Post by B5Erik on Aug 8, 2015 6:56:00 GMT
There have been plenty of series over the years that have only lasted 1/2 season, but three immediately come to mind as outstanding series...
Firefly
Crusade
Planet of the Apes
Interestingly, both Firefly and Planet of the Apes only had 14 epsidodes produced (of those Firefly only had 11 aired in it's original run on Fox), and Crusade only lasted 13 episodes. In fact (as many of you likely know), Crusade, the Babylon 5 spin-off, was cancelled before it ever aired.
There was a change in upper management at TNT and they didn't like the fact that most TNT viewers didn't watch Babylon 5, and that most Babylon 5 viewers didn't watch much TNT programming other than Babylon 5. So even though Babylon 5 did well in the ratings, Crusade was cancelled without ever being given a chance to find an audience. Crusade's ratings were fairly good when it did air - not as good as Babylon 5's ratings, but fairly good for cable at the time. TNT still cancelled the show, and the Sci-Fi Channel, while they wanted to pick it up, didn't have an opening in their schedule, and didn't have the money to pay for episodes that they may not broadcast for another year.
Planet of the Apes was similarly screwed by CBS. Originally, it was slotted for 8 PM on Tuesday nights. Perfect for a show like Planet of the Apes. But then when the schedule was announced Planet of the Apes found itself on Friday nights - a death blow for youth oriented shows. Apes, while a very, very good series with a few great episodes, was cancelled at the end of December, 1974.
Firefly may have gotten hosed the most of all, though. The original pilot, which did a fantastic job of setting up the series. It had action, drama, humor - it was a great pilot. And the Fox executives hated it. They instead went with the 2nd episode of the series as the first to be aired, and they aired the original pilot (titled, "Serenity," the same as the Firefly theatrical movie a few years later) last. Three of the episodes produced were never aired by Fox (some really good episodes, too). Some of the other episodes were shown out of order as well. The promotion for Firefly, which was heavy before the first episode aired, was minimal after the 2nd episode was shown. Firefly was doomed.
Three great, or near great (with all the potential in the world to become great) series, three early cancellations after three different networks screwed over each of these series.
And as much as the producers, writers, directors, and actors got screwed out of work, the fans got screwed out of multiple seasons of shows that really deserved more.
(So which is the best of these series? I'd have to say Firefly was, but Crusade had a concrete five year plan like Babylon 5, and like B5 it started slow and picked up. Crusade could have been the better series in the long term, or at least as good, but it didn't get the chance. And Planet of the Apes was just good, old fashioned post-apocalyptic Ape controlled world fun. Great cast, good episodes, and the perfect follow up to Fox's five original Apes movies.)
Firefly
Crusade
Planet of the Apes
Interestingly, both Firefly and Planet of the Apes only had 14 epsidodes produced (of those Firefly only had 11 aired in it's original run on Fox), and Crusade only lasted 13 episodes. In fact (as many of you likely know), Crusade, the Babylon 5 spin-off, was cancelled before it ever aired.
There was a change in upper management at TNT and they didn't like the fact that most TNT viewers didn't watch Babylon 5, and that most Babylon 5 viewers didn't watch much TNT programming other than Babylon 5. So even though Babylon 5 did well in the ratings, Crusade was cancelled without ever being given a chance to find an audience. Crusade's ratings were fairly good when it did air - not as good as Babylon 5's ratings, but fairly good for cable at the time. TNT still cancelled the show, and the Sci-Fi Channel, while they wanted to pick it up, didn't have an opening in their schedule, and didn't have the money to pay for episodes that they may not broadcast for another year.
Planet of the Apes was similarly screwed by CBS. Originally, it was slotted for 8 PM on Tuesday nights. Perfect for a show like Planet of the Apes. But then when the schedule was announced Planet of the Apes found itself on Friday nights - a death blow for youth oriented shows. Apes, while a very, very good series with a few great episodes, was cancelled at the end of December, 1974.
Firefly may have gotten hosed the most of all, though. The original pilot, which did a fantastic job of setting up the series. It had action, drama, humor - it was a great pilot. And the Fox executives hated it. They instead went with the 2nd episode of the series as the first to be aired, and they aired the original pilot (titled, "Serenity," the same as the Firefly theatrical movie a few years later) last. Three of the episodes produced were never aired by Fox (some really good episodes, too). Some of the other episodes were shown out of order as well. The promotion for Firefly, which was heavy before the first episode aired, was minimal after the 2nd episode was shown. Firefly was doomed.
Three great, or near great (with all the potential in the world to become great) series, three early cancellations after three different networks screwed over each of these series.
And as much as the producers, writers, directors, and actors got screwed out of work, the fans got screwed out of multiple seasons of shows that really deserved more.
(So which is the best of these series? I'd have to say Firefly was, but Crusade had a concrete five year plan like Babylon 5, and like B5 it started slow and picked up. Crusade could have been the better series in the long term, or at least as good, but it didn't get the chance. And Planet of the Apes was just good, old fashioned post-apocalyptic Ape controlled world fun. Great cast, good episodes, and the perfect follow up to Fox's five original Apes movies.)
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