AKA - Why I'm Mad at NBC

This has been, in my opinion, a relatively great tv year. But sadly (and some unexpectedly), a lot of shows will be gone before next season never to be seen again. I read a bunch of lists and was so sad/mad over some of it that I just had to rant a bit.

TV Shows That Just Didn\'t Make It

Among the ones I am sad to see go:

Chuck ( )
Desperate Housewives ( )
Awake ( )
Missing
Rob
Ringer ( )
And Terra Nova (Ok, so I never really watched it much due to scheduling conflicts, but I know somebody who was working on it)

What about you fine Folcs? As mad as I am? Or simply shocked?

Aw, man! They cancelled GCB? That was such a fun show.

If we're talking about shows we've never got over being cancelled, I have to admit to still harboring bitter feelings over the loss of Jeremy Piven's "Cupid". It's been about 15 years now, but I loved that show. <sigh> I still have all the episodes on tape. Sadly, I no longer have a VCR, but I can't give up that tape.

I'm also still bent that "Terriers" was cancelled. That's been just over a year, but at least I have that one downloaded onto a hard drive.

I'm on the fence about Terra Nova. I liked the concept, but the execution was poor. They tried way too hard to be "Lost" with the mysteries and whatnot. Plus, I've seen more convincing dinos in video games.

Last I heard (granted from two or three months ago) was that they were shopping it around to other networks, hoping for a bite.

Hmm. Old shows that were cancelled too soon... One that pops into my mind was "Reunion" - anybody remember that one? It was only like ten episodes or so and it was about six people(friends) from their high school reunion and one of them is dead. But, alas, as it goes, we find out who was killed but NEVER LEARN WHO DID IT. Shocker ending, but I still don't believe it.

Don't know if anybody will bite on that one, DC. Like I said, I never watched it, but I still feel bad that it's gone. I heard ABC's doing the same thing with "Cougar Town," which is supposedly heading over to TBS this next season (another disappointment, because I really love that show, but at least it's not cancelled).

Ringer was one of those shows I watched every week and was surprised at the end of the episode that I'd thoroughly enjoyed it. I always tuned in never expecting to. And I still have no clue why I did.

But I would have liked to have seen a S2, so I'm a little sad, but not devastated that we won't be seeing the loose ends tied up.

Wasn't surprised at Terra Nova. As Nancy says it was a great idea, but extraordinarly poorly done.

My major disappointment was no more Alcatraz. Despite it being terribly formulaic I was really enjoying this one - mostly because of the great leading performances. We still have a handful of episodes to go here in the UK.

Other than that, to my delight all of my major favourites survived. So I'll be curling up on the sofa for more Supernatural, Vampire Diaries (although was very disappointed with S3), Criminal Minds, Dexter, The Walking Dead and most especially FRINGE

I'm still waiting to hear about Nikita - still on the bubble I think - but that seems a far away decision as we STILL haven't had a sniff of S2!

Oh yeah - historically? Firefly!!

I do feel sad when shows get prematurely cancelled though. Especially when I think back to all the huge hits and great shows that would never have made it if the same rules were applied back then. It's such a shame that new shows these days aren't allowed to find their feet and grow into their audience but are expected to be hits right off the mark and from the first episode.

Oh, just went back in to TV.com's running update on what survived and what didn't and Nikita has been renewed for a third season. Whoo hoo!

LabRat

I was disillusioned at a young age when MTV cancelled Dead at 21 when it ended at a cliffhanger. I still want to know if they survived!

This season, I'm sad about Alcatraz, but I knew the ratings weren't good. I'm a bit more upset about Eureka. They were initially told 2 more seasons, then once they finished filming the current season, Syfy said "No, never mind, this is the last one!" At least they got to film one last episode to wrap it all up.

I liked Terra Nova. It was a show I could watch with my kids. It had lots of potential and I was disappointed that it was cancelled.

I was also disappointed that Eureka will be finishing up, though as Karen pointed out, at least they can wrap up loose ends. You'd think SyFy channel would want to hold on to this show since it's one of their better ones.

The ultimate cancellation that really killed me, years ago in the 90s, was Earth 2. The writers knew the show was going to be cancelled so the finale episode had a real cliffhanger in it that was never ressolved.

Joan

Yeah, Mouse. I highly doubt anyone is going to get on board with Terra Nova. I mean, it took the enire first half of the season before it got really interesting.

If it does come back, I'll give it another chance. And if it doesn't, no big loss. Dexter's been renewed for 2 more seasons, and that's all that *really* matters.

