adamblast

I'm simply amazed at how fast this show toppled... from the biggest hit of the new season to complete loser... Now it's on permanent hiatus and they're not going to even bother showing the rest of the finished season.

How can a network fuck up a hit show so quickly and completely? It's like they *wanted* to lose viewers. 1) Whose fault is it? Could it have been avoided? and 2) Is this the fastest crash-n-burn of an initial ratings hit on record?

ABC Recalls Commander In Chief

MrX

When Bochco took over the show went downhill and that's when I stopped watching. Bringin it back after three monthes and putting it in a timeslot that already has 2 ratings monsters told me they were trying to kill it.

DJariya

One reason why this show crashed and burned:
ABC

1. Firing Rod Lurie and changing show runners to Steven Bochco and then Dee Johnson did not help at all. All it did was cause production delays.
2. Shitty scheduling. I recall the show was doing just fine on Tuesday's. Then pulling the show for almost 4 months killed any momentum that it had. Putting the show on Thursday's against Without a Trace and ER essentially killed it.
3. Bad writing by Bochco's production staff. Another reason the show lost viewers was turning it into another West Wing and throwing away the original vision of Rod Lurie. Also, introducing unneccessary characters like Dickie and Mac's mom and turning Nathan Templeton into a wuss after he started as such a great villain.

Chew

I'm actually shocked it played as many episodes as it did once it returned a couple weeks ago.

Chew

re: #1
Rod Lurie caused the production delays because he couldn't deliver scripts on time. That's why they switched to Bochco. I don't blame ABC for trying to keep to a schedule.

movieking

I was going to post a similar thread. I never watched a single episode, but it blows my mind how a show could meet with so much success early on only to totally lose the momentum and crash and burn within the same season. Unbelievable.

Red Dog

There was absolutely no reason to move that show away from Tuesday at 9.

They did the same thing to another Tuesday show that was doing fairly well several years - Philly.

riley_dude

It's certainly the fastest Hit to Failure that I can remember and all the politics that happened behind the scenes would make a great movie in itself.
Geena Davis must be more disappointed than anyone.

About Templeton. He is the one thing I didnt like about the original version. He wasnt a good villian at all. He was a stereotype villian with no shades of gray.
Perhaps Sutherland can join 24 next season as Jack Bauer's Dad.

mongoco

wonder if they'll even bother putting this to DVD

djbrown

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5580

Red Dog

They already decided that:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5580

mongoco

Guess they better change it from Season One: The Inaugural Season to The Complete Series.

tcoursen

Evan when this show was a "hit" wasn't it losing viewership each week? It premiered big, but didn't it actually go down in ratings every single week afte that? This show was way more "hype" than "hit". And to be giving Ms. Davis all these awards, including a Golden Globe is really just ridiculus. The show was on what 3 or 4 times before she was nominated. Give me a break.

riley_dude

I think it was in the top ten every week until they yanked it to retool it and it never recovered.

ryuryu2949

I for one am glad that this piece of liberal propoganda is going off the air. Geena Davis seemed so smug at the Emmys (or was it the Golden Globes?).

Anyway, the only show I can think about that fizzled this fast was that Baby Bob show (with Adam Arkin and the talking baby). I think that premiered with huge numbers but didn't last a full season.

Red Dog

Did you ever watch it? The president was hardly what I call liberal. For pete's sake, she bombed coca fields in Colombia in one of the first few episodes.

riley_dude

Yeahhhh, right. Propaganda.

Oh brother.

Jadzia

He obviously did not see the recent episode where the desperate Democrats resorted to spiking the drink of the First Gentleman in order to make him look drunk at a function.

That was hilarious when Donald Sutherland's Republican character watched the news about the failed plot and scoffed "Amateur Hour".

Jimmy James

Wasn't Baby Bob a burn-off to start with that shockingly got big numbers at first? I think it's a good comparison, but I don't think Baby Bob would qualify for the "hit" portion of the title if I remember right about that.

dhmac

Baby Bob lasted all of 7 or 8 episodes total, and half of those were Summer burn-offs. It was never a real hit, so it wasn't the same situation whatsoever.

I think the closest thing would be Twin Peaks, which was a surprise hit and cultural phenom during it's mid-season-launched Season 1. But then as the mysteries were extended in Season 2 with no satisfying resolutions, interest (and the ratings) dropped drastically until the show was cancelled. Of course, Twin Peaks at least lasted two seasons (one short, one full), so even it didn't implode within a single season.

dhmac

[deleted double posting]
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agent2099

I don't see how you can say it was fine on Tuesdays at 9:00.

It was right up against House/American Idol, depending on the night.

WhattheFFF

woman president lol ..... people only tuned in to begin because they figured it was a comedy

chowderhead

I think Baby Bob started off very well in the ratings building on the Monday lineup and was actually 11th in the ratings. But it was in a "protected" time slot
The entire "walk the dog" lineup on NBC Thursday nights at 8:30 started off well and then died when they were moved. The television version of my big fat greek wedding (again on Monday night CBS) did very well but also crashed due in part to some tension with the producers and the lead actress if I recall.

Those shows were in protected time slots and were 1/2 hour comedies. Commander in Chief was an hour long drama with minimal and mismatched lead-in support. It managed to win (overall audience) against more established shows like House, The Amazing Race and the buzz-worthy show of the year My name is Earl.

Anyway, I think it was the behind the scenes stuff that delayed the show, the producer shuffle didn't help, and the lack of advertising muscle.
ABC screwed up and that is too bad.

Jimmy James

As any fan of Eyes could have told you last year, ABC is still the same old ABC. The key difference is that they hit on three huge properties that have a real halo effect.