Prime Suspect, The Playboy Club ratings point to cancellation syndrome

by Bill Palmer

Prime Suspect and The Playboy Club couldn’t be much more different, but they have one thing in common: the premiere episodes of both shows saw paltry ratings. The collection of billboards around Hollywood and the slew of promotional spots during popular existing shows made sure that the viewing public knew these shows were coming, and yet by and large, the public just didn’t tune in. That could be the fault of the shows themselves. The Playboy Club sounds like it’s out of the 1960s, and because it’s on network television, we all know it’s not going to incorporate the one thing the “Playboy” brand name is best known for. Prime Suspect, depending on which ad you want to believe, is either a dark tale about a tough cop who gets battered and bruised a lot, or a heartwarming tale of a single mother. Viewers apparently weren’t interested either way. But these new-show-flops are part of a growing trend in which high budget, highly promoted new network television series simply aren’t tuned in for, and they may be a victim of the fact that these days, most shows get canceled before their first season is over – and the public knows it’s coming…

There are few things worse, in the mind of television viewer, than spending thirteen or twenty-two episodes getting to know a fresh set of characters only to see the plug pulled in abrupt and unsatisfying fashion. But that’s precisely what happens to the vast majority of new shows these days. If they don’t bite as pups, they never will, the networks theorize, and the quickly cancel any new show whose ratings don’t pick up steam within the first season. Plenty of new shows are canceled after thirteen episodes, four episodes, one episode. If that’s what viewers have to look forward to, they might as well just stay away.

I decided awhile ago that I’m not inclined to watch any new television show until I get word that it’s been renewed for its second season. If it’s something that sounds really good, I then catch up with the first season via iTunes or (if I have to) Hulu, and then I’ll go forward as a viewer from there. For those wondering, the one-season run of Studio 60, one of the smartest shows to ever air on network television, was my last straw. That was nearly five years ago. Sensing the growing pattern, I decided my time was too valuable to get sucked in brief run after brief run of new shows which went poof just as I was starting to become accustomed to having each of them in my life. And I’m beginning to suspect that I’m not atypical in this fashion…

On the one hand, you can’t blame networks for wanting, no, needing to dump shows which are drawing such small audiences that they’ve become advertising sinkholes costing the network money. But the more times the networks hype up a new show like Prime Suspect or The Playboy Club only to turn around and give up on it after just a few episodes of lower than expected ratings, the more leery the viewing public is going to be of getting sucked in next time. From what I’m told, both shows have the potential to be good, which means they might find a big audience through positive word of mouth eventually if they’re allowed to remain on air long enough to find their footing. My gut tells me I’ll never see an episode of either, however, as the networks will be so quick to pull the plug that a second season for either now sounds like a pipe dream. Perhaps I’m being premature in my prediction. But I can promise you that after the low ratings for their pilot episodes, the word “cancellation” is being kicked around the NBC offices regarding both shows already. The more times the networks pull an early trigger, the less effective their next round of new show promotion will be. It’s a vicious cycle the networks can’t seem to break.

Another Android blow: Nexus One canceled, there will be no Nexus Two

The mobile open-source operating system experiment known as Android has been dealt another blow in what has been a difficult month long stretch for the platform. First, hard data revealed that the competing iPhone is still burying all Android-based phones combined by a margin of more than three to one, which nullified NPD’s earlier small online volunteer survey which Android’s most enthusiastic users had been repeatedly mischaracterizing as “marketshare” numbers. Then last week, after Android-favoring technology headline writers had spent all of July attempting to ignite a feigned controversy over the new iPhone’s antenna, hard data finally surfaced that showed about 99.4% of iPhone users were reporting no reporting no antenna issues. And now the latest bad news for the Android platform comes from Android creator Google itself, which has discontinued its Nexus One smartphone says Techtree, which was supposed to have been the flagship of the Android platform. And no, it won’t be replaced by the Nexus Two; the Nexus line of smartphone is now gone from the face of the earth.

