Worst network/cable TV program cancellations of all time

[FreddyE1977]

I'll vote for Quark, the NBC sci-fi parody of the 70's starring Richard Benjamin.
Had a lot of potential, but got a very quick hook.

 

[TVCOOL]

Sliders (1995 - 2000)

Beavis and Butthead (1993 - 97) should've ran for at least 1 more season.

Married With Children (1987 - 97) I wished they should've ran for 2 more seasons

Beverly Hills 90210 (1990 -2000) should've ended the series in 1996 or 1997 IMO limped along for 2-3 more seasons.

 

[bpatrick]

Some of you have mentioned soaps; my pick there would
be "Ryan's Hope," a show I still think was the best-written
and best-acted daytime drama ever. It wasn't beating "The
Young And The Restless" at 12:30 (ET) but it was holding its
own, then ABC decided to put Agnes Nixon's "Loving" there
and move "Ryan's Hope" to 12, where it suffered the fate of
"Edge Of Night": too many affiliates pre-empting, in this case
for local news. "RH" was ten times better than "Loving" in my book.

As for primetime shows, I'll go 'way back to 1965 and single out
"Mr. Novak," which was running second to "Combat!" on Tuesdays
at 7:30, IIRC. Why I put it here is because of the show that replaced
it: "My Mother The Car." James Franciscus swore off series television
for six years, until "Longstreet" on ABC (another one I think could have
gone another year), and never did another series for NBC, although I
think he might have done a miniseries for the Peacock Network.

I'd also have to pick two shows from the '70s: "The Practice," with
Danny Thomas as a Groucho-like doctor; and "The Tony Randall Show,"
where Randall played a snippy judge (similar to his "Tonight Show" persona).
In the case of Randall's show I don't know why ABC dropped it; it was
consistently in the top 30. It did, however, seem tailor-made for CBS, but
its Saturday-night block was dying (Mary Tyler Moore had given up her show,
and "All In The Family" was on Sundays). Still worth a look if you can find it,
though.

One last, from daytime: the original "Press Your Luck" (with Peter Tomarken, R.I.P.).
Silly, yes, but also exciting, especially when contestants had to make that fateful
decision as to whether to keep playing or pass their spins and hope somebody else
would whammy, or even whammy out. And the Michael Larson shows brought Tomarken
and the audience to a virtual standstill: would he dare risk all he'd won?

 

[anotherguyTN]

Match Game should have lasted longer on CBS if they hadn't moved it from afternoons to mornings in 1979. It went into syndication a few months later and lasted until 1982, but it could have lasted longer on CBS if they had left it alone.

 

[MDefl]

Funny, most of these shows would have been on my "lasted too long" list. I did think The Agency got the boot too fast though. Only lasted a season or 2.

As for the soaps, that is about economics and a changing society. It costs a lot of $ to produce that type of show. ABC, CBS or whoever can run a show like The Chew (which is simply awful) at a fraction of the cost of a soap. Further, the soaps traditionally had women viewers (I know that men watched as well - I am a man and I used to watch a few back in college) and most of them work now. Plus, the OJ trial put a real crimp in them. I fully expect at least 1 or 2 more will go within a couple of years.

 

[TVCOOL]

first was game shows to go then now its soaps on the original big 3 networks.

 

[azumanga]

Match Game should have lasted longer on CBS if they hadn't moved it from afternoons to mornings in 1979. It went into syndication a few months later and lasted until 1982, but it could have lasted longer on CBS if they had left it alone.

Actually, it was in Fall 1977 when Match Game moved to mornings at 10AM, before The Price Is Right at 10:30AM; when its ratings dropped (not only because its core audience, students, were in classes, but also some stations showed all 90 minutes of Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin, pre-empting Match Game), in December 1977, Match Game moved to 4PM, where it once again faced pre-emptions in many areas. The show was cancelled in April 1979, with two weeks of shows remaining unaired. However, interest was high enough that Match Game was put into daily syndication in the fall of 1979 -- in some areas, scheduled at 4PM, where it competed against (or pre-empted) Match Game's succeeding series at 4PM, "Love of Life".

 

[anotherguyTN]

Match Game should have lasted longer on CBS if they hadn't moved it from afternoons to mornings in 1979. It went into syndication a few months later and lasted until 1982, but it could have lasted longer on CBS if they had left it alone.

Actually, it was in Fall 1977 when Match Game moved to mornings at 10AM, before The Price Is Right at 10:30AM; when its ratings dropped (not only because its core audience, students, were in classes, but also some stations showed all 90 minutes of Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin, pre-empting Match Game), in December 1977, Match Game moved to 4PM, where it once again faced pre-emptions in many areas. The show was cancelled in April 1979, with two weeks of shows remaining unaired. However, interest was high enough that Match Game was put into daily syndication in the fall of 1979 -- in some areas, scheduled at 4PM, where it competed against (or pre-empted) Match Game's succeeding series at 4PM, "Love of Life".

I stand corrected on the timing of Match Game being moved to mornings. I just remembered mainly that ratings dropped after it was moved to mornings and never recovered.

