Again, networks don't give a shittake mushroom anymore, all they care about is having X-amount of viewers and bringing in X-amount of money, and if they feel a show isn't living up to that fulfillment, even while still running, they'll go ahead and yank it.
It's not like back in the old days when a show's future was determined by studying the numbers after the season ended, and whether or not the numbers were good enough to ensure its renewal or not. If either M*A*S*H or SEINFELD were on today, they'd both be yanked after just a few episodes had aired. In M*A*S*H's case, it wasn't even in the top 50 during its first season, nobody was watching it because they were all wrapped up in other shows like ALL IN THE FAMILY and MARY TYLER MOORE, it wasn't until it went into summer reruns that it gained an audience (and the network president's wife insisting he keep it on) that it went on to lasting 11 seasons and became one of the greatest series in television history. SEINFELD was already troubled from the beginning, they only got five episodes for its first season (including the original pilot), nobody understood the show, nobody liked the characters (we all love George now, but at the time he was considered a wimpy and unappealing loser), and the humor was considered "too New York," and "too Jewish," to appeal to the masses... yet, somebody at the network had faith enough in it to keep renewing it to the point it lasted 9 seasons and is now considered the greatest show of all time.
See, in SEINFELD's case, that's what's missing from the television industry today: trust. Even Sid & Marty Krofft talk about how they would never survive today like they did back in the 70s, because back then, network executives had enough of a comfort level to invest their trust in them to deliver a good show, but today, they wouldn't even get any kind of a say in how their shows would turn out, and then they'd end up canceled.
It's not like back in the old days when a show's future was determined by studying the numbers after the season ended, and whether or not the numbers were good enough to ensure its renewal or not. If either M*A*S*H or SEINFELD were on today, they'd both be yanked after just a few episodes had aired. In M*A*S*H's case, it wasn't even in the top 50 during its first season, nobody was watching it because they were all wrapped up in other shows like ALL IN THE FAMILY and MARY TYLER MOORE, it wasn't until it went into summer reruns that it gained an audience (and the network president's wife insisting he keep it on) that it went on to lasting 11 seasons and became one of the greatest series in television history. SEINFELD was already troubled from the beginning, they only got five episodes for its first season (including the original pilot), nobody understood the show, nobody liked the characters (we all love George now, but at the time he was considered a wimpy and unappealing loser), and the humor was considered "too New York," and "too Jewish," to appeal to the masses... yet, somebody at the network had faith enough in it to keep renewing it to the point it lasted 9 seasons and is now considered the greatest show of all time.
See, in SEINFELD's case, that's what's missing from the television industry today: trust. Even Sid & Marty Krofft talk about how they would never survive today like they did back in the 70s, because back then, network executives had enough of a comfort level to invest their trust in them to deliver a good show, but today, they wouldn't even get any kind of a say in how their shows would turn out, and then they'd end up canceled.