# When TV shows are cancelled, what happens to the episodes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891 "2014-05-21T03:05:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/1 "2014-05-21T03:05:27Z")
I saw this question in another message board, but no good answer is given. When a TV show is cancelled, especially with those that have little chance to be syndicated or released on DVD, what physically happens to the episodes? Are they stored and for how long? How hard is it to retrieve little remembered TV shows? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/2 "2014-05-21T03:16:52Z")
They belong, almost certainly, to the production company. As long as the production company survives, its likely to maintain an archive in which these episodes will be included. If and when the production company closes, the archive may be offered for sale and, if no-one wants it, scrapped. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/3 "2014-05-21T03:35:00Z")
A lot of them are on Netflix and/or Amazon video on demand now. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/4 "2014-05-21T13:14:24Z")
Depends. Years ago the BBC reused master tapes and even just destroyed episodes. There’s been much effort to find ‘missing’ episodes of such shows like Doctor Who. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/5 "2014-05-21T13:23:32Z")
Nowadays, they’ll be saved, just because storage is so cheap, and no matter how unpopular the show, they’re likely to be able to find someone or another who’ll be willing to buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/6 "2014-05-21T13:30:43Z")
Practice used to be to use them for fill late in the season or during the summer. That’s what happened to the last few episodes of _Max Headroom_. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/7 "2014-05-21T13:52:55Z")
Until someone with real experience can answer… There are [big underground film vaults like this.](http://www.undergroundvaults.com/industry-answers/film-and-sound-archiving/) Right now I’m interested in the restoration of the Donner vision of Superman II. Sure, it was a big movie, but they saved all the little clipped pieces of film and magnetic sound recordings. It’s amazing it was all still there. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/8 "2014-05-21T15:19:14Z")
I don’t know what happens now, but decades ago, anthology shows like\*\*\* Love, \*\*\*_ **American Style** _ often bought and used portions of unsold sitcom pilots and unused sitcom episodes. The best known example? Garry Marshall made a pilot for a 50s nostalgia show. He shopped it around, didn’t find any takers, and sold the pilot to Aaron Spelling, who used it as a segment in _ **Love, American Style.** _ Not long afterward, the movie \*\*\*American Graffiti \*\*\*and the Broadway musical _ **Grease** _ became big hits, and ABC decided they wanted Marshall’s show after all. _ **Happy Days.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/9 "2014-05-21T18:09:51Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Garry Marshall made a pilot for a 50s nostalgia show. He shopped it around, didn’t find any takers, and sold the pilot to Aaron Spelling, who used it as a segment in _ **Love, American Style.** _ Not long afterward, the movie \*\*\*American Graffiti \*\*\*and the Broadway musical _ **Grease** _ became big hits, and ABC decided they wanted Marshall’s show after all. > > _ **Happy Days.** _ “…are you here AGAIN?” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/10 "2014-05-21T21:13:25Z")
Unaired episodes can actually be aired, just not in the US. E.g., the (horrible, horrible) US remake of _Coupling_ was canceled in the US after 4 episodes aired. A total of 11 episodes were made, including an unaired pilot. Supposedly, the later 6 episodes aired in markets such as Mexico. (Grounds for a diplomatic dispute, if you ask me.) Carsey-Warner threatened to release this on DVD, but never did. I think one reason some companies like to hold onto such programs is in case one of the actors becomes huge, then they’d re-release them and hope to make a few bucks. I’m not sure if that has happened in reality in recent years. (It does happen with movies.) But people gotta dream. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/11 "2014-05-21T21:42:38Z")
I do recall some terrible show that was canceled after 3-4 airings, leaving seven or eight in the can. Not too long after it was spiked, I saw it as a DVD set with the splash “CONTAINS THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!” This, while an endless number of quality older shows are either not available at all or only have one or two seasons available. (_Hill Street Blues_, which only after years of delay has seasons 3-8 or whatever available at a fairly high price.) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/12 "2014-05-21T22:21:15Z")
**Moderator Action** Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/13 "2014-05-21T22:29:11Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I do recall some terrible show that was canceled after 3-4 airings, leaving seven or eight in the can. Not too long after it was spiked, I saw it as a DVD set with the splash “CONTAINS THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!” When they released _[The Comeback](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comeback_(TV_series))_ on DVD, they taglined it “The Complete [del]First[/del] Only Season”. And being television executives, they’d even lied about that. The show is now scheduled to be brought back for a second season. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/14 "2014-05-21T23:24:19Z")
I’m seeing episodes of Westerns well over 50 years old turn up on the net. That’s way too early for anybody to have taped them, so I guess it must have been SOP to save them, although obviously many got lost. And I’m not talking about megahits like _Gunsmoke_ and _Bonanza_. I’m seeing stuff I never heard of, like _Colt 45_, or _The Deputy_ (starring Henry Fonda!). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/15 "2014-05-22T00:03:35Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I’m seeing episodes of Westerns well over 50 years old turn up on the net. That’s way too early for anybody to have taped them, so I guess it must have been SOP to save them, although obviously many got lost. > > And I’m not talking about megahits like _Gunsmoke_ and _Bonanza_. I’m seeing stuff I never heard of, like _Colt 45_, or _The Deputy_ (starring Henry Fonda!). [Kinescopes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinescope). > [@](#): > > Kinescope /ˈkɪnɨskoʊp/, shortened to kine /ˈkɪniː/, also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor. > > Typically, the term can refer to the process itself, the equipment used for the procedure (a 16 mm or 35 mm movie camera mounted in front of a video monitor, and synchronized to the monitor’s scanning rate), or a film made using the process. Kinescopes were the only practical way to preserve live television broadcasts prior to the introduction of videotape in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/16 "2014-05-22T00:52:28Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Kinescopes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinescope). Sorry I wasn’t clear. I meant it was way too early for anybody at home to have taped (let alone DVRd) them, which is the source of most “unofficial” TV content on the net. As for kinescopes, they were used to record live broadcasts. I’m talking about filmed shows, so all they had to do was save the film. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/17 "2014-05-23T20:09:55Z")
I’ve always wondered what happens to things like TV news or sports coverage - particularly now that we’ve moved to 24-hours news. I always assumed that, at least in the UK, there was a legal obligation to retain at least things like interviews, and nowadays it’s entirely feasible to have a digital recorder running 24/7 backing up an entire channel, but what happened in the late 1980s, 1990s? Clips from old news programmes are occasionally broadcast in “do you remember 1989” programmes, so perhaps they just kept a low-fi archive somewhere. Or alternatively the vast majority was dumped, and clip shows only feature stories for which the footage survives. Dunno. The BBC seems to have kept a lot of old 1970s football matches, but would something like Grimsby vs St Mirren in 1974 have been kept? Or things like Breakfast TV shows. There’s a market for old television game shows (which I assumed were wiped), I wonder if there’s a market for TV-AM circa 1987? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/18 "2014-05-23T21:13:16Z")
There’s an archive at some college in the U.S. of every news broadcast for the past few decades. I’m not sure they’re still doing it because there isn’t the need anymore, but at one time they were invaluable. I’m sure all the major news organizations now keep all their broadcasts in some format. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-shows-are-cancelled-what-happens-to-the-episodes/688891/19 "2014-05-23T21:27:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > When they released _[The Comeback](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comeback_(TV_series))_ on DVD, they taglined it “The Complete [del]First[/del] Only Season”. > > And being television executives, they’d even lied about that. The show is now scheduled to be brought back for a second season. I don’t see how you can call them liars, though… the show is called _Comeback_, after all. 😉