

Like you, I’m often reluctant to watch new shows - worried about getting hooked and then having the show taken away.

But Hugh Laurie is just so good on House, that we’re taking the risk. Hope it pays off!

by Teresa on February 14th, 2005 at 8:47 am
I’m with y’all on House. I started watching it, therefore…it’ll get cancelled. My interest guarantees cancellation. Networks should pay me NOT to watch their show. Or to watch their competitors shows.

And Medium…that’s one’s doomed. Too original. And I like it. Say goodbye! :(

by Larissa on February 14th, 2005 at 9:32 am
That’s why I stopped watching TV long ago and stuck with reading instead!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chey

by Cheyenne McCray on February 14th, 2005 at 10:21 am
I totally agree with you on the sucky wtf(?)finale of Angel and the cancellation of Firefly! I rarely watch tv anymore, even those shows that look interesting and/or I keep *meaning* to watch regularly — ie Boston Legal, CSI Las Vegas. Haven’t watched a sitcom since the very brilliant Seinfeld went off the air.

by Jaq on February 14th, 2005 at 10:52 am
That’s why I’m debating whether I’ll allow myself to get into the 4400 again. I just know they’re going to cancel it, even though there are so many storyline possibilities.

My dh and I were talking about TV last night. It came up because we were remarking on how many books are in our TBR piles. We decided that we should probably give the boob tube a rest for a while and catch up on the reading.

by Jordan on February 14th, 2005 at 11:32 am
I’m sort of glad I never watched any of the shows you listed. I would have loved them, I’m sure. Now I’m braced to lose Medium, House, and Numb3rs. My DH is very distraught because this is the last season of NYPD Blue. He’s watched it ever since I can remember, and he’s counting down each and every episode this season.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

by Joely on February 14th, 2005 at 11:52 am
Happy Valentine’s Day, Larissa!

Funny, my husband just commented on this the other night. He asked me, "How come all the shows you like get cancelled?" Hell if I know.

They did it to me with Freaks & Geeks, Wonderfalls, and Tarzan. Yeah, I know Tarzan wasn’t the greatest show, but the chance to see Travis Fimmel was more than enough to keep me tuning in!

by Lynn on February 14th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
You go, girl! I don’t even watch TV anymore and you had me cheering!

The last time I was completely bummed when a show was cancelled was…(oops, going to age myself here)…when My So-Called Life went down after one season. Grrrr.

by Amy on February 14th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
Happy Valentine’s Day back!

See…all these shows, cancelled because the networks wanted instant hits and didn’t want to waste time or money making changes that would build a fan base and increase ratings. Thing is, the replacement shows are seldom better! Grr.

by Larissa on February 14th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
[Disclaimer: I’m a bit tired, so my numbers may be a bit off ]

While I see what you all are saying, but it’s advertisers we have to consider.
Low ratings: low exposure, which doesn’t justify high costs of [advertising] air time. For an advert to appear in peak time [e.g. 8 million homes], it can cost from 2million USdollars onwards. That’s just for one advert. I won’t even go there in costing the costs of making one. So, if the TV show has low or mid-range ratings [e.g. 2 million homes or fewer], it has to go. No further discussion.

Larissa, I read a report, in WG’s newsletter, about an international TV conference a couple of years ago, where one American TV exec says that they no longer make announcements, signalling the end of the show because of the internet, e.g. petitions and campaigns. It takes up too much of administrative [read: costly work] time. That may explain why they stopped the practice?

by Maili on February 14th, 2005 at 3:31 pm
P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day to you all.

by Maili on February 14th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
I understand the advertisement thing…I do. Obviously, the shows have to have decent ratings to make money for the advertisers. And I know that the American public has really crappy taste, so a lot of the more "intelligent" shows don’t make it. So it’s their fault, too. (I have to give kudos to the execs that see potential in original projects like Medium or House and give them a chance!)

But it still annoys me. If the network execs are going to cancel a show, I want them to do the fans the courtesy of letting us know and letting the show wrap up the loose ends. I could care less if the petitions and campaigns take up costly time. They can give us that, because the petitions are going to happen anyway, and the anger and resentment is only going to be worse without the courtesy.

I think that I’m mostly just frustrated at we’ve become a society of instant gratification, which means that shows just don’t get a chance if they aren’t instant hits, you know?

I read something a while ago that said that some big show of the 70’s–Happy Days or Mork and Mindy or something like that–was a flop at first, but the network stuck it out, and it became a huge success. I guess I just kind of wish they’d do that now.

Sigh. Back to the books, I guess. :confused:

by Larissa on February 14th, 2005 at 3:54 pm
I’m holding my breath for NUMB3RS, too.

Bummer for us that House is on opposite something we watch (Amazing Race, maybe?), but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for y’all.

by Shannon on February 14th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
"I think that I’m mostly just frustrated at we’ve become a society of instant gratification, which means that shows just don’t get a chance if they aren’t instant hits, you know?"

Oh, yeah. Amen to that. I seriously almost throw myself at the controller’s feet, begging not to take STRANGE off the radar. It just needed a f. chance! But alas, it was taken off. I’m still bitter about the whole thing. *pause* I need a drink.

by Maili on February 14th, 2005 at 7:37 pm
I understand advertising, yadda, yadda. But if Medium goes off the air, I’m going to cry.

by Jill on February 14th, 2005 at 7:42 pm
This is why I only watch Law & Order. What, sixteen seasons and counting? And Chris Noth returns as Logan!

by Linda on February 14th, 2005 at 9:40 pm
And THIS is one of the reasons why I don’t bother watching TV. It’s kinda the same reason I stopped watching soap operas eons ago, because once I learned that the one guy and girl I wanted to get together would ‘be’ together for maybe five episodes before she married his dad and gave him a little brother, then divorced his dad, flirted with him before marrying his uncle… *rolling eyes* well, you guys get the picture. But the ONLY good thing about soap operas is…if I waited LONG enough, the original hero and herione I liked WOULD get back together…well, as long as the show wasn’t cancelled.

by Patrice on February 14th, 2005 at 10:47 pm
So Tru Calling isn’t coming back? I remember the feeling of anguish when it wasn’t back this fall, then I looked it up on the web and it was supposed to come back this spring. Like they did with my beloved Alias (although I will say, this season is not as good as the others, the jerks).

It still appears on the Fox website even though there’s no date for the next show. Dare I hope?

by Danica on February 15th, 2005 at 9:03 pm
Danica, nope–Tru Calling isn’t coming back. They haven’t updated the website yet. There were 6 more episodes filmed but not aired, and there’s been talk of airing them, but I have a feeling they’ll just be put out on DVD. I hear they’re going to appear on British TV, though.

by Larissa on February 16th, 2005 at 8:01 am
Okay, that officially sucks.

by Danica on February 16th, 2005 at 6:36 pm
I can’t BELIEVE Tru Calling got cancelled! That show rocked. Maybe it’ll come back; Monk didn’t get a second season for approximately eternity.

Books are far more reliable.

by Charlene Teglia on February 17th, 2005 at 4:08 pm
it’s been a long time since i so enjoyed reading posts in the net. like it!
bye

by Jobbörse vienna on August 24th, 2006 at 12:59 am