Any popular TV shows that were popular but were too expensive to continue?
I heard that the cost per episode of Deadwood was the reason for its cancellation, wikipedia has nothing to say on the subject either way though.
Farscape. sob
Cost was one of the major reasons for cancelling the original Battlestar Galactica series.
That’s the reason given for their discontinuing the HBO series Rome.
I suspect that you can make a case for Star Trek being in the same category. In its original run, it was a pricey show, with a LOT more special effects than other series. They thought it wasn’t sufficiently popular, but that was reportedly because they weren’t looking at which groups liked it. They were appealing to a very desirable demographic, but didn’t realize it at the time.
Who was the desirable demographics?
I think if LOST wasn’t as popular as it is it would disappear fairly quickly. It’s production costs must be huge. J.J. Abrahms probably doesn’t work for cheap. They have a huge cast of characters that must be paid. They shoot on location in Hawaii so I’m sure they have to cover travel and lodging cost for all the cast and crew. They film outside so they are subject to any bad weather and still have to pay people wheter they shoot or not.
If I recall Everyone Loves Raymond got cut short because all the main stars wanted more and more money but couldn’t afford them.
IIRC, Star Trek: The Next Generation was canceled partly because the actors were no longer affordable after seven years of pay raises.
Basically, young males with lots of money to spend. Star Trek was popular with young professionals – the image of all Trek watchers living in their parent’s basements doesn’t hold true.
Before Lost, JJ Abrams was just the guy who created Felicity and Alias, two decent little shows that were nowhere near the megahit Lost is. I imagine his salary was not (and probably still isn’t) an issue in Lost’s budget.
But as for a contribution to the OP, Sci-Fi’s Invisible Man series from a few years ago. The producers wanted a two-year renewal, Sci-Fi wanted one year, so it was canceled. But the good news it that The Invisible Man just came out on DVD. Woo!
NBC cancelled Baywatch after one season because it cost too much for its rather low popularity. It was then syndicated in the U.S. for the rest of its run. It was immensely popular outside the U.S., and that was the only reason it made money.
Plenty of them, if you define “too expensive” as “I can get the same rating for less money.”
Here’s a discussion on production costs http://uclue.com/?xq=1749
Here’s a pithy quote from Forbes.
Here’s an article from USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-12-17-gameshows_x.htm
Even the BBC does it.
A lot of TV shows only last about seven years, with the exception of the original Law & Order, and they just rotate out the actors.
I believe the fancier animation effects of Futurama were cited for being part of the problem.
That’s what I came in to mention, but I hadn’t actually heard the official story. It was really the only reason I could imagine that they cancelled such a good show. I have the last DVD now, and I will soon finish the series.
Nerds.
No, the high costs of the series were cause for something far, far worse than cancellation. Because it was so expensive, network executives demanded that it be RETOOLED, and the result was the abysmal Galactica 1980.
Whenever I read about devoted fans of a series staging write-in campaigns to save their favorite shows from cancellation, I want to point to Galactica 1980 and state that there are some things even worse than seeing your pet obsession get canned.
While I wasn’t a fan, I know that Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman actually had very high ratings, but got the plug pulled because it was too expensive to produce.
On a related note, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer moved from The WB to UPN not for lack of popularity, but for the first time in modern television history, because of purely financial reasons. UPN was willing to pay $2.3 million per episode, where The WB capped it at $1.8 million.
So, not canceled, but it did change homes.
Married with Children was unceremoniously dumped due to costs. The season finale had already been filmed, and a 9 year show never got a proper series finale.
Enterprise was cancelled because the costs exceeded what the network was willing to pay for the ratings. For part of the final year, the studio sold it to the network for less than it cost to produce, just to give it a chance.
But alas, however better the final season was, it had already been doomed by the poor story-telling of the previous seasons and all the time-travel crap.