HEH! Work It's been Canceled!

[Drtooth]

Considering they rushed out the end of Parks and Rec, putting the last episode randomly at 10 PM after The Voice, that is something to be annoyed with. The Michael J Fox show must've really gotten horrible ratings to just dump the series. They're beggars and choosers at the same time. And they wonder why they're the least watched network.

 

[Muppet Master]

So that show, One Big Happy, ya critically hated, and its basically a rip off of Three's Company, so if the trend of ripping off big shows continues, I guess we will be seeing more of these ones.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well again, we know Hollywood doesn't want to take a chance on new ideas, they've even admitted that themselves, they can't risk trying something new and it flops, so they're going to bank on either nostalgia by remaking/rebooting older franchises (I'm really surprised Matthew Perry's reboot of THE ODD COUPLE is getting positive reviews - some are even saying this new guy playing Felix is even better than Jack Lemmon or Tony Randall), or rashing older ideas and rework them for different premises.

That, or they're just going to let people who are already in the business keep making shows no matter how far-fetched they are . . . like since Tina Fey and Jane Krakowski did 30 ROCK, they have a new show on Netflix that Tina created and Jane co-stars in about a woman who's rescued from an apocalyptical cult and rather than stick with her old comrades decides to readjust to modern living. Similarly, you know all those horrible shows on TV Land like HOT IN CLEVELAND and the like? Sean Hayes is behind every single one of those.

 

[Drtooth]

Here's the thing. There aren't any new ideas. None. They don't exist. You're either going to end up with a ripoff or a reboot because there are only so many stories, settings, and character tropes out there. Any missmatched couple series will always be compared to Odd Couple, any group of single friends will either be compared to Friends or Seinfeld, any British sitcom about an angry, uptight owner of an establishment will be Fawlty Towers. To be fair, every family sitcom is essentially the same anyway, especially the ones on cable kid's channels. If you throw in a wisecracking talking thing of any kind, it's automatically ALF. But at least sitcoms are more varied than crime dramas. They're to the letter exactly alike. Sure, you can make various variations of House or something as the main character, it's always the same murder with the same set up and the same suspects. Especially if it's a political angle. It's never the extremist, it's always some neutral guy somehow.

And I'll agree. When they do find a "new" angle, it's too new. The very same people who like to complain about how everything is a ripoff of something else love their ripoffs. Even then, old sitcom fans tend to not actually like new sitcoms, even when they have an unused concept or angle. So even then, not really a winnable situation.

As far as original concepts, I'd say Last Man on Earth at least has one. But it's kinda too original. It works, I like it a lot, I'm not completely annoyed by the fact Bob's Burgers was moved back to crappy time slot for it (at least Football season's over). But I just don't see it lasting that long because there's only so much you can do with that concept. That's the other problem. Concepts are risk vs. reward, usually falling on the side of risk. That risk is the fleeting amount of subject matter that can be used in the context of the concept. That's why more sitcoms are more broad and generic. You can do things with generic that can lead to longevity. If you're too specific, you can't really do much beyond a season or two.

 

[D'Snowth]

Here's the thing. There aren't any new ideas. None. They don't exist.

There are, Hollywood just doesn't want to take a chance on them. There's plenty of people out there who have new ideas that will never be heard because of how cutthroat and greedy the entertainment industry is today. That's one of the reason indie productions exist, so those people whom Hollywood isn't willing to take a chance on can have some form of expressing themselves.

 

[DARTH MUPPET]

the biggest travesty in Television History IMHO was canceling Futurama that was my favorite show IMHO the best show on TV ever

 

[Drtooth]

There are, Hollywood just doesn't want to take a chance on them. There's plenty of people out there who have new ideas that will never be heard because of how cutthroat and greedy the entertainment industry is today. That's one of the reason indie productions exist, so those people whom Hollywood isn't willing to take a chance on can have some form of expressing themselves.

I think it's too easy to blame just Hollywood. If anything equal blame, maybe more than that falls on the audience. You can't complain that Arrested Development got cancelled if you didn't watch it. And you certainly can't complain about sequels, remakes, or whatever if you do see them. To be fair, at least with movies, the responsability falls on the individual. TV still works on the Neilsen system. And if anyone remembers a certain episode of Rosanne, they pick podunk towns so they can blame them for America's Funniest Home Videos (not the exact words, but the exact show mentioned). "Original" ideas tend to turn mass audiences off, and mass audience is what they want because somehow a Coke commercial works better on a popular show (pretty sure everyone knows soda freaking exists). I wish there were more things like Better off Ted and Last Man on Earth, but generic characters are somehow more relatable. Not to mention the biggest problem. Those who would love to watch these shows, but can't be bothered to get into them because they know they're going to be cancelled.

