Great Shows Die Young

[Bulldog]

Why is it that many of the best TV shows don't stick around long? Is the general public that much more easily entertained by The Bachelor and King of Queens than we are?

I'm rewatching Freaks & Geeks via Netflix, and wow, this was an excellent show. I believe it only lasted 18 episodes. There are many other examples:

/images/graemlins/diamond.gif SportsNight
/images/graemlins/diamond.gif The Office (UK)
/images/graemlins/diamond.gif Arrested Development (hanging on by a thread)
/images/graemlins/diamond.gif Max Headroom

[tbach24]

If you watch the opening scene to the first episode of Family Guy this season, you'll understand /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[moondogg]

- Andy Richter Controls the Universe
- Herman's Head

[pshreck]

Simple answer... people don't want to think too much when watching a sitcom.

I have heard so many people say Arrested Development is way too random for them. They don't like jokes with long elaborate set-ups, etc...

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
- Andy Richter Controls the Universe


[/ QUOTE ]

That show was painfully unfunny.

[pryor15]

[ QUOTE ]
I have heard so many people say Arrested Development is way too random for them. They don't like jokes with long elaborate set-ups, etc...

[/ QUOTE ]

you mean the part where some of the jokes reference jokes from the previous season? i love it when they do that.

[Jman28]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
- Andy Richter Controls the Universe


[/ QUOTE ]

That show was painfully unfunny.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm gonna disagree. It was great.

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
- Andy Richter Controls the Universe


[/ QUOTE ]

That show was painfully unfunny.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm gonna disagree. It was great.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is no place for opinion. I told you it was unfunny, dont anger me.

[Jman28]

[ QUOTE ]

This is no place for opinion.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. You are wrong.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/diamond.gif The Office (UK)
/images/graemlins/diamond.gif Arrested Development (hanging on by a thread)


[/ QUOTE ]

AD got picked up for a third season and is growing a fan base. Seinfeld didn't take off until its third season.

The Office was not canceled by a network that didn't think it was getting viewers. The show's creators voluntarily quit making it because they just wanted to stop. They were done with it.

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]

The Office was not canceled by a network that didn't think it was getting viewers. The show's creators voluntarily quit making it because they just wanted to stop. They were done with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well the fact that no one was getting rich off of it probably helped move things along in that direction.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]


Well the fact that no one was getting rich off of it probably helped move things along in that direction.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Brits aren't as obsessed with making piles of money as Americans. They have this nagging tendency to value quality.

[Bigdaddydvo]

Who can forget "Get a Life"?

[moondogg]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
- Andy Richter Controls the Universe


[/ QUOTE ]

That show was painfully unfunny.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well then you just didn't get it. I feel sorry for you, you missed out on something special.

[rmarotti]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


Well the fact that no one was getting rich off of it probably helped move things along in that direction.

[/ QUOTE ]



The Brits aren't as obsessed with making piles of money as Americans. They have this nagging tendency to value quality.

[/ QUOTE ]


I don't believe this at all.

[VBM]

there was a really funny (probably if you're over 30) show that i thought had a lot of promise called "Hidden Hills" on NBC...

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
- Andy Richter Controls the Universe


[/ QUOTE ]

That show was painfully unfunny.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well then you just didn't get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly?

[cnfuzzd]

add carnival to this list....


peace

john nickle

[Soul Daddy]

[ QUOTE ]
Who can forget "Get a Life"?

[/ QUOTE ]
This is probably my favorite show ever, but I can certainly see why it wouldn't appeal to any sort of mass audience. It's insane, and it got more weird with each episode.

[Aytumious]

[ QUOTE ]
Who can forget "Get a Life"?

[/ QUOTE ]

That show inspired me to open my "Seafood/Muffler Shop"

[durron597]

Firefly.

[MoreWineII]

One word: Boomtown /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[ClassicBob]

[ QUOTE ]
add carnival to this list....


peace

john nickle

[/ QUOTE ]

Has it been cancelled?

[MoreWineII]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
add carnival to this list....


peace

john nickle

[/ QUOTE ]

Has it been cancelled?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah.

[wayabvpar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Who can forget "Get a Life"?

[/ QUOTE ]

That show inspired me to open my "Seafood/Muffler Shop"

[/ QUOTE ]

Every time we are involved in a sports league of any kind, my friends and I always name our team "Cheese Flavored Pants".

[ClassicBob]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
add carnival to this list....


peace

john nickle

[/ QUOTE ]

Has it been cancelled?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well that sucks. It definitely belongs on this list. I thought that was just behind Oz and Six Feet Under as the coolest HBO original series.

[pokerjo22]

[ QUOTE ]
They have this nagging tendency to value quality.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let me scan PBS - Are you being served? Last of the Summer Wine. Keeping up Appearances. Hmmm.

[somethingstupid]

I think it's just more obvious when a good show gets cancelled. No one thinkgs it strange when a shitty show is cancelled or a good show stays on the air. But if you like a show and it's pulled, you take notice. So those are the instances you notice. It's called positive confirmation bias, I think?

[jdl22]

This would be an excellent argument if he'd claimed that many shows getting canceled are good.

[rusty JEDI]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
add carnival to this list....


peace

john nickle

[/ QUOTE ]

Has it been cancelled?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah.

[/ QUOTE ]


Did it get cancelled as in no more episodes period?

Im waiting for season 2 on DVD, but i assume it ended like most season finales with a cliff hanger or something. I hope they get a few episodes just to end it right.

rJ

edit*** i just went to the carnivale website and see nothing of its cancellation.

[blatz]

A show on Fox, maybe 6 years ago, 'Action', I think it was called.

Jay Mohr as a sleazy Hollywood producer trying to put together a movie with a dying Buddy Hacket as his limo driver. Spoofed everything about the movie making business, and at least 15 bleeped out words a show.

I thought it was about the funniest thing I've ever seen, which I think the 12 other people who ever watched it agreed with.

[ethan]

[ QUOTE ]
Did it get cancelled as in no more episodes period?

[/ QUOTE ]Yes
[ QUOTE ]
Im waiting for season 2 on DVD, but i assume it ended like most season finales with a cliff hanger or something. I hope they get a few episodes just to end it right.

rJ

edit*** i just went to the carnivale website and see nothing of its cancellation.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's gone. See here (http://www.savecarnivale.org/). I watched the last half of season 2 today...it's a great show, but from what I understand it just cost way too much for the ratings it was getting. The creator of the show said he'd envisioned the show as a sort of trilogy, with the first two seasons being the first third of it.

doh.

[pokerjo22]

[ QUOTE ]
A show on Fox, maybe 6 years ago, 'Action', I think it was called.

[/ QUOTE ]

I liked it just beacuse it had a character on it called 'Connie Hunt', and the line 'What a cunning stunt'.

They must have realised that the TV watchdogs weren't up on spoonerisms.

[SippinSoma]

I read the title and thought:

I hope no one here dies young.

PZ.

PS: DRUNK AZ FUK.

[Cry Me A River]

Bah! You can't have a thread like this without mentioning "Profit" or "Wonderfalls".

And I'll throw in "Karen Sisco" and "Maximum Bob". Maybe if someone did a bad Elmore Leonard adaptation people would watch it...