zwolanerd

Look, I get that making TV shows cost money. I know that studios have to be able to sell commercials to pay for all of that, and I understand that TV studios don’t exist to provide entertainment exclusively for me. But this canceling nonsense has to stop. There has to be a better way!

I am speaking right now about Surviving Jack, which got axed this week, but I could be talking about Don’t Trust the B, The Michael J. Fox Show, Traffic Light, or a bunch of other things. Stuff that didn’t get much of a chance.

I’m sure the pressure to produce the Next Big Thing is crazy, but I can’t help but think about Seinfeld. The pilot was originally rejected, but a year later four more episodes were ordered because an exec thought it had potential. Season two only had 12 episodes. Yet in its 9th and final season, it was #1 all year long. (I knew most of these things roughly, but got some details from Wikipedia, just like everyone else does, but I thought you should know.)

I don’t know what’s changed in the interim years. Critical acclaim doesn’t seem to matter, nor do small-but-vocal fans. There’s got to be some way to fund good shows with the mountains of cash made by other shows on the network, doesn’t there? But, I guess, people looking at the books judge how good a show is by how many people are watching it.

In other better news, The Goldbergs and Agents of SHIELD both got renewed, so apparently my liking something isn’t necessarily the kiss of death.

 

AFTERNOON EDIT: NBC has officially canceled Community, so now everything is ruined forever.

Tags: Seinfeld, The Goldbergs

Written by: Mark