Still, I say the worst thing on TV today as far as lack of originality are the crime dramas. And as bad as bad sitcoms are, these are worse. What baffles the heck out of me is that SHIELD gets weird flack for some reason, and in its first season it was losing to NCIS. Also known as "every trope known to Crime Drama show with post-9/11 propaganda thrown in." The show that's trying to make something of itself is the loser, and the cheap "every episode is exactly the same" series is the winner. Yeah. Can also safely say everyone hates Gotham for some reason. I admit, the slow pacing is frustrating, but they're thinking long term and if they do everything at once they won't have anything else. And some of the choices made are a little strange. But I;m sure those who are disgusted by it for some reason love watching CSI's new "Cyber" series which is the same thing, only more how a 50 year old thinks a computer works. Cyber is a suffix best served for Power Rangers or something.

the biggest travesty in Television History IMHO was canceling Futurama that was my favorite show IMHO the best show on TV ever

I'm mixed about that. It was clearly given the death slot because Fox wanted to sabotage Futurama because Simpsons was the higher money maker (I'd say similar with American Dad to Family Guy, but AD was never cancelled). But then again, I'd say cancelling the show (the first time) was the best thing to ever happen to it. It got a cult following as a result and eventually that lead to more episodes and those movies. I think the show, including the Comedy Central extension, has had a good run. I'd love to see some continuation in the future, sure.

But none of that could have happened if Fox didn't screw the show. I'd see it lasting one more season on Fox at best. Plus, the last season of the CC episodes had some weak stories in it. Feels like they just ended the series before it got too stale. Really didn't like the Fox Hunting one.

 

[D'Snowth]

I think it's too easy to blame just Hollywood. If anything equal blame, maybe more than that falls on the audience. You can't complain that Arrested Development got cancelled if you didn't watch it. And you certainly can't complain about sequels, remakes, or whatever if you do see them.

Perhaps, but the thing of it is, audiences know what they want to see, but networks don't see eye-to-eye with them. If they did, we'd have considerably less of these trashy Krapdashian-esque reality shows, less filthy sitcoms, and less sexually-charged dramas; I know I seem like the only one because I'm the only one here who's been vocal about it, but there's a lot more people out there than you might think who are also sick of all the garbage that's on television today and would like to see a resurrgence in the kind of programming from yesteryears. That's what audiences really want, but networks think they know better, so they keep cranking out the same crap over and over again because they think that's what sells.

 

[Drtooth]

I personally think the problem is the Nielsen system. It's so incredibly outdated that it's hilarious. Some part of me wants to say they purposely pick morons so they have dumber shows and just blame the whole thing on some imaginary mountain families in the flyover states. If anything, I'd say internet viewing will become a better factor once everyone can do it. if they count the actual views a show gets instead of rough approximations, we'd get a better count.

The partial reason we still have reality TV is because of the tools that think they're hip for watching them ironically. A HUGE amount of viewers would have to wake up and stop watching for them to stop being produced. That said, I detest the concept of them just cranking generic crap out now because they've always done that. Look at all the pathetic Seinfeld/Friends knockoffs there were in the mid to late 90's. Anyone remember the Single Guy? Not to mention all those freaking Westerns! I swear. I used to think cartoons made in the 50's were exaggerating when every time a TV was on, it was an old cowboy show. Looking at certain retro stations' line up, I'd say they were on the money. Underexaggerating, almost. Couple of them are good, but most are so generic and unremarkable that I'm sure nostalgia filter's the only reason anyone cares about them.

As for sex, frankly I don't mind. Kids say shockingly dirty things when they reach 10. South Park seems like a cartoonish exaggeration, but gah it's almost horrifically accurate (though I haven't had any kids who were as anti-Semetic as Cartman, some kids still told racist, vulgar jokes... and I grew up late 80's). Reality is always going to be much filthier, more violent, and just completely freaking awful than fiction can ever be (unless it's written by a dangerously insane guy). I'd agree it's nice to have an escape and all, but how about we fix the worst parts of reality before we do anything about fiction. I mean, to this day I don't get the whole "It's not okay to show real handguns on action cartoons, but we can sell toy cap guns no complaint" logic of kid's programming.

 

[D'Snowth]

I personally think the problem is the Nielsen system. It's so incredibly outdated that it's hilarious. Some part of me wants to say they purposely pick morons so they have dumber shows and just blame the whole thing on some imaginary mountain families in the flyover states.

I don't know how exactly Nielsen works, but I was sent a thing in the mail a year or two ago to participate in the ratings, the problem being there isn't any current show on TV today that I can bring myself to watch.