# Hugely Successful TV Shows that had terrible ratings at first; Hit shows that were cancelled **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688 "2009-08-07T20:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/61 "2009-08-11T13:57:51Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > CBS picked [_Wonder Woman_] up and set it in modern times so that she wouldn’t just be fighting Nazis every week. Good move. ‘Cause everybody knows the only thing anyone had to worry about in the 1940s was Nazis. Organized crime: pfft. Black market profiteers: unpossible. The Japanese: are you kiddin’? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/62 "2009-08-11T14:27:45Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > I’m surprised nobody has mentioned 'What About Raymond?". Although, it wasn’t cancelled, Ray Romano had just decided he had enough money. Do you mean “Everybody Loves Raymond,” or was there a spinoff that disappeared? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/63 "2009-08-11T14:45:00Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” left the air voluntarily. It was still getting good ratings and Emmy nods but they felt that after seven years, they had done all they wanted to do and decided to go out on top. That doesn’t surprise me. I just didn’t know and was too [del]busy[/del] lazy to research. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/64 "2009-08-11T15:14:49Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Do you mean “Everybody Loves Raymond,” or was there a spinoff that disappeared? I mean “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Apparently, I loved him, but in a half-hearted manner. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/65 "2009-08-11T15:58:36Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > I mean “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Apparently, I loved him, but in a half-hearted manner. I certainly did not love Raymond the character. The best thing one can say about him is that he was less odious than Jim Belushi’s character on _According to Jim_. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/66 "2009-08-11T23:32:41Z")
Wasn’t Star Trek: TNG doing well in its last season? I heard that the casts’ salaries were so big that they decided to cancel the show rather than meet their new demands. And also they wanted the movie to get a bigger audience and thought that cancelling the show would do that ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/67 "2009-08-11T23:35:40Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > \*The Wild, Wild West \*was hugely popular, but was cancelled because of its supposedly extreme violence. As I recall, some dipshits in Congress got all huffy about network content, and Hollywood caved like wet tissue paper. Hell, I watched it as a kid and didn’t think it was that violent. James West kicked more ass than James Kirk eagerly tackling 3 or 4 foes at once. Loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/68 "2009-08-12T00:07:14Z")
The original Star Trek was cancelled after year 2 but there was a big campaign and it was brought back for year 3. Most people say year 3 was very weak with most of the bad episodes. Turns out that was very important because back then they would not syndicate a show unless it had 3 years of shows. Had ST died after 2 years there probably would be no syndication and maybe there would have been no more shows or movies. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/69 "2009-08-12T00:08:10Z")
I think the 50s Superman show was still very popular when it was canceled, or, when the star canceled himself. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/70 "2009-08-12T00:27:52Z")
_Seinfeld_ meets both criteria since it struggled with ratings in its first couple of seasons and was the highest rated show on television when it was cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/71 "2009-08-12T00:39:03Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I think the 50s Superman show was still very popular when it was canceled, or, when the star canceled himself. Well, It’s a bit more complicated than that. For it’s final couple of seasons the studio would only make 13 episodes a year. Production ended in 1958. In 1959 the studio thought about making two more years of episodes for syndication. This idea was scuttled by George Reeves untimely death. According to Jack Larson (Jimmy Olson) the plan was to make the show “Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olson.” using new footage of Jimmy and Lois with stock footage of George Reeves. Saner heads prevailed. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/72 "2009-08-12T04:31:18Z")
Didn’t WKRP have shitty results at first? I don’t know how the show ended up in the ratings game, but it is surely a cult phenomenon now, right? “Badges! We don’t need no steenking badges!” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688/73 "2009-08-12T04:45:58Z")
_Burns and Allen_ was cruising along fine, except Gracie’s heart condition caused her to retire after the 1958 season. George tried another season, except every straight line caused the audience to wait for Gracie’s punchline, which never came. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hugely-successful-tv-shows-that-had-terrible-ratings-at-first-hit-shows-that-were-cancelled/505688.md?page=3)