It's that time of year! The time where all major networks begin putting their television shows on the chopping block. For massive fans, it is the worst time of year because that means potentially losing their favorite television shows. FOX Network is taking the heat of a million fans from multiple shows this year because of their quick-to-cut attitude towards Lucifer and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a half hour comedy very familiar to shooting styles such as The Office and Parks & Rec. The series had SNL familiar, Andy Samberg playing Jake Peralta and also starred Terry Crews as well. When the news of the series being cancelled came out, fans took to Twitter to voice their opinions on the decision. Let's just say none of them were pleased with this decision at all. There has been a massive #SaveBrooklynNineNine campaign in hopes that streaming services like Hulu or Netflix will scoop it up. This has of course been done before and wouldn't be surprising since Hulu already streams Brooklyn Nine-Nine on their service.
Fox continued their massacre by canceling Lucifer next, starring Tom Ellis as the front-man Lucifer Morningstar and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Once again, already, there have been over 200 million Tweets and rising to come to Lucifer's defense. Fans of the series are campaigning to also have Lucifer either picked back up by another network or streaming service or for Fox to reconsider their decision.
ABC has also joined in the massacre by canceling shows such as Zach Braff's Alex Inc., Deception, Kevin Saves the World, and Designated Survivor. NBC might possibly join the massacre if they go after fan favorites such as Timeless to take down like they did previously after Season One. However, this year, there has been a massive fight to keep Timeless remaining on air. Sadly, NBC has already cancelled Rise, starring Josh Radnor and Rosie Perez.
There seem to be a few underlying problems when it comes to network television these days.
One: Look at the surplus amount of shows that have the same or similar storylines. I can't count how many shows are now about medical dramas. It started with Grey's Anatomy. Now we have shows like The Resident or The Good Doctor. Even more in surplus came Modern Family and The Middle. Then they release more family sitcoms such as Fresh Off the Boat, The Goldbergs, and Black-ish. These aren't to say these shows aren't great, but television is saturated with them. This also includes Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, CSI, etc. These are all currently on air and creating constant spin-offs. Again, there is a saturation of these shows. So it's not shocking when shows with a slightly different format airs and ends up cancelled.
Now this isn't always true.
Two: Pilot season is upon us and the networks are interested in what is being pitched right now and need to do some major cutting in order to welcome new material. However, this is probably one of the largest amount of cancellations that has been going on for most of the networks.
One network that seems to always maintain its shows is the CW. The network stands by their superhero, fantasy, teen drama platform with Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Supernatural, Riverdale and iZombie. If ever a network were loyal to their series, it's the CW. Which is why it's no surprise that they usually don't receive too much backlash for their cancellations.
NBC has received plenty of backlash for the cancellation of Timeless in the past and also the action series, Chuck. There was also a fan campaign to save that series when it was cancelled after Season Two.
THREE!
This is by far the most important thing that networks need to understand. They have used a system that is archaic now. Nowadays with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and more, people no longer pay for Cable television. There is absolutely no need to buy thousands of channels through DirectTV or DishNetwork when nobody watches all of them. People are busy in their days and nights. The conventional work hours are no longer conventional, so people are working graveyard shifts to make ends meet. It's more convenient for them to stream these shows on Hulu and Netflix, rather than watch it live when it airs. Netflix was invented in 1997, but when it first was found, it's only contribution was sending DVDs to your door.
Friends in 1994 aired its Pilot episode to nearly 22 million viewers. ER in 1994 aired to 23 million viewers. Charmed aired to 7.7 million viewers in 1998. Let's go up a few years. 2006, How I Met Your Mother debuted to 10.9 million viewers. The Office debuted in 2005 to 11.20 million viewers.
If you come up even farther when Netflix and Hulu started streaming and not to mention airing their own television shows, series like Lucifer aired in 2016 at 7 million viewers. Brooklyn Nine-Nine aired at 6.17. What was consistent back in 1994 when Friends aired isn't what is consistent now. The numbers have considerably dropped and the truth is shows like Chicago Fire or Fresh Off The Boat have the same consistency as Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Lucifer. They maintain about the same average viewership. The other issue with standard network television is people can get through a 10 or 13 episode Season on Netflix rather than try to maintain attention for a full hour of television for 22 episodes straight.
Some would say that currently, the fact that these television networks are cutting all of these shows makes it a television bloodbath.
I would have to agree.
No comments:
Post a Comment