Let's Talk Fox Cancellations!

4581 Views 96 Replies 39 Participants Last post by aadam101, Feb 21, 2012

photoshopgrl

Discussion Starter · Feb 15, 2012

Okay I had to bring this out of the Fringe thread because I had a few things to add. Quoting from that thread (on ratings only, not spoilers)

DevdogAZ said:
It's not really fair to bash Fox on this one. They've really gone above and beyond by keeping this show on the air for four seasons. The ratings are horrible, even for a Friday.

astrohip said:
It's not how good the show is, but the ratings (well actually, the $$$). According to a couple of TV/ratings sites, this show is dead man walking. An infomercial for knives would bring better ratings for FOX. The ONLY reason it survived to this year is Warner Bros dramatically cut the license fee to FOX. The story making the rounds now is even if it was FREE to FOX, they may not renew it. They are simply losing too much potential ad revenue by not having a higher rated show in its time slot.

I am a huge Fringe fan, but I think we are on borrowed time.

ETA: Or what DdAZ posted 1/10 second before me.

DevdogAZ said:
You're looking at it the wrong way. In this case, it should be called the Friday Night Life Extension Slot, because without the availability of the Friday time slot, with its reduced expectations, Fringe would have been canceled at least a season ago, if not more.

Rob Helmerichs said:
Except for Fox, it's the Friday life slot. It's where they send shows that really OUGHT to be canceled.

I have come to deeply appreciate Fox's patience with shows like this. Sometimes we get a couple of years that ratings-wise we really don't deserve. Firefly was a long, long time ago!

And as I was going to start arguing that Fox always cancels my shows, I had to think about this a minute. Going back as far as I can these are the shows and seasons that Fox has canceled on me.

2010/2011:
Lie To Me

2009/2010:
Dollhouse

2008/2009:
Prison Break

2007/2008:
None

2006/2007:
None

2005/2006:
Arrested Development

2004/2005:
Tru Calling

2003/2004:
Boston Public

2002/2003:
Fastlane
Firefly (which I didn't watch then so I cannot complain)

2001/2002:
Dark Angel
Titus

It's quite shocking to me how few shows there are on this list!
After AD nothing they canceled IMO was unwarranted. It was time for Prison Break to go. Dollhouse, like Fringe, they really gave it a go and moved it to Friday to keep alive. Lie To Me started out so amazing then fell so far so fast that I didn't even care once it was canceled.
So really my entire "BIH FOX!" rant would be old news. Yes, I'm still bitter about those older shows but it would appear they might have learned to make better attempts after AD. So I will no more sit and bash Fox... at least not anymore than any other network that cancels shows I like.
Thoughts?

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Rob Helmerichs

· #2 · Feb 15, 2012

And I would put AD on this side of the divide...it got great critical acclaim, but the ratings always ranged from bad to atrocious. That, I think, was the first time they tried really hard to save a show that didn't have the ratings to warrant it.

ClutchBrake

· #3 · Feb 15, 2012

Yeah, can't blame them for AD at all. I'm appreciative for every episode we got considering the ratings. :up:

Jeeters

· #4 · Feb 15, 2012

Some Fox cancellations that have saddened me... Probably not exhaustive; just what i can think of off the top of my head....

Firefly

Wonderfalls

Dollhouse

Sara Connor Chronicles

Lone Star

I remember reading once where a Fox exec stated that the reason that Sarah Conner chronicles managed to get renewed for its second season was that it actually had a fan base of some Fox executives. They liked and watched the show as entertainment. Because it was a show they personally enjoyed, it was easily renewed.

From the couple episodes of Lone Star I saw, I thought it was an absolutely outstanding show. But I think it was on the completely wrong network. It had a slower pace that was more akin to an AMC series. I doubt the typical audience member that's going to watch and enjoy, say, Prison Break is same person that's going to watch and enjoy, say, Rubicon. (I'm an exception.) I bet if Lone Star was an AMC show, then the AMC audience would have been much more receptive to it than Fox's was. Fox's audience was like "WTF is this boring ****e?" Given their audience, I think Fox just quickly realized the futility of what they were trying so quickly killed it. Can't say I blame them.

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billypritchard

· #5 · Feb 15, 2012

I give thanks to Fox for even bringing some of those shows to television. Some of them ended up disappointing, but they still aired them in the first place.

I don't have a lot of complaints, other than that the viewing public is stupid sometimes.

photoshopgrl

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 15, 2012

billypritchard said:
I don't have a lot of complaints, other than that the viewing public is stupid sometimes.

This.

I guess it makes me more mad that any network in general airs a new show and cancels it within a few episodes. Why would you bother? Are they seriously so bad at judging these pilots that some of this crap that gets a few episodes (Work It, Man Up, etc) that they really can't believe how badly it bombs??

I have a collective list of shows that really bum me out that have either been canceled or are on the brink right now but looking at the list it's not really one network heavy. I've been giving Fox a raw deal.

