TV shows getting cancelled ..

[Deleted User 728]

It's getting silly and I'm not happy.

It makes movie flops look quite rare, the way lots of popular series have been cancelled in the last few years.
Remember Ishtar ? Waterworld ? The Adventures Of Pluto Nash ? More recently, Cats ?
They all lost millions of dollars and ruined a few careers along the way, too.

With the emergence of Netflix, Prime and other streaming sites the dilution of TV as we know it has begun, especially with the Ofcom today announcing there'll be a shake-up of how television handles public service broadcasts : https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/ ... ng-digital

Fireflywas the first really big show I remember being cancelled.
It was a bit like an American take on Blake's 7 and had a massive cult following but for some reason it got stopped after one season.
Fans protested and campaigned and the makers promised to carry on the story through movies. They did make one : Serenity and it did okay, but there's been nothing since.

Today, I stumbled across a show I liked the look of while browsing IMDB.
It stars one of my favourite actors, John Slattery (Mad Men's Roger Sterling) and is sci-fi noir :
A former tech CEO (Slattery) joins a FBI Cybersecurity Agent to stop the emergence of a rogue Artificial Intelligence.
NeXt is a propulsive thriller about the emergence of a deadly, rogue artificial intelligence that combines pulse-pounding action with a layered examination of how technology is invading our lives and transforming us in ways we don't yet understand.

Sounds good, right ?
Wrong.
It's just been cancelled after one season.

Every time I see something I fancy on any of the streaming sites I always check now otherwise what's the point ?

Defying Gravity was another one : one season and it's over.

I know I'm a sci-fi nut but other series have fallen away too : My Name Is Earl, Arrested Development, Agent Carter, etc.

It's cheap and easy to make reality TV shows that appeal to the masses.
Formats are rolled out worldwide and they're all successful.
But so's McDonald's but not everyone wants to eat there.
I'm worried that, like cinema, all we'll get is four or five statement series - Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos - a year while the rest is couch fodder, remakes or rehashes.

This is supposedly the golden age of television and when you look at the talent that's switched to the medium, both in front of and behind the camera, you can see why it's been called that.
Documentaries especially have come on immensely with drones making production so much cheaper and more manageable. Anyone watch The Smithsonian Channel ? It's superb.

And yet why do I have this sinking feeling ?

I find myself watching more foreign stuff these days just because it's different.

I guess in the end you stick with favourite long-running shows and personalities - MOTD, lots of anime, Louis Theroux, David Attenborough - and channels - Quest, Smithsonian, Dave, Talking Pictures - and ignore ITV and the BBC unless using the catch-up services.


Oh, and Star Trek.
They cancelled that first time round.
How did that work out for them ??

[Deleted User 2747]

Totally agree here.

I don't watch the same kind of show as you Rigger but, I am increasingly getting annoyed with the fact that so many series seem to be cancelled after just one series. It takes half a series to get involved with the characters and as soon as you are hooked its nearly the end. TV companies are just so incredibly fickle.

I have been watching European series more and have been watching those over lock-down. There are some good antipodean shows too, but again some of them seem to be cut short to about 8 to 10 episodes then vanish.

[Davycc]

Really disappointed that they cancelled the second series of Emergence with Allison Tolman.

[Mr Russell]

I have still not recovered from the Original Battlestar Galactica getting cancelled way back in 1978 (i was 8 at the time) then they tried to correct the error with the horrible Galactica 1980 (bar the last episode).

[mapperleywhite]

I find myself watching more foreign stuff these days just because it's different

OK Mrs MW has rather specific requirements because of the language issue, and consequently we haven't been watching a lot of television but definitely agree with this comment. We've found C4's 'Walter Presents' a good source of entertainment with Italian and Dutch programmes providing consistently engaging material. There was even an Argentinian series called La Limpiadora - the cleaning lady - sounds totally unpromising but kept us watching to the end.

To its credit BBC4 shows Montalbano a police based series set in Sicily enjoyable for its vivid characters and Mediterranean setting.

[johnh]

I watch TV about once a month on average and that is usually sport (though there is precious little of that on BBC.) Occasionally look at the TV guide to see what's on but seldom find anything worth watching. Too many cookery programmes. It seems to have eased a bit now but I remember on one occasion last year that there were eight cookery programmes during the same evening on BBC1 & 2, ITV, Channel 4. and Channel 5.

[Davycc]

The Flashing Blade, waited every summer holiday for the sequel but it never came

[Sniffer]

The Flashing Blade, waited every summer holiday for the sequel but it never came

It's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

[Davycc]

The Flashing Blade, waited every summer holiday for the sequel but it never came

It's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

You've got to fight for what you want..........

[PhoenixUnited]

The Flashing Blade, waited every summer holiday for the sequel but it never came

It's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

You've got to fight for what you want..........

And all that you believe....