Cancellation (broadcasting)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In broadcasting, cancellation refers to when a radio or

network or syndicator
that distributes the show, usually against the intentions of the show's creators or producers.

Programs are typically canceled for financial reasons; low

—if it increases the ratings of other shows on the network, while a profitable low-budget show may still be canceled if it lowers the ratings of the surrounding programs). Other potential reasons for canceling television programs include unfavorable critical reviews, controversies involving the program's cast, conflicts among the show's staff members or to make room for new programming.

Shows whose runs end due to a mutual creative decision by its creators, producers, cast, and the network it airs on (such as

Fremantle Media and 19 Entertainment's decision to renew the show for a 15th and final season in May 2015 to air in 2016);[1][2][3]
shows that are canceled traditionally end their runs during the television season in which the program airs first-run episodes at the time, either effective immediately after the announcement is made by the network or until all remaining episodes are broadcast.

The Friday night death slot is a perceived graveyard slot in American television, referring to the idea that a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings is highly likely to be canceled.

Overview

television series had similar total viewer numbers during the seasons they were on the air together.[4] (A slight exception to this is CBS
, whose self-stated target audience is persons 25 to 54 years old; because of this, CBS programs tend to favor slightly older audiences than their broadcast rivals.)

Other factors are considered as well, such as the cost to produce the show. For example, most

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, which was renewed more than three years after it had produced its last episode because of a programming shortage on Fox).[7] Whether the show is produced by the network or an outside company can also factor into a show's future; networks, especially in the 21st century, tend to prefer shows that are produced in-house, as they can take advantage of vertical integration and, in addition to making money from the first run of the show on the network, continue to profit from syndicating the reruns.[8] Thus, if two shows have similar ratings and expenses but one is produced by the network while the other is held by an outside company, the outsider program is more likely to be canceled. This was not an issue in the late 20th century, when Financial Interest and Syndication Rules
prohibited American networks from owning syndicators.

Very rarely are television programs cancelled for reasons other than ratings or profitability. Notable cases are

Cops and Live PD, which were both cancelled in June 2020 in the wake of protests following the murder of George Floyd (Cops would be revived a year later as an online-only production after the protests had subsided and the police officer who killed Floyd was convicted). One example of a television program that was canceled because of war is the CBS Television Quiz, which was cancelled by CBS in May 1942 in order to allow the United States government to divert resources to World War II. Several television programs were also canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; radio, which can more easily be produced remotely, was less affected, though some live programs (particularly Live from Here
) did not survive.

A television series that attempts to tell a long, overarching story can be canceled even before it resolves all story arcs and broadcasts all of its planned episodes.[citation needed] For some series that may be canceled, the creators may try to end the current season finale on a cliffhanger to give fans the impression that the series trul is unfinished and needs to keep telling more stories, but even that may not work and can produce a strong bout of disappointment if the series is cancelled anyway. An example of this is UPN sitcom Moesha

Some series that are renewed and planned for another season can also be cancelled, such as The Electric Company and Transformers: Animated.

Saved from cancellation

Occasionally, a show may be revived, or brought back into production after being previously cancelled. Such was the case with

Family Matters and Step by Step both moved from ABC
to CBS in their final season of production. This is an uncommon occurrence, and few programs have successfully made audience gains when changing networks.

In other cases, overwhelming fan response may lead to a show's revival. The original series of Star Trek was given an additional season after a letter-writing campaign from fans. Another successful letter-writing campaign helped revive Cagney & Lacey.[10] In 2007, Jericho was given an additional seven-episode order after fans mailed thousands of pounds of nuts to network executives (a reference to a pivotal line in the season finale).[11]

Strong

Arrested Development was revived for a fourth season in 2013 (seven years after being canceled by Fox) as a Netflix Original Series, after episodes of its initial run proved popular on the streaming service.[14]

In some situations, a television series may be revived years after being cancelled. Often this is in the form of a spin-off show featuring new characters (such as

all returning to television approximately a full generation after the original series aired.

In 2018, Fox announced that it was cancelling the police procedural sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine,[15] and police procedural urban fantasy Lucifer. Brooklyn Nine-Nine was subsequently picked up by NBC the following day,[16] while Lucifer was picked up by Netflix the following month.

