Top 10 Shows That Were Canceled Too Soon

Ten Television Shows Cancelled Too Soon

I attended a very nice, delicious birthday dinner recently, where two people discussed how they don't have televisions (yet know more about reality shows than I do, and I have a television) because corporate programming/unscrupulous mainstream media/advertising etc. etc. etc.

I watch maybe two hours a year. I don't even think I watched any broadcast programming in 2009 so far. I am fine with having a TV because it provides a screen for the Nintendo Wii and the region-free DVD player. Is it better to be conscious of television programming while not having a television set and to tell everyone you don't have a set, or is it better to talk about other things while you have a TV set and can't/don't keep up with television programming.

I don't like the one-sidedness of television programming: people in suits and glitzy offices in the smog belt determine what shows make it to broadcast television, and when they get off the air. Not since NBC's Thursday Night lineup of Cheers and Night Court back in the 1980s have I had success choosing and staying with successful television shows. Shows I liked often did not last one full season. Instead I watched DVD box sets of past television series: "Strangers with Candy," "Arrested Development," "Trailer Park Boys," "30 Rock" and "Robson Arms."

I don't fault people for staying home and having favourite shows to record and watch. For many people the television is their window on the world. There are far worse things they can do with their time, and I've probably done those worse things.
If television meets your entertainment requirements and expectations, then enjoy television. I like to see sports shows in sports bars, for example, a perfectly sensible use of television.

I bristle at "cancelled too soon." What do television executives see as going wrong in a television series: too low ratings in the first six weeks? too clever? too weird? how many weeks or years should a series last before it gets chopped? What reasons do FOX television executives give for cancelling "Family Guy" and "Arrested Development" anyway?

This is why I like books. I go to a library or bookstore, pick a book according to its author, reputation, literary value or entertainment potential and take it home. I read it at my leisure. When I am done with it, it finds a new home. I can do the same with DVD sets of television shows when I rent from Scarecrow Video. None of this "here's something you might like. We decide when to stop airing it for you. We might not consider things like quality or ratings when we cancel, and we may not even provide a reason for cancellation." Sounds like power is in the wrong hands. I'm aware that the television series needs to be introduced to broadcast television for me to be able to watch it. Of course a book needs to be published for me to read it. But I can write my own stories when books don't satisfy me.

Here's a link to an article listing and describing twenty shows the FOX television network cancelled when they didn't need to.