NBC and Cancelling Awesome Shows

[AestheticLife]

After some guy's avatar reminded me of the NBC show Kings, I did some digging and realized said show had been cancelled. This is one of a series of very, very "good" shows that passed through NBC's clutches for a one-season run, and were quickly cut down by poor decision making.

The series had fair ratings considering its time slot, competition, and general order in the NBC lineup. Despite that, NBC destroyed any chance of maintaining its fledgling success by moving it to the end of the week before taking it off television entirely for a quarter of the year, only to bury it in a horrendous Sunday evening timeslot.

On its own, that didn't seem too bad. While Kings was a good, good show when allowed to air, it could have simply been chalked up to being "before its time", or "too smart" in the vein of Arrested Development. However, when you look at NBC's more recent, and more destructive tenures for the same evening vacancies in their lineup, the picture becomes a bit more telling.

Journeyman
The Black Donnellys
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
20 Good Years
Conviction
Heist

A small, but relevant list of shows that NBC has cancelled in the last five years (with other crap/less relevant shows omitted) despite holding solid ratings before being mismanaged to death. Sure to follow is The Philanthropist, another series which has been pushed into hiatus thanks to horrid management on the part of NBC mashing.

What exactly does NBC hope to gain by cancelling the only shows they have that actually appeal to their audience? Shows like The West Wing drew high, high ratings for so long, yet now that the network has seemingly cleansed itself of "smart" programming, any show that requires the least bit of attention to follow is immediately cut?

I just don't get it. Short of injecting Cyndi Lauper's stupidity into everything, what will it take to get NBC to actually run a decent show to fruition? Why does NBC push anything with SNL Alumni like they're some kind of Skull and Bones Society, yet completely snuff out actual quality programming?

This has just been on my mind for a while, so I figured I would get it out there in some forum. Kudos to you for reading this far.

[Mogonis]

Las Vegas
Southland

EDIT: Earl

[AestheticLife]

Las Vegas had plenty of time under its belt, though Southland is definately a noteworthy addition to the list!

What the heck is Earl? My Name is Earl? If so, that also had plenty of time before it hit syndication.

[Skeeter]

Las Vegas was so bad at the end it should have been canceled 2 seasons prior.

Studio 60 was the only one of the shows that you mentioned that I thought was decent. Half the list I've never heard of. I was bummed when studio 60 was canceled but after watching the first 3 weeks of it I knew it was inevitable. Of course the show jumped the shark in the first season when they decided to make the hot chick pregnant. never a good sign.

[Cephalopod]

Las Vegas had plenty of time under its belt, though Southland is definately a noteworthy addition to the list!

What the heck is Earl? My Name is Earl? If so, that also had plenty of time before it hit syndication.

I was pretty disappointed Earl was cancelled. It was done pretty silently. That maid was hot. :(

[Mogonis]

NBC canceled Southland simply because they felt it was too gritty for the 9:00 slot (because Leno was being moved to 10:00).

So fuck NBC, and fuck Leno.

[AestheticLife]

Go watch Kings or something. A slightly more political, network television-handicapped version of ROME more or less (with an actual hero, though).

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Also canceled, though not sure if NBC or not.:

Life
Sarah Connor Chronicles

[Cephalopod]

Sarah Connor Chronicles

I never saw this, but heard it was well-reviewed. Too bad.

[Mogonis]

Sarah Connor was FOX.

[radamanthys]

Fox cancelled Firefly.

[Ardwen]

Fox cancels all its best shows it seems, but hey at least Fringe and House werent killed

[DCSL]

Yeah, it is too bad. I really liked the Black Donnellys in particular.

[Deathravin]

Terminator fucking ruled. Fox sucks. I'm still fucked up about it ><.

[TheEschaton]

I'm still fucked up about Terminator too. Especially the last episode, what the fuck!

And yeah, NBC is pinning all its hopes to Chuck, essentially. Which I will occasionally watch for Yvonne Strahovski if the ads imply she might be in a bathing suit or something, but yeah.

Edit: YUM
http://www.treksinscifi.com/babedaily/babes/2008-10-08-Yvonne_Strahovski.jpg

-TheE-

[radamanthys]

Chuck is a fantastic piece of pure genius.

[Deza]

Black Donnellys was fantastic. I was pissed when they canceled it.

[AestheticLife]

...and they couldn't even move it to a watchable channel? They move it to HDNet instead? Sick.

[Drew]

Journeyman
The Black Donnellys
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Southland (which got picked up by a cable channel)


Good shows that should have been given a chance.


Also anyone remember that show on Fox that didn't run for long with the commercial "Her father is the District Attorney!"?

[Drew]

Wasn't Friday Night Lights also NBC? They kind of canceled that.

[AestheticLife]

They stomped it into the mud for like three or four seasons, though. I was noting series that didn't even get a reasonable chance, with only a one-season tenure (or enough short of a full two seasons to qualify).

It was a pretty great series one season in, but the writers clearly lost whatever passion that they had for it after cashing in on the extension.

