Network Television Have Ruined Primetime TV

Each year television networks premiere new tv shows that seem very promising. These networks put out major commercials on tv, on buses, the internet and huge posters in some major cities but all that means nothing when the show is cancelled after two episodes. These cancellations were the reason I decided that I would stop watching new television shows.

I am a type of person who will absolutely fall in love with a tv show and it's characters and to get into a show only to have it cancelled before the first season is halfway through, gets me just downright mad. When you look at how new televisions shows are handled, you can't help but feel like the networks are playing a game of hot potato. They make you feel that if a new series does not reach number on the Nielsen ratings it will be cancelled the next week. New shows and series are not given a chance that older shows used to be given.

Here's a little known fact. Seinfeld and Friends, two of the best comedy series were not hits when they first premiered. In fact Seinfeld which began as a show called the Seinfeld Chronicles, was almost cancelled and it was not until season 4 that Seinfeld began to take off. A move to Thursday nights after Cheers also helped Seinfeld get higher ratings. Friends also started out as a mediocre show and a survey to some viewers showed that they felt the characters on Friends were not likeable and many did not feel that the show depicted how friends really treat each other.

If these two shows were to have premiered on television today instead of the early 90's, chances are they would have been cancelled and we would not have known how great they would have become.

Some shows that have been cancelled such as Dark Angel is more than understandable. Dark Angel was a series that premiered on FOX and starred a young Jessica Alba as a kick butt, genetically engineered female with cat DNA. The show was great and I loved the storyline, however by the time season 2 premiered and ended, the show was cancelled and there was never a season three. In this instance I do not blame the networks, I blame the people who made Dark Angel. Season 2 was awful in every aspect and they jumped the shark when all of the genetic creatured and people were release from their prisons. The show literally had no place else to go after that and while I was disappointed that FOX cancelled Dark Angel, I could understand why they did.

However, my anger at the cancellation of other primetime series came to a head when a TV show called Surface was cancelled after its first season with only fifteen episodes. I loved this show and was very angry at the fact that it ended with a typical cliffhanger that left fans with many questions that would never be answered. Even more annoying is the fact that Surface was to be a mini-series but due to high ratings NBC decided to make it a regular series. I would have preferred a mini-series if it meant a good ending to a show I loved.

After the cancellation of Surface I was fed up and decided that I could no longer watch new television primetime premieres. I broke that ruin temporarily to watch Heroes because it looked promising but after that I stuck to my guns. It was not a boycott or an attempt to get back at networks, it was simply a way to preserve my sanity. To many shows such as Surface and Dark Angel has been cancelled and my problem with shows like that is the fact that they usually have deeper secrets that will take two or three seasons before we are given answers. I will never know the true details behind what the creatures on Surface were or what happened to the people that were sucked under the ocean only to disappear. I will never know why Dark Angel's "Max" had symbols that were written all over her body but only showed up during a special time that has something to do with outerspace and the alignment of planets.

Having a show I love end abruptly with no end and no answers is why I just stopped watching new shows. When Lost premiered it became a big hit but I decided that I would wait until the show was over and then buy the DVD's because I would have been furious had it ended without warning because Lost is a show that has so many questions and not many answers. To have it cancelled without a true ending would have just been awful.

I now stick to shows that I have been watching for a while and unfortunately they are almost all dramas. This is because since the ending of shows such as Seinfeld, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and Frasier, there has been a high turn over rate on new comedies. They simply do not make it past the first season or the first few episodes actually.

So far for the 07/08 season there has already been a few television cancellations and we can be sure that many more will follow:

Journeyman
Big Shots
The Kill Point (Spike TV)
Viva Laughlin (Cancelled after one episode)

Scrubs (Might be cancelled due to writers strike) Scrubs has been ok in the ratings not a huge hit unfortunately and for the last two years, its network has waited until the last moment to renew it. This will be Scrubs 7th season and it is also the last, but fans might not get their ended because with the writers strike still going strong, the show might not have a chance to make new episodes.

I do not watch soap operas and I can guess that some fans will be upset to know that Passions will probably be cancelled soon unless it is picked up by Lifetime or the Oxygen network.

On the plus side The Pretender cancelled in 2001 and Jericho cancelled 07 will both be back thanks to some very angry fans.

One of the worst years of television cancellation was 06/07 when it seems like 90% of new shows were cancelled fairly quickly.

06/07 Cancellations - Big Day, Day Break, Help Me Help You, In Case of Emergency, The Knights of Prosperity, The Nine, Show Me the Money, Six Degrees, 3lbs, The Class, Smith, Runaway, Drive, Happy Hour, Justice, The Rich List, Standoff, Vanished, The War at Home, The Wedding Bells, The Winner, Angela's Eyes, Andy Barker PI, The Black Donnellys, Identity, Kidnapped, Raines, The Real Wedding Crashers, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Thank God You're Here, Twenty Good Years.

It looks like the networks do not plan on giving new television shows a chance anytime soon, so in the meanwhile I'll keep waiting until a show has been around a while before I start watching it. Although that doesn't say much. I recently began watching and enjoying a cartoon show called "Danny Phantom" this summer, only to check online and see that the show has been cancelled just one month before.