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Post by notundercovercop32 on Feb 14, 2011 17:19:19 GMT -5
How long should a television show be on the air before it ends? Lets face it some should have been canceled years ago but continue to stay on the air for various reasons. How long should a show stay on the air before the makers of the show decide to end it?
For me its a seven Year rule. At the end of year seven you have to stop. If you look at shows like Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy Ect. They all started going downhill after year 7.
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Post by crowschmo on Feb 14, 2011 18:54:53 GMT -5
Depends on the writing, I guess. You certainly didn't want MST3K to stop after 7, did you? (Or maybe you did, if you didn't like the SciFi -psighfie years). You have a point with the other shows you mentioned, though. Maybe they should just do specials after a certain point? If they can't come up with good episodes every week, they should just wait until they have a brainstorm and keep it fresh.
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Feb 14, 2011 19:19:25 GMT -5
Depends on the writing, I guess. You certainly didn't want MST3K to stop after 7, did you? (Or maybe you did, if you didn't like the SciFi -psighfie years). You have a point with the other shows you mentioned, though. Maybe they should just do specials after a certain point? If they can't come up with good episodes every week, they should just wait until they have a brainstorm and keep it fresh. MST is kind of the exception that proves the rule for me. I think (in general), well-respected shows should never last more than eight seasons, and that's stretching it. In most cases, I'd be happy with a couple less.
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Post by BJ on Feb 14, 2011 21:00:38 GMT -5
Many shows run out of ideas around the 4th season, while some are strong at 10. Some of the best shows get canned in the first or second season, while shows like Two and a Half Men are inexplicable hits year after year. English shows seem to only last two series, while some go for 20.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think there's any reliable time formula for tv greatness. It's a weird combination of writers, actors, producers, studio heads and Neilsen ratings that determine longevity.
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Post by Shep on Feb 15, 2011 12:38:43 GMT -5
It entirely depends upon the quality of the writing.
The final season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Hour was wonderful. That was Season 10.
Also most of my favorite Bonanza eps are in Seasons 12-14. Much better than some of those early eps imo.
And then there's Doctor Who. I think everyone will agree those Robert Holmes/Tom Baker stories were a lot better than the old William Hartnell ones.
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Post by theroadtodeep13 on Feb 15, 2011 13:13:22 GMT -5
America's Funniest Home Videos should have been cancelled after Bob Saget's eighth and last season. Sure, the two seasons that followed with Daisy Fuentes and John Fugelsang were okay, but the past nine seasons with Tom Bergeron have slowly become unwatchable.
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Post by siamesesin on Feb 15, 2011 13:26:01 GMT -5
I think the originality and flexibility of a series is what does it. Sitcoms (which even those animated shows would classify as) and some of the basic drama formats (cop, legal, medical) have so many inherent limitations and standard plot paths that they get worn out.
Unusual concepts do better because they have a better range of material they can use. MST is a great example. I think those anthology shows, like Hitchcock or Twilight Zone, also benefit from having open concepts that can wander the map. Kids or "young people" programming also seem to do better because of that too (Sesame Street still rocks, for instance!).
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Post by notundercovercop32 on Feb 15, 2011 13:39:09 GMT -5
Well my defense of Mst3k is that at Season 7 there was a huge change, A network change. Sometime these changes make the show more enjoyable, sometimes it ruins the show. I think some shows (south park) have just kept repeating the same formula for 14 years which is starting to wear down.
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Post by theroadtodeep13 on Feb 15, 2011 14:09:24 GMT -5
Well my defense of Mst3k is that at Season 7 there was a huge change, A network change. Sometime these changes make the show more enjoyable, sometimes it ruins the show. I think some shows (south park) have just kept repeating the same formula for 14 years which is starting to wear down. It's interesting that you mentioned how sometimes, a network change can destroy the series, because one of my favorite shows got cancelled as a result of a network switch. At the end of the eighth season of Family Matters, ABC publicly declared that they had no interest in renewing the show. CBS, whose president Leslie Moonves chastised ABC for making a stupid move, picked up the free agent series for its ninth season. The producers changed the landscape of the show, which turned off many viewers. Also, CBS lacked the key demographic that ABC had with the TGIF block. CBS originally intended to produce a tenth season, which would have included the Urkel-Winslow wedding in the premiere. The cast and crew of Family Matters were informed that the show would return for a tenth season upon the wrap-up of season nine. After the cast and crew went home, CBS ordered that the sets be destroyed, thus ending the series. Low ratings contributed to a lengthy hiatus in between new episodes for the series. The last original episodes of Family Matters did not air until the summer of 1998.
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Post by BJ on Feb 15, 2011 14:26:54 GMT -5
These Friday night ABC posts are like stepping into a David Lynch production.
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Post by Skyroniter on Feb 15, 2011 16:48:03 GMT -5
America's Funniest Home Videos should have been cancelled after Bob Saget's eighth and last season. Sure, the two seasons that followed with Daisy Fuentes and John Fugelsang were okay, but the past nine seasons with Tom Bergeron have slowly become unwatchable. You liked Bob Saget! Man, there's no accounting for tastes.
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Post by notundercovercop32 on Feb 15, 2011 22:04:51 GMT -5
MST3K is one of a few shows that just got better and better. It went out at it's peak. Off the top of my head the only other show I can think of that went out at its highest was Mary Tyler Moore and I'm pressed to think of another that truely supernova-d. Although If you can think of any...
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Feb 15, 2011 23:45:54 GMT -5
The real question: when should LOST have ended?
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Post by ratherdashing on Feb 15, 2011 23:48:37 GMT -5
Whose line was awesome every episode and could have gone one much, much longer
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Post by crowschmo on Feb 16, 2011 15:46:50 GMT -5
^^^ That's a different kind of show, though. Those were comedians improving on the fly. (Though, since they knew the "games" they'd be playing, I'm sure they came up with some stuff ahead of time to throw in). No story to get stale.
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