 

[bpatrick]

"Love Of Life" didn't fare any better at 4; its last episode aired
February 1, 1980.

CBS had had a problem with 10 AM clearances long before "Match
Game." Back in '72, when CBS got back into game shows in the
morning, its plan was to put "The Price Is Right" (then 30 minutes)
at 10, but Mark Goodson looked at what the individual affiliates were
doing at that time, saw too many carrying Mike or Merv, and suggested
that "Price" air at 10:30 instead. So CBS placed what it considered the
weakest of its three new shows, "The Joker's Wild," at 10, and "Gambit"
at 11, with "Price" in between. Guess which one is still on the air.

Yet for all that the CBS trio did eliminate "Dinah's Place," "Concentration,"
and "Sale Of The Century" on NBC. "Joker" fell victim to "Celebrity Sweepstakes"
in 1975; "Gambit" to "Wheel Of Fortune" in 1976.

Oddly, I estimate that about one-fourth of the CBS affiliates are carrying "Let's
Make A Deal" at 10/9 right now, including such major markets as New York, Los
Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Dallas,
Washington, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. Last time I looked only three CBS o&os
had it in the afternoon, all at 2 PM local time: San Francisco, Denver, and Minneapolis-
St. Paul.

 

[Ultimajock]

Yet for all that the CBS trio did eliminate "Dinah's Place," "Concentration,"
and "Sale Of The Century" on NBC.

...somewhat ironic, since Dinah Shore's 90-minute syndicated series Dinah! premiered within four months of the demise of Dinah's Place; the later program was taped at CBS' Television City and aired on CBS' owned-and-operated stations...

 

[Maine-i-ac]

Some would argue "Star Trek" got pulled too early.

I think "Me and the Chimp" with Ted Bessel got the pull too early.

Seriously, Fox really blew it with "Firefly". Just go to Amazon and read the reviews. Browncoats forever.

 

[hipman2]

and IMHO, Gilligan's Island. Could have run two more years, then the cast get rescued and the series comes to an end. NBC ended up banking on the GI reunion movies to put a closure on the lost castaways.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

"Detroit 1-8-7". A lot like Memphis beat, but with much more of an edge. I am a fan of Michael Imperioli whatever he is in.

 

[Bob1370]

Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was the champion of bad cancellations for CBS--but almost as lame was the decision by both ABC and NBC not to pick it up and ride the transition from the 60s to the 70s by pulling in the young demos for themselves, and building on that.

It's possible, though, that CBS showed it learned its lesson by deciding, in 1970 and 1971, to reverse course and bring some edgier new comedies to the schedule--meaning we got shows like All In The Family and Mary Tyler Moore. I'll trade Tom and Dick for Archie, Edith and co. any day of the week.

 

[MDefl]

Detriot 1-8-7 was a quality show. There was also a show about a family of cops in Chicago that starred William Devane. I really enjoyed it so naturally it only lasted a year.

 

[bpatrick]

CBS certainly showed more guts in scheduling "All In The Family" in
the wake of the Smothers' cancellation than ABC, which had had
first crack at it, did. ABC could have put "AITF" on the air as early
as 1969 but chickened out after the one-night disaster known as
"Turn-On" and the negative reaction from the affiliates. (I don't think
"Turn-On" would have lasted long anyway, not so much because of
content but because it simply wasn't funny, but Norman Lear, if left
to do things his way, would still have produced a masterpiece.)

And don't forget the other classic sitcoms on CBS from the era that
begat Archie and Mary: "M*A*S*H," "Maude," and Bob Newhart, to
name three.

 

[desertskies]

HBO and their timing in the cancellation of "Deadwood" before the storyline could be properly wrapped up.

and IMHO, Gilligan's Island. Could have run two more years, then the cast get rescued and the series comes to an end. NBC ended up banking on the GI reunion movies to put a closure on the lost castaways.

I understand the story is it was either G.I. or Gunsmoke to be cancelled. Since the President of CBS liked Gunsmoke, it was an easy call.

 

[therealjm12]

The Associates on ABC. Great show starring a very young Martin Short -although he didn't really do much in it. It was from the producers of Taxi. I think if it had lasted a little longer it would have clicked. Although it is hard to believe the premise of funny lawyers. The writing was excellent at times.

 

[jwk1979]

Police Squad! (ABC; 1982)

Police Squad! with the late Leslie Nielsen would revived as three Naked Gun movies.

I believe the problem with Police Squad was it aired for a few weeks in the Spring 1981 and it was a case of the show being a little head of it's time. If it had first aired just a few years later, it may have be appreciated by ABC and the veiwing public more than it was when it first aired in 1981.

 

[azumanga]

Police Squad! (ABC; 1982)

Police Squad! with the late Leslie Nielsen would revived as three Naked Gun movies.

I believe the problem with Police Squad was it aired for a few weeks in the Spring 1981 and it was a case of the show being a little head of it's time. If it had first aired just a few years later, it may have be appreciated by ABC and the veiwing public more than it was when it first aired in 1981.

Actually, the series first aired in 1982.