Little Signs That Your Television Show Is In Trouble

Let’s say that you have a block of four half-hour comedies on a major US television network. We’ll call them Shows A through D.

Show A is in its fifth year and has had a couple of Emmy nominations.

Show B is a new show and has had mixed reviews.

Show C is in its fifth year and has had a boatload of Emmy wins.

Show D is a new show and has gotten off to a slow start but has good reviews and is slowly building a following.

We’re now getting to the holiday season when most shows are having their “fall finales”, then going away for a few weeks. The weeks between mid-December and mid-January are ratings hell unless you’re a football game, a parade, or a Christmas special. ESPN and The Hallmark Channel dominate in late December.

At the end of the “fall finale” show the first week in December, while the credits are rolling, for Shows A, C, and D, there’s an announcer voice over (blasted out in an excited, professional, TV announcer’s voice) to the effect of, “Join us again on January 8th for exciting all new episodes of Show A!!”.

However, at the end of the “fall finale” show for Show B, same night as above, there’s an announcer voice over that says, “Coming up next, a new episode of Emmy Award winning Show C!!”

Hmmmm….

I understand that entertainment industry executives have a well-deserved reputation for not being subtle (or having souls or consciences), but it seems to me that the cast and crew of Show B shouldn’t be putting down money on any new cars or homes in the new year. Their show is not long for this world.

Typically new shows are given an order for a block of thirteen episodes. If they’re successful, they get picked up for seven or nine (maybe eleven) more shows to finish their first year.

In the case of Show B, the “fall finale” was show number ten. Anyone want to bet that after the new year we don’t see any sign of it at all, until sometime deep into the summer reruns, probably in a Saturday night at 8:30 time slot opposite a blockbuster awards show on another network, we’ll get those last three episodes shown without benefit of any advance warning or advertising? The network’s paid for them, they’ll stick them on the air to fill time somewhere. Once.

On the other hand, it’s a better fate than the shows that are only on for four, or three, or even two episodes before they get yanked. You may make thirteen shows, but if you get yanked after two, the other eleven will never, ever see the light of day. Those episodes are going to be stored in a lead case somewhere in that warehouse where the Ark went at the end of “Raiders Of The Lost Ark”.

It seems like there’s one of these “two & out” shows every year now. This year it was “We Are Men“, which was bad. Last year it was “Work It“, which may well have been the worst television show ever put on the air. Not even a “campy, over the top, so-bad-it’s-good” kind of bad. More of a “holy crap, who in hell gave the okay for this and please make sure they never work in this city again” kind of bad.

Shows like that really make you wonder about what’s going on in Hollywood.