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The "What If?" Page:
Show: The Lone Gunmen
If this segment remains popular, Fox is going to keep showing up again and again. In the late 90’s to only about a couple
years ago Fox was notorious for canceling shows after one season or a half season without giving them a chance to survive.
The Lone Gunmen was one of them. The Lone Gunmen was a spin-off of The X-Files starring, you guessed it, The Lone Gunmen
themselves. The show will go down in history for its pilot episode which showed a government agency attempting to crash a
plane into the World Trade Center a mere two weeks before the events of 9/11. The show got off to a strong start but it was
all downhill from there and by the end of the abbreviated first season ratings were less than half of what they started as.
It’s hard to tell if the ratings would’ve picked back up but the show had a few things going for it. It was a spin-off of
the most popular sci-fi show of the 90’s, it got good reviews, and it was a midseason reliever which meant that it
should’ve had a bit more leeway in the ratings department. Whether or not The Lone Gunmen or the dozens of other shows Fox
cancelled without giving chance would’ve been a success is up for debate but it certainly had a better chance than any
other show I could think of.
Show: Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars had just about everything going for it. The critics loved it; it had a great cast, great writers, and great
storylines. What it lacked was the ratings and that would be a serious issue for Veronica Mars throughout its three year
run. Parent network CBS even aired re-runs to try and get support. Veronica Mars started off on UPN and made the switch
over to The CW mainly because it attracted the right demographics and was such a popular show amongst the critics who were
constantly bashing the new network. Ratings for the third season were slightly better than season two but were nowhere near
good enough to merit a fourth season. As much as it pains me to say this but the executives made the right call. Very few
shows that place in the bottom twenty out of over a hundred a fifty in terms of ratings get another season let alone two
more. Veronica Mars will go down as one of the best shows ever to air on UPN but there wasn’t much more that could be done
to save it.
Show: Sliders
Sliders was a show that aired first on Fox then on the Sci-Fi Channel in the late 90’s. The whole premise was similar to
Quantum Leap in that the cast would visit parallel worlds. Sliders was cancelled a total of three times during it’s run,
twice by Fox and once by the Sci-Fi Channel. The show’s biggest problem was its rotating cast which included Lord of the
Rings’ John Rhys-Davies. Many of the cast members were fired after run ins with the executive producer who fired at least
two of the main cast and possibly more depending on where you get your facts. Sliders aired for a grand total of five
seasons and was so butchered by the end of it that I doubt anything more should’ve been done to save it. Sci-Fi Channel
has had great success in recent years and I just don’t see how in any possible way that Sliders could’ve done any more
than it already had.
If you haven’t noticed lately, the updates to the news section are not coming in as fast as they used to. That’s partially
because there hasn’t been much going on in the TV world. With the summer coming there will be even less news to report on.
The main thing we do here at TV Hell is we list every show that gets cancelled. What we haven’t done is take a look back
and see how the networks have been impacted since the shows cancellation. This section takes a look back and sees what
could’ve happened if a show wasn’t cancelled or if a different network picked it up. Feel free to submit any shows you
want to appear in this section by hitting me up at ian@tvhell.net. I’ll do the first batch.
Show: Firefly
Firefly is arguably the most popular show of all time that didn’t last a full season. Firefly was a hit with
critics but it’s poor timeslot and Fox’s handling of it in general led to its cancellation. Now we all know it got a feature
film due to it’s incredibly high DVD sales but if you go back to when the show was initially cancelled, Joss Whedon tried
to get it a new network. Among those interested were UPN and The Sci-Fi Channel. UPN reportedly passed on it due to the
less than stellar performances of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (another Whedon show) and Roswell which were both picked up when
The WB cancelled them, and to get rid of the reputation it was getting for taking other network’s junk. Sci-Fi Channel’s
reasoning was a little more vague but reportedly had to do with the budget. Now it’s potential impact on UPN is probably
minimal but Firefly could’ve been partnered perfectly on Sci-Fi channel along with Battlestar Galactica. In the long run
Sci-Fi Channel still managed to get a ratings spike but Firefly definitely could’ve made that happen a lot quicker.
Show: Arrested Development
Arrested Development is without a doubt one of the funniest comedies of the new millennium. However it was doomed
to fail on network TV because it was one of those shows where if you missed an episode you were completely lost, a trait
seen on almost every HBO or Showtime series ever. This however led to low ratings on network TV, despite Fox actually
giving it a chance. Showtime for once confirmed that they were interested in picking it up but without Mitchell Hurwitz,
the shows creator, on board it wasn’t picked up. Now even if you take Arrested Development’s worst ratings which were
around 3 and a half million, that would be Showtime’s top rated show. Given the show’s cult fan base those three to four
million would almost certainly have continued watching on Showtime. Even though there’s talk of a major motion picture in
the works I still think Arrested Development could’ve easily put Showtime on the map. Partner it with Weeds and you have a
comedy hour only in competition with The Office and 30 Rock. This decision will haunt Showtime for years to come.
Show: Law & Order Trial by Jury
I only list TNT because they were somewhat interested; the odds of it actually going to TNT were about zero. The
only reason Law & Order Criminal Intent went to cable was because USA is owned by NBC therefore the two networks chipped in
and NBC got to air the re-runs and receive about the same ratings that the first run episodes were getting. Law & Order
Trial by Jury however is a show that should never have been cancelled in the first place. NBC started off Law & Order SVU
on Friday where it was not a success at first. While Trial by Jury was constantly beaten by NUMB3RS, you can’t deny the
popularity of the Law & Order franchise. Jerry Orbach’s death was a big blow but the show’s ratings did not slip much from
the initial 13 million or so that watched the pilot. If ratings were still bad after another full season I’d agree with the
cancellation. Trial by Jury wasn’t given a fair chance by NBC and therefore the potential it could have had is basically
endless. Shame on NBC for telling Dick Wolf is was coming back and then blindsided the entertainment business by cancelling
a show with potential.
That’s all for this week. Send in any shows you think shouldn’t have been cancelled to ian@tvhell.net
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