Yes, if it got another season I'd probably watch. To begin with anyway. I felt the two hour finale finally hit some notes that should have been there much earlier in the season - perhaps if they had been it wouldn't have been cancelled. And the ending left open some questions which I wouldn't mind seeing the answers to.

LabRat

I didn't watch any of the shows from this season, being that I gave up cable a couple of years ago... But I always wished "Joan of Arcadia" would have been given a second season.

That was a great show. It did have a few seasons but seemed to end rather abruptly.

Joan

Yeah, I realized that after I wrote that. It felt like only one season though; just as it was getting really out there and had me sucked in, it was replaced by that... ugh... Jennifer Love Hewit show. :rolleyes: Here let me replace your gourmet meal with box mac and cheese. You won't mind, because... well... we know all our viewers are idiots and don't know better. (sorry, just imagining what the TV networks were saying behind closed doors.)

Yeah, I was so annoyed by Joan of Arcadia's cancellation (even though I didn't like where they were going with the story line) that I refused to even give Ghost Whisperer a glance. Or anything else on CBS that night.

Me, too! Of course, I wouldn't have watched anything JLH was on anyway because she's fingernails down a chalkboard for me. I can't believe that show lasted for YEARS!

My husband and I also liked Amber Tamblyn's next show "The Unusuals" which was also canceled way too soon.

Sanctuary has apparently also been cancelled.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/sanctuary-canceled-syfy-327303

I'm with Labrat on being very ecstatic that Fringe is getting thirteen episodes to finish their story and give us the last answers. It's an amazingly complex show--which is so rare it seems--and it really makes me think, something I appreciate.

As a new Firefly fan, I am just realizing how disappointed I am that they were cancelled so early, without even getting to finish their first season.

And though it had a few instances of weak characterization, I thought Flash Forward had a lot of potential and was introducing really good plotlines when it got cancelled.

And of course, I'm still a bit upset that Lois & Clark only got 4 seasons!

You and me both, AntiK!

Okay, agreeing with you on all these fronts. If I wasn't neck deep in my current epic, I'd probably give it a shot.

Those shows did have a lot of potential. Firefly never did get much of a fair chance with episodes shown out of order and some episodes omitted.

Joan

Virginia,

"Anti-K, can you imagine a 'Flash Forward' LnC crossover fic, in which the characters from LnC S1 flash forward to S3 or S4. Okay... I'm moving that thought to the challenge boards! If I wasn't neck deep in my current epic, I'd probably give it a shot."

It's not precisely your premise, but if you're intrigued by that idea, you'd probably enjoy Foreshadowing .

Happy

Thanks, Happy, I probably will being that's by you. Hope your RL is lots less .

Ooo! If we're doing shameless self-promotions, I have a flash forward story from a couple of years ago called Ricochet .

May I chime with the self-promos, then? I am ambivalent about a hypothetical fifth season of L&C, as I indicated in my story On Plot Reuse . If the hypothetical season 5 were as good as the first couple of seasons, I would have loved it; but given the way the show has been going, I think the fans have done a much better job than the official writers would have in coming up with what happens next.

Joy,
Lynn

Amen, sister! The further into the third season we went, the less the characters were the ones I fell in love with. There's no way that the Clark Kent I knew and loved would have walked away and let a sociopathic escaped criminal (let alone Lex Luthor) take Lois with him, even if he believed that Lois no longer loved him. Gah!

I'm glad you chimed in, Sue, because I was going to come back and mention Ricochet myself. I went back and reread it just last week.

I don't know about anyone else, but Journey Man from 3 years ago was fantastic.

My husband said, "Great cast, intelligent writing and San Francisco as the main location. Considering the idiots behind TV today I don't think it will last out the season."

Sadly, he was right.

So far there is no end to Downton Abbey!

That is just plain sad. I really enjoyed that show (after the fact on Hulu since I don't have cable). Wonder what happened.

After three years a show has enough episodes to be syndicated and the contracts with the main stars have run out. If the show is doing OK but not great the easy option is to cancel it and sell the rights rather then pay the stars the money they should get based on how well the show is doing.

Network execs tend to move around a lot so there are also cases where a exec that said a show would never work is now in charge of the part of the network the show falls under. Instead of being proved wrong they'll kill it by playing games with the schedule.

Quantum Leap is the poster child for the schedule jitterbug. We used to buy the TV Guide just so we could figure out when it was going to be on from week to week. Then they cancelled it because of poor ratings. Grrrrrrr.