ClutchBrake

· #7 · Feb 15, 2012

Firefly and Wonderfalls were crushing.

Thank goodness for Wonderfalls going to DVD. It had a fantastic wrap.

Gunnyman

· #8 · Feb 15, 2012

Chicago Code.
That was a biggie for me.

photoshopgrl

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 15, 2012

For me it was Titus and Boston Public. I just saw Titus stand up a couple of weeks ago and he said he personally had a hand in that cancellation though. Apparently the network big wigs had a sit down with him over the show and they disagreed on where the main leads should go and Titus basically told them F off that what they wanted wasn't happening (he was one of the creators of the show and writer/producer/etc). Then it was canceled. LOL

DancnDude

· #10 · Feb 15, 2012

I loved a lot of these shows that were cancelled.

I was really disappointed in how Dollhouse started getting REALLY good is when they cancelled it.

I'll also add John Doe as a show that was great but cancelled too soon.

But there were a couple that were great and deserved to get cancelled after they really started to suck badly. I'm talking Dark Angel and Prison Break. Man were they great shows that just went down the tubes quickly.

Gunnyman

· #11 · Feb 15, 2012

Oh also Human Target, which was great until someone mucked it up. The last season with the changes was horrible and I wasn't shocked it got cancelled.

Jeeters

· #12 · Feb 15, 2012

billypritchard said:
I give thanks to Fox for even bringing some of those shows to television. Some of them ended up disappointing, but they still aired them in the first place.

I don't have a lot of complaints, other than that the viewing public is stupid sometimes.

I think this is the big problem. Unlike the other networks, Fox seems much more willing to put some innovative, interesting, whatever-you-want-to-call-it shows on the air. But the majority audience is just so hung up on "So you think you're special" reality shows, and endless police procedurals, etc., that Fox's "And now for something completely different" shows often never have a chance.

allan

· #13 · Feb 15, 2012

Wasn't "Nowhere Man" also a Fox show? I remember being POd at it, and John Doe getting axed. Boston Public bothered me some, but it had been on awhile (I don't remember how long) and it was going downhill.

allan

· #14 · Feb 15, 2012

Jeeters said:
I think this is the big problem. Unlike the other networks, Fox seems much more willing to put some innovative, interesting, whatever-you-want-to-call-it shows on the air. But the majority audience is just so hung up on "So you think you're special" reality shows, and endless police procedurals, etc., that Fox's "And now for something completely different" shows often never have a chance.

Interestingly, there was a stretch when Fox was nearly the ONLY network I watched. NBC/ABC were dead to me, and I could probably count the CBS shows I watched on one hand.

Alfer

· #15 · Feb 15, 2012

Right now I can't think of any show on any network that I was so hooked on when it was cancelled that it upset me or anything of the sort.

Sure there were some great shows over the decades that became weekly features of certain phases of my life that I wish hadn't ended, but I got over it and enjoy watching them in reruns if they are readily available.

Fish Man

· #16 · Feb 15, 2012

The one that bugged me the most was "Andy Richter Controls the Universe".

Second funniest sitcom in the history of the English language. (First funniest would be "Fawlty Towers", if you're keeping score.)

Doggie Bear

· #17 · Feb 15, 2012

allan said:
Wasn't "Nowhere Man" also a Fox show? I remember being POd at it, and John Doe getting axed. Boston Public bothered me some, but it had been on awhile (I don't remember how long) and it was going downhill.

"Nowhere Man" was on the first season of what was then UPN, along with "Deadly Games" and some other crap. I liked "Nowhere Man" a lot, and while I might have liked more of it, in looking back, I'm satisfied that there was a complete story, beginning to end.

photoshopgrl

Discussion Starter · #18 · Feb 15, 2012

allan said:
Wasn't "Nowhere Man" also a Fox show? I remember being POd at it, and John Doe getting axed. Boston Public bothered me some, but it had been on awhile (I don't remember how long) and it was going downhill.

It had 4 seasons but I don't think it ever went downhill.

allan

· #19 · Feb 15, 2012

Alfer said:
Right now I can't think of any show on any network that I was so hooked on when it was cancelled that it upset me or anything of the sort.

Sure there were some great shows over the decades that became weekly features of certain phases of my life that I wish hadn't ended, but I got over it and enjoy watching them in reruns if they are readily available.

Before the reality/sitcom craze, when one of my shows was cancelled, there was usually something decent to replace it. Now that the replacement is either one of those or some variant of CSI, they bother me a lot more.

allan

· #20 · Feb 15, 2012

Doggie Bear said:
"Nowhere Man" was on the first season of what was then UPN, along with "Deadly Games" and some other crap. I liked "Nowhere Man" a lot, and while I might have liked more of it, in looking back, I'm satisfied that there was a complete story, beginning to end.

My memory is pretty hazy after all these years, but I got the impression there was supposed to a potentially interesting next season to wrap things up that didn't happen. If I'm thinking of the right show, I loved "Deadly Games", but I thought it DID have a good full run.

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