Oh my god! They killed Titus! YOU BASTARDS!!

The BBQ Pit
1

It’s official. Titus is not going to return in the fall, and is not going to be broadcast again, ever.

Why?! It was a good show! It was a great show! The cast was top-notch, the narration gimmick was brilliant, and it was about a family every bit as dysfunctional as mine!

I just can’t understand what was wrong with it. With what demographic did it do poorly, or what line did it cross? Was there something behind the scenes? I might accept it if I heard that the real Christopher Titus got crossways with the muckamucks at Fox, but I’d still probably be inclined to see it his way.

Now I’ll never get to see those three episodes I missed when our cable was cut off! And worse than that, they didn’t even get to have a finale episode! It was just left hanging! Okay, that’s been done to other shows that didn’t deserve it, but a dozen wrongs don’t make a right.

Fuck you, Fox. Fuck you with a rusty logger’s spike. When you started out, you billed yourselves as the one network that wasn’t afraid of anything. You’ve been going downhill ever since you cancelled South Central in favor of Models, Inc..

You also cancelled Greg the Bunny! To which you did not even give a fucking chance! And Dark Angel and Family Guy, which I did not watch, but I know a lot of people appreciated. Jesus Christ, if X-Files or Simpsons premiered this year, you’d give them half a fucking season! And you cancelled '80s Show, which, I have to say, had actually started to exhibit a certain charm. Not necessarily enough, but do you have anything better lined up for the fall? Doesn’t look like it.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Arrrghhhhhhhhhhhhh! Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

:::pant pant::: Oh, by the way, they’re keeping Futurama. And Bernie Mac. Thank god.

But that’s not enough, dammit!

Godspeed, Chris, Cynthia, Zack, David and Stacy. Be well.

2

There may be hope for “Titus”, but it’s a stretch. FOX recently purchased Speedvision and renamed it The Speed Channel. Since “Titus” is car-based (for those who don’t know, Titus owns a speed shop) and it could end up on The Speed Channel.

I’m grasping at straws, but stranger things have happened.

3

they cancelled that 80s show?!?! i think i’m going to cry!

4

So they’re going to keep Futurama? So they can frickin’ pre-empt two-thirds of the season because some game ran long?!! Like they’re taken by surprise that a sporting event runs over its allotted time slot!!! Buncha morons.

5

Why do they even bother with shows Greg the Bunny if they’re not going to give 'em a chance? For fuck’s sake, some of the best shows ever aired took some time to build an audience. Fox would have cancelled ‘Cheers’ after half a season.

6

Well, thanks for the hope, Mr. Blue Sky.

dwyr: I agree. 7 pm on Sunday is like being seated next to the john.

7

Fox is shooting itself in the foot by gambling on a crop of flashes in the pan instead of shows that have a dedicated following now and are poised for growth. If the Big Three were that ratings-driven back in the Golden Age, we would have nothing on TV worth remembering from that era. There would have been no Golden Age, just decades of crap that didn’t age past one or two seasons.

Fox was the New Kid, but now it’s worse than the Big Three ever were. It deliberately strangles shows in the cradle and hopelessly squanders talent. At one time, it took a chance on a skit from a variety show based around a dysfunctional family. The Simpsons has been one of the longest-running sitcoms in history. It moved cartoons to prime time, and it is still nearly alone in its field (only The Family Guy comes close in terms of genre). Now it looks like The Family Guy won’t even be given a chance. Fox has enough money to lose a few ratings wars with bad gambles, but the only bad gamble it has been making is not making gambles at all: None of the ‘sure-fire’ shows it’s hyping will last much beyond a few seasons, and Fox will lose to more interesting networks and mediums (why aren’t you watching Fox right now? Oh, yeah, they suck).

Fox, RIP. We barely knew your best shows.

8

I loved Titus when it was on Tuesdays. When they switched it to Wednesdays, opposite West Wing, the writing was on the wall…

9

Well of course they killed Titus. I mean, all his sons were dead, his daughter was dead, he’d had his hand chopped off… It’s a Shakespearean tragedy – the protagonist has to die. Besides which, he…
[sub]What? We’re not discussing Titus Andronicus? Oh…[/sub]

[Emily Latilla]
Never mind…
[/Emily Latilla]

10

Speaking of the Golden Age of television, they didn’t do this in those days, did they? move shows around on the schedule like chess pieces?

11

Oh, good heavens, no! Riots would have ensued! People used to close shop early just to get home in time to see Milton Berle! Of course you only had three networks, usually, at any given time (NBC, CBS, Dumont in the 50’s with ABC joining in the 60’s). National cable was still years away and no one even considered having a home satellite system.

12

That’s what I thought. Boy, diversity sounds like such a good idea…

13

Look on the bright side, we’ll always have When animals attack poor white trash.

14

But all those fan letters finally got the Time Tunnel a new slot ! That’s a surefire hit this time around :rolleyes:

15

I was just stunned they kept “Grounded For Life”. I thought I was the only one who watched it, and even I don’t think it’s that great. Not like “Family Guy” or anything.

16

Well, hell, they coulda kept Greg the Bunny, at least. I mean, what’s the cost of keeping G the B going, occasional dry cleaning? They spend next to nothing on sets and effects. All they had to do was keep Eugene Levy’s fridge stocked, dammit!

sigh. No more Tardy Turtle driving a forklift and saying, “I’m not aposed to do this!”…it just doesn’t seem real.

17

SmackFu: They kept Grounded because it has a lot of familial fuss and pother, while stopping short of anything that would be a real issue. Family Guy is(was) pedal-to-the-metal satire. Titus is(was) about an abuse survivor. Bernie Mac is about a guy who’s learning, little by little, not to repeat the pattern of abuse in his family. Grounded is about a family that’s essentially functional, but they do “whacky” things like having the daughter do a risque dance at the talent show, or having grandpa (or was it the brother?) use his Mob connections to get the plumbing fixed. Aren’t they a crazy bunch? But no one’s really going to see themselves in it and be shamed.

18

I thought Family Guy was quite funny, but they kept putting it up against powerhouse shows (like Survivor). No wonder it didn’t do well! Christ!

I didn’t care for Titus, but if I were at Fox, I’d be looking for some new programming in a hurry. X-Files is almost done and Simpsons damn well should be (I say this as a fan); what else does Fox really have?

19

Wasn’t there some “incident” with one of the episodes? I remember hearing that they decided not to show a certain episode of Titus and now suddenly it’s cancelled!
Titus and Dark Angel were the only two shows I cared about on FOX (X-Files, but I knew it was ending). Bernie Mac seems okay, but I think it must come on when I’m doing something else. And what the heck is that goofy show with the guy, his wife, her sister, her sister’s husband? BLECH! I’ll bet it will be back! I enjoyed the few times I saw Grounded for Life, but I can’t imagine it being as good as Titus! (of course half the fun of Titus is my daughter’s crush on the knucklehead brother…okay, and my crush on Titus himself…)

20

Dear God, tell me they’re kidding…

Doesn’t it sound like they’re trying to make Sunday night into a pile of Malcom clones?