The X-Files pretty much stank, and subsequently ended up in the can, after David Duchovny switched the show to L.A. and then left for the last few seasons.
I don’t know whether to feel chastised for being wrong, or honored that Eve corrected the mistake. I need to consult the IMDB more often.
Rob Morrow left mid-season to focus on his movie career (smart move there, Rob). The show finished that season with a new doctor and more of an ensemble focus, but the ratings had already been sinking and the changes didn’t help so it wasn’t renewed.
There’s the infamous case of Frank’s Place, a late-80s series cancelled possibly because of racism:
Frank’s Place was a vehicle for former “WKRP in Cincinnati” regular Tim Reid, and featured an all-black regular cast (and guest-stars for the most part). It was one of several shows that debuted in the 1987 fall season there billed as “dramedies” - essentially sitcoms shot in a one-camera format, with no laugh-track or live audience. (Basically what “Malcolm in the Middle” among other series does now, or what M.A.S.H. had already done for its’ last few years on air).
The series received glowing reviews and decent (if not tremendous) ratings. But the show was intensely disliked by the then heads of the network (NBC, IIRC). It was cancelled by direct order from the network president. He claimed to dislike the whole idea of “dramedies” said (he was quoted as saying “I just don’t get it.”) and argued that it was too offbeat to attract regular viewers. But this was the same network that stuck by other off-beat series such as “Cheers”, “Hill Street Blues” and “St. Elsewhere”, and allowed them to stay on the air much longer, despite initially lower ratings than Frank’s Place, and allowed them to find audiences.
Reid & producers for the show complained that the network disliked the show primarily because it had an all-black cast, and that the network steadfastly adhered to the belief that such a series would only attract black viewers, who simply weren’t considered a desirable demographic. The network denied this, of course. Conspicuously though, the same network let another, weaker “dramedy” - the Days & Nights of Molly Dodd (a screechy, irritating knockoff of “the Mary Tyler Moore Show”) - carry on for three more years, despite continual weak ratings & skechier reviews.
I loved Frank’s Place. It was one of the more accurate depictions of New Orleans I’ve seen on television or movies.
No, it was on CBS. Also, it featured at least two white regulars – Don Yesso played Shorty, the assistant chef, while Robert Harper portrayed lawyer Bubba Weisberger. Your main point is correct, though – Frank’s Place should definitely have been given more of a chance.
I watched Frank’s Place regularly as well. Pity my box wasn’t hooked up to a Nielsen.
MacGyver. The late Dana Elcar (Pete Thorton, Mac Gyver’s boss and confidante) developed glaucoma in real life. The last few episodes in the seventh season portrayed Pete’s declining vision.
As someone who is currently falling deeply into infatuation with Willow, that saddens me.
Yes, The Drew Carey Show is officially dead now. ABC screwed themselves by negotiating a contract for 3 seasons of shows, after which the writing and ratings promptly hit the crapper. They finally started burning the shows off as summer filler, and aired the series finale last summer. Reportedly, there are still episodes of TDCS and Whose Line? that ABC’s never aired and has no intention of airing.
Speaking of ABC sitcoms, the Dan Aykroyd vehicle Soul Man got canceled because the producers were suing ABC. Aykroyd left the show because he knew ABC wasn’t going to get behind it at all due to the lawsuit (which he found out about during the first season.)
Mystery Science Theater 3000 was canceled because then-head of Sci-Fi Network, Bonnie Hammer, hated it. The official line was that “the concept had run its course,” but in reality it was because Hammer felt like she’d been saddled with someone else’s show and axed it so they could run more episodes of “First Wave” with Traci Lords. :rolleyes:
The same is true of ‘Farscape’, although that show always had ratings struggles. Bonnie Hammer didn’t just hate MST3K, she all but hated all sci-fi and tried to fill the network with goofy-ass shows like ‘Crossing Over’ , that dream analysis show, and the show where they try to scare people with lame practical jokes.
Well, the Sci-Fi Channel has always played horror and fantasy, in addition to science fiction, but why the heck did Bonnie Hammer work there if she hated science fiction so much?
To be fair, SciFi never really backed MST3K as it should have. It was arguably the best show the channel has ever had, and they dumped it on Saturday mornings. It’s more of a Friday night/Sat night kinda show. I don’t think the people who run the SciFi Channel ever had a clue about SF, they’re just media types who are all about the money. Which is why they were dumb enough to hire Hammer.
Had they renamed the show “MST3K vs. Some Cheesy Giant Snake” it could have been the showcase of the network.
As has been noted, “Frank’s Place” was on CBS. The network tried a predominately black drama seven years later and it lasted only six episodes. Not even James Earl Jones was able to save Under One Roof.
Frank’s Place was indeed a good show but I have my doubts that it was cancelled because of “racism”. The Cosby Show proved that you could have an all-black cast and still have a major hit on your hands. If the ratings had been that good or if the demographics were right on target for advertisers then I doubt the show would have been cancelled. The Networks are in it for the money and they’ll run anything that displays or suggests even a modicum of profitability.
There is, of course, Firefly, which I’m surprised hasn’t been brought up due to the recent flurry of activity about it. It was another case in which the network screwed the show over. FOX did not permit the pilot to run (it actually was the last episode to air), and the episode which replaced it didn’t do as good a job of introducing the series as the pilot would have. With that and a couple other executive decisions, it was hard for viewers to get into it while it was on television and it was canned before the first season was over.
Of course, with the movie coming out, it’s hard to say whether it’s really canceled as such, but it’s pretty clear there’s no more TV episodes to be had.
Yeah, as long as they’re being funny.
Bonnie Hammer was an exec at the USA Network before moving to Sci-Fi. She doesn’t give a rat’s ass about science fiction per se; she’s just running a business.
While it’s true that Sci-Fi mismanaged MST3K horribly, it’s also true that:
a) 2-hour TV shows are very difficult to slot. Had the young Ha!/Comedy Channel/Comedy Central not needed to fill so much time in its barren schedule, MST3K might never have got off the ground;
b) Negotiating rights to the movies made MST3K a complex and, often, expensive show to produce; and
c) I had the distinct impression that after 10 years, the Brains were ready to move on. There seemed to be very little bitterness or disappointment in their public reactions when the decision was announced, and none of the team (except maybe Mary Jo) seems to miss it very much.
Don’t forget that the first aired ep, The Trainjob, had to be written over the weekend. No really, Joss gets a phonecall on Friday afternoon from Fox, and he hears “We’re not gonna use the pilot. We need you to write a new one hour pilot, and have it in to us by Monday. Seeya in a couple days.”
And I understand the airing order got screwed up amongst the episodes themselves (which is annoying in a story-arc driven show like a lot of sci-fi shows tend to be nowadays) and Fox apparantly had some genuinely weird promotional stuff for it, from what I hear, deciding to focus on A) They have a hooker on the ship and B) The ship’s pilot plays with toy dinosaurs. (Both true, but neither especially important as far as the show at large goes)
This would be like promoting X-Files with a commercial that says “One of them is a hot redhead!” and “The guy has a cell phone!” Both true, neither particularly important to the show.