It's that time of year again when we find out if our favorite TV shows have been renewed or thrown in the dumpster. Here's a handy list.
Let the grumbling begin!
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I remember the old days where a network would give a new series a season or two to develop an audience; perhaps moving it to a different day or timeslot to improve its chances. There was plenty of time for viewers to find the show, to hear about it from friends, family, ads, or stumble on it while channel surfing. Today, it's not unusual for a show to be cancelled after less than an handful of episodes (I'm looking at you NBC and your pathetic Ironsides cancellation after just 3 episodes). It's like asking a baby to fly right after it's born.
The TV networks have been infected with the same corporate greed that infest far too many of our other businesses. While telling us peasants about the virtues of delayed gratification, they want it all right away. They want a hit show where ad rates escalate to the stratosphere and if they don't get it immediately, the lid of the dumpster is lifted to deposit yet another casualty of network greed.
I don't watch too much on the tube not just because my time is valuable, but to avoid getting to like something only to see its rapid demise at the hands of network executives. It's not just the broadcast networks that are doing this. Cable and Premium networks are joining in, too.
I've had been waiting for The Borgias to return on Showtime and found it was cancelled last year. The wonderful sets, costumes, and fascinating plot line kept me coming back for more despite the fact that each "season" was only 10 episodes each. I could have done without the gratuitous sex and violence though. Nope, sent to the trash just as the personal and political complexities were becoming fascinating.
I like HBOs Newsroom. 2 seasons (20 episodes) later, it's already pre-cancelled; finished after this season which will air starting in the fall. It apparently wasn't enough that the show won great big awards and got lots of attention and industry praise. Nope. It's going bye-bye.
And what's up with the 10 episode only "seasons" that don't allow a series the time it takes to really develop it's story, characters, or find an audience? It's like the networks are sprinkling a few crumbs with hopes that a huge money tree will sprout and rapidly mature from each one.
What the networks really want is a series that costs very little to produce (hence the plethora of cheap "reality" shows) and grabs a big audience so they can charge enormous ad rates. They want to invest pennies and harvest millions. If a series can't do that, into the trash can it goes. The only ones that survive are ones that grab a big audience fast enough to shower the network with immediate gold.
SyFy Network, which began its life on cable by asking fans of science fiction to pressure their cable systems to carry it, has become nearly the most disappointing network of all. That network has NO long running shows and have repeatedly angered viewers with cancellations of popular shows like Stargate, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Alphas (after 1 very short season), and Stargate Atlantis. SyFy series should come with a warning label: Don't like this show on this network. It's doomed like all the others.
Starting this fall, every broadcast, cable, and premium network will show tantalizing ads about their new shows in hopes of grabbing that great big audience so they can raise the advertising rates. This year, like the last several years, I don't want to watch. I'm afraid I'll like something and then it will disappear.
Just like the other all too greedy corporations, they want the fast buck and focus on what they can put in their wallets now instead of cultivating something for future long term harvests. They don't care if something is "good". They care if it is highly profitable.
Let the grumbling begin!
With just a few minutes to publication, I've just realized that I haven't listed the ones I'm grumbling about. They are:
The Newsroom (to be cancelled after the final season this year)
Warehouse 13 (the stories, the characters, and the steam punk rocked)
The Borgias (still pissed)
Alphas (still pissed)
So which ones that have been cancelled have you steaming?
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