A show can instead be retooled if the network thinks that changes can be made to a struggling program that will make the show more profitable and/or higher-rated.[17] In a retooling, characters may be replaced or recast, plots may be abandoned, and in extreme cases, continuity can be erased and the name of the show changed, depending on how extensive of a retool is undertaken. (In more extreme cases, a retooling can resemble a full reboot of the storyline.) One example of such a scenario was Lovers and Friends, which was placed on hiatus in May 1977 and was retitled as For Richer, For Poorer when it returned in December 1977; the program would end in September 1978.[18]

Cancellation in pop culture

  • The Adult Swim TV series Robot Chicken ends each season with a running gag in which the head of the network cancels the show, although the show has never actually been considered for cancellation.[19][20]
  • On Arthur, the episode "The Last of Mary Moo Cow" deals with the cancellation of D.W.'s favorite show, Mary Moo Cow. The fictional show is later revived in both episodes.
  • On Garfield and Friends, the episodes "Binky Gets Cancelled" and "Binky Gets Cancelled Again!" deal with the cancellation of Garfield's favorite show The Binky Show. The fictional show is later revived.
  • On The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, the entire show is cancelled in 1964, and Rocky and Bullwinkle feel sad and melancholy. Boris, Natasha and Fearless convince Minnie Mogul into producing "The Rocky & Bullwinkle" movie and 6 months later, Karen Sympathy gets the show out of reruns, by bringing Rocky and Bullwinkle into the real world and stopping RBTV (Really Bad Television) in New York. RBTV later becomes Rocky and Bullwinkle Television and Karen and Ole see the Rocky & Bullwinkle movie when the Narrator, Rocky and Bullwinkle return home in the new movie.
  • The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! faces the cancellation before the gang plots to bring their own show back.
  • In the Batman: The Brave and the Bold series finale episode Mitefall, Bat-Mite has grown weary of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, deeming its formula to be tired and repetitive, so he concocts a scheme to make it so bad that the network will have to cancel the show to make way for a darker one.
  • In the Teen Titans Go! episodes 43 and 44 from Season 4 The Self-Indulgent 200th Episode Spectacular, Part 1 and The Self-Indulgent 200th Episode Spectacular, Part 2 the Teen Titans deal with being cancelled.
  • The original final episode to The Angry Beavers entitled Bye Bye Beavers had the characters freaking out about being cancelled.
  • In the film Toy Story 2, Woody wanted to see the final episode of Woody’s Roundup, but Stinky Pete told him that the show was cancelled due to the popularity of Sci-fi.

See also

References

  1. CNNMoney
    . Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  2. The Huffington Post. AOL
    .
  3. on May 19, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  4. ^
    Arkansas Democrat Gazette
    . Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  5. ^ Carter, Bill (April 6, 2010). "An 'Idol' Ratings Loss, but Not in Its Pocketbook". The New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2010.
  6. ^ Santiago, Rosario (2007-10-03). "For Advertising Purposes, 'Grey's Anatomy' May Well be Colored Green". BuddyTV. Archived from the original on 2009-06-28. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  7. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (November 6, 2014). "FOX Revives 'Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader'". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 8, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  8. ^ "Networks may be struggling, but the new shows keep coming". 2017-05-19.
  9. ^ Clyde Haberman Albin Krebs, "Notes on People", The New York Times, March 3, 1979
  10. ^ Tarnoff, Brooke. "Fans Save The Endangered Series - Jericho is Resurrected". UGO. Archived from the original on 2008-01-07. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  11. ^ "'Jericho' Repeats Land on Fridays". Zap2It. 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  12. ^ Wright, Mark (2007-06-07). "Nuts to Jericho!". The Stage. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  13. ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (2006-06-23). "New drama for 'Futurama'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  14. ^ Stelter, Brian (May 23, 2013). "'Arrested Development' Returns on Netflix". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 20, 2018.
  15. ^ Snierson, Dan (May 10, 2018). "'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' canceled after five seasons". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  16. ^ Jung, E. Alex (May 14, 2018). "The Story Behind How Brooklyn Nine-Nine Was Canceled and Rescued in 31 Hours". Vulture.com. Vox Media. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  17. ^ Todd VanDerWurff, Emily (February 12, 2014). "How the second season of Newhart proves sitcoms need time to learn". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 24, 2019. Newhart is that rare beast in the TV world: a show where all of the retooling paid off because the producers were keenly attuned to what was and wasn't working on their show.
  18. .
  19. Adult Swim Video
    (accessed September 12, 2010)
  20. ^ "Robot Chicken": In Memoriam Archived 2009-12-23 at the Wayback Machine - Adult Swim Video (accessed September 12, 2010)

External links