[Mogonis]

Southland (which got picked up by a cable channel)

Last I read, TNT hasn't ordered any new episodes beyond the six that were already filmed for the second season. But it depends on the ratings.


And...it's TNT.

[Androidpk]

Not NBC, but Defying Gravity.

[Drew]

Not NBC, but Defying Gravity.

This was a good show, even if it was Grey's Anatomy in space with HAL 9000.

[Celephais]

Yeah, it is too bad. I really liked the Black Donnellys in particular.


Black Donnellys was fantastic. I was pissed when they canceled it.
I saw his list and I got all angry all over again, Black Donnellys was fantastic. That show really needs to get picked up. Hopefully they'll sell it to FX or in my wildest dreams HBO, those channels know how to make a series.

[TheEschaton]

I kind of liked Life on Mars too, but I think that was CBS.

Studio 60 was the biggest one, imo, I LOVED that show, and think Matthew Perry was far better on that than anything he ever did in Friends.

[Outlaw Pete]

After some guy's avatar reminded me of the NBC show Kings

My name is Pete.

Hi!

[Ryvicke]

FOX has canceled about seventeen more great shows than this. Just off my personal list:

Undeclared
Wonderfalls
Firefly
Dollhouse
Sarah Connor

I think there's more. I dunno.

One problem with this whole business though: the proper response to OutlawPete's avatar is to start a thread about how fucking amazing Deadwood was. And how just to leech off of its genius some cable channel just made a western series with Timothy Olyphant that is sure to be nowhere near as good.

[AestheticLife]

Justified actually looks friggin stellar, and less old timey/annoying. Of course the show will go absolutely nowhere either way, but still.

I can't get behind anything lame-ish or Sci-Fi-pushing. Anything involving robot assassins or random stupidity like that seems... iffy. That, and the douche chick from Buffy completely killed one of the aforementioned series for me, on the basis of her sucking almost as much as the chick from Bones.

Not sure which one of Firefly/Dollhouse has her, but I'd probably like the OTHER one decently enough. Not sure what you think FOX puts on TV these days, but they haven't had a relatively watchable prime time show in ages.

[DCSL]

I realize very few other people liked them but I liked Jericho, Surface, and Invasion. I hate it that I'm left dangling because they were canceled.

[Cephalopod]

Oddly, I was really into Surface despite its incredibly cheesy effects. I google it every so often, just in case someone decided to finish the story.

[Some Rogue]

Wasn't Friday Night Lights also NBC? They kind of canceled that.

Not exactly cancelled as it runs on DirecTV first, then after the season is over they show it on NBC. It still blows that you have to wait so long to see new episodes. I think the premiere on NBC is in May though.

[Jorddyn]

Chuck is a fantastic piece of pure genius.

I love Chuck. It is the only show on TV that I will actually schedule stuff around, then seek out online if I happen to miss it.

[crb]

There was this show called Sons and Daughters on ABC that was cancelled a few years back. I guess it was kinda like Arrested Development in that it was critically acclaimed but didn't get the viewers, still Arrested got resurrected, this show did not.

It was, however, one of the funniest shows I've seen in a long time, it put it in the company of The Office as far as comedic quality goes, alas. It was cancelled.

Terminator's first two seasons were good. The last season (when it stopped being about John running away from Terminators) was a piece of smelly shit (kinda like BSG). Do not be too annoyed though, Lena Headey is heading to Ireland to be in HBO's Game of Thrones, and is most assuredly going to end up naked frequently. Hmm... they need to find a role for Summer Glau too. Yes, make it so.

[crb]

I dug Jericho, the frantic pace of the first season worked really well for me. Plus, I dig survival scenarios.

[Jorddyn]

There was this show called Brothers and Sisters on ABC that was cancelled a few years back. I guess it was kinda like Arrested Development in that it was critically acclaimed but didn't get the viewers, still Arrested got resurrected, this show did not.

It was, however, one of the funniest shows I've seen in a long time, it put it in the company of The Office as far as comedic quality goes, alas. It was cancelled.

Uh, Brothers and Sisters is still on the air. And it really isn't that funny.

[crb]

my bad. I meant "Sons and Daughters"

[Kithus]

Also not NPC but the WB canceling Reaper pissed me off.

[Mogonis]

I was mad when FOX canceled Standoff.

[TheEschaton]

Did you guys ever watch Sundown? It was like Groundhog Day but with murder. Cancelled after one season.

[Latrinsorm]

Justified is great, and if they were really trying to make it a Western they would have given Mr. Olyphant a revolver and had Ennio Morricone write the theme.

I watched Jericho when it was on because Ashley Scott was in it. This was when BSG was on, though, so the bar for dramatic tension was set very high for me.

[Asile]

I kind of liked Life on Mars too, but I think that was CBS.

For the record, "Life on Mars" was ABC. And damn good. But the end didn't make it seem like it was really meant to be a full multi-season series.

[Mogonis]

Despite these good shows, ABC kept giving Ugly Betty the benefit of the doubt. Glad they finally got a clue.

[Bhuryn]

Wasn't Third Watch nbc? I loved Third Watch.