Paramount canceled TNG and DS9 once they had seven seasons in the can. Again, not a network decision. The reasoning was twofold: seven season was more than enough for syndication, and actors’ contracts usually bind them to the show for a 7-year term. To continue the show, you need to renegotiate all contracts, which can get messy since the lead actors are in good bargaining position). Paramount decided to avoid the mess and maximize the syndication profits.
What about Sport Night? I really liked that show…
V?
Actually, according to Wikipedia , the main actors on Deep Space Nine were signed only for the first six years. Paramount renegotiated everyone’s contract for the final season except for Terry Farrel, who chose to take the part of Reggie on Becker, necessitating the death of Jadzia, and the reimplantation of the Dax symbiont in Ezri Tigan (Nicole de Boer).
The original Battlestar Galactica was cancelled for high production costs even though it was very popular. Then it was majorly retooled and brought back due to public demand and became Galactica 1980- which kept Lorne Greene and some minor characters but ditched everyone else with almost no explanation). G1980 flopped in the ratings while still being expensive to produce.
Several shows were cancelled for poor ratings but were brought back when write-ins and calls indicated the ratings were a whole lot better than polls indicated. Interesting, some were shows with over-30 female leads, including Cagney & Lacey and Designing Women.
St. Elsewhere was cancelled due to “ho-hum” overall ratings (not terrible but not impressive either) but was brought back due to a combo of write-ins and demographics of its audience. While St. Elsewhere had nowhere near the audience of Cosby Show or Cheers, which were hits across the board, it was huge among mature (over-30, say) educated professionals- a smaller but richer demographic than most sitcoms and thus a prime target for car companies marketing family-mobiles or luxury cars, life insurance, medicines, etc., and other things that just aren’t of interest to 18-25 year olds).
The Single Guy was one of the highest rated shows to be cancelled.
Some shows have been canceled despite good ratings because their demographics were not attractive to advertisers.
My recollection is that “Lou Grant” had decent ratings when it was canceled and that it was Ed Asner’s outspoken, liberal politics that made executives decide to pull the plug. Wikipedia agrees, for what that’s worth.
Gilligan’s Island was doing well when it was canceled. IMDB:
The story as I heard it was that the wife of William Paley asked for the time slot for Gunsmoke and he gave it to her.
deleted a whole bunch of stuff that I suddenly realized somebody else had already said. As you were, sorry.
What about The Smothers Brothers?
I was under the impression that it had quite good ratings, and got cancelled due to concerns by the censors.
Oops. I see that point was brought up earlier. But noone has definitively commented on this question thus far, so I’ll let it stand.
It never at any point in its run reached the Top 10 (its best performance was #22 in 1979-1980), and it was not in the Top 30 when it was cancelled after the 1981-1982 season.
As for Qadgop: Every source I’ve seen has said that the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (to use the full title) was cancelled due to censorship issues, and the ratings it received in its last season (#27 in 1968-1969) merited renewal.
Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
According to this site they finished number 16 their first year, which isn’t bad considering they were up against Bonanza (a powerhouse). The site does say it was ultimately sponsors and the brothers refusing to be censored that sank it, though- it was picked up for a fourth season but the network pulled the plug before beginning shooting.
I have read in some source that Tommy Smothers is one of the most impossible to get along with people you’ll ever meet. His nickname during the show was “Terrible Temper Tommy”- very argumentative and full of himself, especially when he was fighting for a cause. That probably added as well. (Until I saw the video of Give Peace a Chance 20 years ago or so I’d always assumed Lennon was joking when he said “Tommy Smothers” because I knew him from the doofus part of the TONIGHT SHOW act and as Eunice’s brother on Carol Burnett.
[HIJACK]Has anybody seen this show, incidentally? It aired on a cable a few years ago with the Brothers doing a studio introduction and follow-up to each episode. Having always heard about their battles with censors and politicians and how it paved the way for SNL (back when SNL was edgy and not just crude) and I watched several episodes while it was running. It’s amazing how much standards have changed; today it seems about as racy as Laugh In.[/HIJACK]
No cites for this, but I’ve heard that Bonnie Hammer, president of the Sci-Fi Channel didn’t “get” sci-fi stuff, and thus got rid of much of it to make way for quality programing such as the Dream Team and Crossing Over With John Edwards (remember when Crossing Over was the only stinking show you could ever watch on Sci-Fi?).
I do grant that it’s entirely possible that this was something made up by bitter Farscape fans though.
Back in the early Seventies, ABC cancelled the Lawrence Welk Show, even though the ratings were very good.
Why? The demographics of the show didn’t suit the network. The vast majority of Welk’s fans were senior citizens, and they just aren’t a desirable audience in the minds of advertisers, who want YOUNG, YOUNG, YOUNG viewers.
While being probably one of the best shows on TV in a long long time, nobody watched it. TV Guide even called it “The Best Show Nobody’s Watching.”
I heard many assumed it would be about sports, which those who have seen it, know isn’t true.
The real problem was inconsistency though. IIRC, the show was introduced then immediately pre-empted for over a month (1998 Winter Olympics or some reason). Then when it finally DID get a decent run going and started picking up steam it moved timeslots (I think from Wednesday to Sunday).
Just like they said on Family Guy…“Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night: It’s a comedy that’s too good to be funny.”
Gee I guess I’m old but there was a show way back when called “Bridget Loves Bernie” yet was cancelled despite good ratings.
Please go to the link before Wikipedia changes this obvious vandalism:
LOL !!!
One wonders how this didn’t come up in her job interview.
Well, the understanding I had was that she was up for a promotion, and the top chair at Sci-Fi had just become vacant (Sci-Fi Channel, USA Networks, and some other stuff are all owned by NBC), so she could have just been dropped into that seat. Like I said, purely anecdotal, but it would seem to match with the programming decisions that were made around then.
Sci-Fi has always been stingy with money and I really doubt some conspiracy of sci-fi haters was involved in the cancellation of Farscape. It was too expensive and Tremors: The Series was much cheaper and in Sci-Fi’s eyes, came with a built in audience of movie fans (most of the movie fans were rather lukewarm about the show).
Just look at another highly rated Sci-Fi show that was canceled: The Invisible Man. The channel wanted to renew it for one season while the producers wanted two seasons. Not wanting to spend the extra money for two season, (or even pay negotiating costs to figure something out) they just canceled it.