Been thinking about the various shows getting cancelled. Timeless, Last Man Standing & Two Broke Girls (never watched it but saw it was over) They just got cancelled in the past few days. With all of them. They have wrapped production of the season. So none of these will have a series finale. Timeless ended on a cliffhanger and Last Man Standing had an episode that might as well been in the middle of the season.

Networks should start letting shows know if they are not being renewed while they are still in production? I get not letting the public know but if the shows themselves knew, they could actually write an end to the show. Timeless could have changed the plot to wrap up the story & the other shows could give some sort of final story instead of a episode that might have more after.

Any reason they wait so long? Are they really still looking at rating #'s for the final months when they've had most of the season's data to look at.


While I don't see this happening, wonder if the networks should work a deal with the shows they do cancel (unless the ratings are epically low) to produce 1-2 more episodes of the series to wrap up stories if they want. Pretty much the 'on the bubble' shows or higher. Then air the 'finales' near the end of the summer or in the fall when other shows go on break.

Probably a negotiating tactic the executives use to browbeat the show producers, actors, etc ... to show who is the boss with all the power.

A number of reasons:

Giving a show a chance.

Overestimating a show.

Contractually obligated to air so many episodes.

Established shows like 2 Broke Girls and Last Man Standing are renewed for a specific number of episodes. All those episodes have to air unless the network executives want a contract dispute.

Timeless showed promise at the start so NBC ordered more episodes and well, the demand dropped and that led to its cancellation. The CW actually doesn't have much waiting in the wings so they let shows run their course since they don't have replacements ready to take over.

Because there are a lot of varibles that come into play, such as ratings trends (if it's gaining viewers or losing them as the season progresses), if their new shows and pilots are coming together how they want, and behind the scenes negotiations.

Some shows do get early renewals, but only if the ratings are incredibly strong.

(This is purely speculation).

At times I wonder when it is time to do show renewal/cancel decisions, the executives first intimidate the show's producers by displaying a hypothetical next year's schedule without their show on the schedule.

RANDOM, KINDA-RELATED STORY: Back in the 70s, it was somewhat rare for a network to yank a show off the air. It happened, but the show had to get dismal ratings for that to happen. Most often, a show would get an order for a certain number of episodes, and the network would tell the producers to either make more, or to not bother, since they weren't going to order any additional episodes over the x they'd already paid for. The latter is what happened to The Match Game: the show was initially kinda... boring, really. Around 6 episodes in, CBS told the producers they were only going to go with the 13 episodes they'd already ordered. So the writers said "fuck it, we're out of a job soon" and started slipping double entendres into the questions. This "racier" version of the show became popular, and the show was a fixture for many seasons.

May (when all these announcements are made) is TV upfront season when shows are presented to advertisers (new and old) That's when the decisions are normally made because of the big presentations the networks make to the ad companies for the new and returning shows. Scheduling is part of the reason. If the network loves 2-3 new Pilots and needs to find room for them, something has to go.

All these shows that don't get proper endings when they are cancelled normally wrap up filming their seasons around March or April (for a normal full season network show) There is no way for the writers and production team to know that early whether or not they are coming back. They have to concentrate on writing and producing their shows and getting them out for their air dates. They cannot worry about ratings.

Rare situation was The CW shows Frequency and No Tomorrow. Both shows did not get extra episodes ordered and their seasons ended after 13 episodes and were eventually cancelled. But, the network was kind enough to let them film alternate endings/epilogues which wrapped up the shows. Those bonus scenes were just released today. Very rare a network will do that.

Sometimes they just have to gamble and write cliffhangers to help sell another potential season. TV writers don't write shows to have "proper endings" unless they are told way in advance it's their last season. They write the show to sell another season and hopefully keep working.

Another factor also involves the network and studio negotiating production costs. When a show reaches a certain age (say 7 seasons), the network has to cover production costs and a licensing fee. For new shows, the network only has to pay the producing studio a licensing fee. The studio will cover production costs. Money will 9 times out of 10 be the big reason why some long-running shows get the axe. Sometimes the network just thinks it's not worth the money to continue making. These negotiations usually don't happen until around May when the network has to start preparing their presentation to the advertisers.

Bottom line in 2017, DVR's and streaming are absolutely killing live ratings. The system to measure live viewers is fucking outdated as hell. Ad revenue is also down too.

2 broke girls cancelled ? damm !

If you go back further, the 50s and 60s, networks didn't even have the power to cancel shows. Or make the schedule.
Timeslots were sold to sponsors. Pilots were sold to sponsors. Whatever show the sponsor wanted in the timeslot they owned the network had to show it.
It a sponsor dropped a show(cancelled), another sponsor could pick it up and the show would move to a timeslot owned by the new sponsor.

So that's the reason that the sponsor is so prominent on those old game shows. Aquanet presents What's My Line!

Too bad about Last Man Standing. Not Tim Allen at his best but it was a decent Friday night filler show to watch when not much else was on. I'll kind of miss it. Also surprised about 2 Broke Girls. Seemed like a mainstay sitcom for CBS. I rarely watched it but didn't mind it when I caught it.

It is amazing how resistant to change the major networks and their advertising partners are. They still rely on Nielsen ratings which are just impossible to be even remotely reflective of actual viewing these days. Advertisers completely ignore recorded viewings because of the FF function. Something has to change

They don't always wait until the end of the TV season. Look at Firefly. Many aren't technically canceled but go on hiatus and never come back. Quite a list of shows canceled after one or two episodes.

And if a show wasn't popular and didn't get renewed, it's reruns were still broadcast in the summer.

In some cases the advertisers would put up the money to produce the show. That's why every episode of The FBI shows nothing but Ford automobiles.
The stars would film special ad segments that were tied to the storyline of each episode.

This is what give me pause about trying a new show out. You can get into it then boom canceled with no proper ending. I can't stand that.