TV shows being canceled

Jon • 20th Oct 2009 • news

Dear TV Network executive,
I understand the tough economic times we have today. It is understandable that you are tightening the budget because advertisers aren’t willing to spend as much as they were previously. I and many others have to do the same at home.
Tightening of the budget should not be reason for giving a show only 7 episodes to prove it’s worthy. The show “Southland” was canceled only after a 7 episode first season. When you bring on a new show, give them the budget to do a full 22 – 24 episode first season. After that you can look at the viewership and see if the show is on the rise or not. Another example of the premature cancellation was the show “Journeyman”. It only had 13 episodes and was just getting interesting when the plug was pulled. Yet after canceling shows after only 7-13 episodes, networks seem keen on coming up with new shows every month. I have little interest in getting into a show that will probably be canceled a few episodes later.
The last thing that TV networks have done recently is to offer episodes online. If you are going to offer full episodes for free online, then do it consistently. It’s annoying when a show posts the latest episode the day after it’s original air date. Then later in the season, the latest episode doesn’t show up online for days or even weeks. Those who go online to watch the latest episode are probably your most dedicated fans; don’t make them unhappy.