How many decent network shows have been cancelled just because someone in charge decided that the production cost too much?

FOX has been doing that for years. "Human Target" was a very good show, and they ended after Season 2 because it had a bigger budget than they wanted. CBS just did it recently with "Blue Bloods". There are lots of examples of shows that were popular and dumped purely for financial reasons. Even a couple of movies were buried for tax purposes not long ago.

I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything. I'm just saying that two things can be true at the same time.

I read someplace that in 1981 CBS cancelled "The Incredible Hulk" because it was just too expensive . At the time, the ratings were still decent.

You will notice that if you watch episodes from Season 4, alot of his transformations occur off screen. There is also some recycled footage and many episodes have a "low budget" feel to them, where they are mostly filmed indoors on just a few sets OR the episode is entirely outdoors where the action mostly consists of the characters running through the woods/being chased, etc.

This one is a big surprise to me, not because it was good, but just because it seemed to have enough people saying it was good.

Netflix is ending "The Boroughs" after its first and last season, which was released only recently. Now this was a Duffer Brothers production that had a pretty darn good cast of mainly film stars. I did put it on as soon as it went on Netflix thinking I might enjoy it. I started to skip through scenes right after the first episode ended. Unfortunately, this has become a habit with me when I lose interest in a multi-episode, season driven storyline.

The Duffer Brothers are the creators of "Stranger Things" and "The Boroughs" can be summed up very simply. It's "Stranger Things" with old people instead of teenagers. It has a supernatural mystery and that band of brothers against the monsters vibe, but I disliked it because I found it depressing. It's about death, and immortality, and dementia, and grief. I know it has an uplifting message somewhere, but I was too down to notice. I skipped to the end, found out all about Mother and decided I would not watch Season 2.

Maybe I wasn't the only one. I don't know why Netflix cancelled it as the reviews were good. Maybe viewers didn't like it, or there weren't enough of them. Maybe it just cost too much to make. Anyway, the ending did leave the door open, but it looks like it's shut now. I suppose someone may have to claim ageism, but it could also be that people don't want to be fooled again. After all, they still can't believe Eleven died.

I think "Blue Bloods" stopped for a different reason. It had so many episodes already that CBS didn't need to make more to make money. They could sell the whole package of seasons to another network (and presumably another network and another after that) that just runs repeats of recent and not-so-recent shows. In fact, old episodes had been running on the ION network for a couple of years at least. I also wondered if one or two of the main actors was going to leave.

Someone on TV once talked about syndication - how getting to 100 episodes was the goal because that was a desirable number (which was about 5 seasons worth in the 70's) for buyers to get.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
How many decent network shows have been cancelled just because someone in charge decided that the production cost too much?

FOX has been doing that for years. "Human Target" was a very good show, and they ended after Season 2 because it had a bigger budget than they wanted. CBS just did it recently with "Blue Bloods". There are lots of examples of shows that were popular and dumped purely for financial reasons. Even a couple of movies were buried for tax purposes not long ago.

I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything. I'm just saying that two things can be true at the same time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

I agree. Colbert had some biting zingers that someone couldn't take and then he made that "big fat bribe" comment about CBS and that was it. "The Late Show" was suddenly too expensive. Give me a break.

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Colbert was not cancelled because of his ratings. He spoke truth to power and that power didn't like it. The same people have "60 Minutes", a popular and profitable show also on CBS, in full-on crisis mode for the exact same reason.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I think "Blue Bloods" stopped for a different reason. It had so many episodes already that CBS didn't need to make more to make money.

[/QUOTE]

Got to disagree with you there. First of all, when does any corporation think its made enough money?

But "Blue Bloods" was expensive to make and not just because of the large cast. Tom Selleck's salary alone took up a big chunk of the cost, and his fans were not in the demographic that advertisers want most. So they spun it off to "Boston Blue" where Donnie Wahlberg is cheaper and CBS hopes the viewers are younger. "Blue Bloods" was only one of several decent shows CBS axed for financial reasons last season and they said as much publicly.

We have Colbert's Late Show, and we talked about other motives in there too, but his contract was going to cost big money and it was up. Maybe CBS was taking out 2 birds with one stone.

Now "Watson" was doing very well with viewers. It was the highest rated scripted show on the network and they pulled it. They dumped the new and not funny "DMV", but also got rid of the long running "The Neighborhood". They have 4 new shows coming next year, including another version of "NCIS". So CBS has called in the bean counters to cut back and cut out.

As for "60 Minutes", while it won't be cancelled, I have no doubt that CBS would be very happy if some or all of their long-time correspondents left on their own. They all have big contracts, and each one thinks that they are the star of the news. None of them got to be Andy Rooney and they shouldn't believe they did.