In fairness, plenty of third party Android-based phones are selling in quantity. The problem, however, is that they’re carrier-based models such as the Verizon Droid and the Sprint EVO. How is that a problem? The flagship Android phone was selling so poorly that it got canceled, which confirms what everyone outside the geek bubble already knew: the Android platform has no draw of its own of any kind among mainstream users. In fact it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Android platform only has two kinds of buyers: those hardened geeks who want to be able to hack their cellphone like a toy, and those mainstream consumers who wanted an iPhone but weren’t willing to switch to AT&T just to get their hands on one. They walk into a Verizon or Sprint store looking for an iPhone, they walk out with some flavor of Android phone that the salesman told them was “like” an iPhone, and the Android platform’s cheerleaders think they’ve netted another enthusiastic Android user – when all they’ve really done is allowed yet another mainstream consumer to learn first-hand that Android is no iPhone, making them revisit the idea of switching to AT&T just to switch to the iPhone after all.

If the non-geek public gave a damn about Android at all, the Nexus One would have been the most popular Android-based phone by far, and Google would be replacing it today with the Nexus Two, not scrapping the entire product line. The embarrassing failure of the Nexus One confirms, again, what anyone not insulated inside the geek bubble already knew from the start: Android phones are merely hanging around, temporarily occupying the marketshare void created by Apple’s ongoing refusal to offer the iPhone on any U.S. carrier other than AT&T, and destined to be forgotten by all but the geeks once AT&T iPhone exclusivity ends and customers of other carriers can park their fake iPhone in favor of the real thing.

Microsoft Kin canceled, even Kin spokesman Questlove wasn’t using one

The failure of Microsoft’s Kin phone came as a surprise to few, but the swiftness of the device’s cancellation just weeks after launching has caught the tech world off guard. In fact, television ads for the device can still be seen airing, as Microsoft had apparently booked a long term TV ad campaign for the device before seeing just how non-existent initial interest was in the device. But the swift death of the Kin was forecasted by the fact that even spokesman Questlove, who appears in the ill-fated television ads, doesn’t use a Kin himself; according to his verified Twitter account, the Roots bandleader uses a BlackBerry. That doesn’t mean that Questlove didn’t necessarily have a Kin in his other pocket. But there’s rich irony in the fact that the Kin, a device which was specifically marketed as being a social network savvy phone, was being passed over by its own spokesman when it came to Twitter duties, in favor of another kind of phone.

Microsoft Kin canceled already: whatever it was, it didn’t last long

Whatever the Microsoft Kin was, it didn’t last long. The new phone, which Microsoft sent to market seemingly just days ago, has already been end of life’d as a separate product and instead folded into Microsoft’s Windows 7 phone team, which has been a long-running failure itself. The bizarre part is that the end of the Kin has come even as its initial run of television advertisements introducing the product to the public is still airing. And that’s before one considers the name “Kin” itself which was a beyond bizarre choice when one considers the popularity of Amazon’s Kindle.

When the Kin was first introduced, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber prophetically wrote “Microsoft Announces Kin, Its Next Two Failed Phones” – yet one has to wonder if even he expected it to disappear this quickly.

Christina Aguilera cancels U.S. summer tour ahead of Bionic release

Christina Aguilera has canceled her upcoming U.S. summer tour. Her official reason is that the tour is merely being postponed until 2011, but some sources claim that it’s due to insufficient ticket sales. Regardless of the actual reason, the surprising move comes a mere two weeks before the planned June 8th release of Aguilera’s new album Bionic, which is currently at #12 on the iTunes pop albums chart as a pre-order.

U2′s Bono injures back, has surgery, tour date(s) postponed

U2 lead singer Bono, who turned fifty earlier this month, received a terrible belated birthday present when he injured his back and had to have emergency surgery to compensate. The incident occurred just as the band was gearing up to continue with its U2 360 tour and forced the postponement of the band’s Salt Lake City concert. U2′s manager, Paul McGuinness, released a statement on the band’s official site U2.com in which he stated that “The band were really looking forward to getting back out on the road until the emergency surgery on Bono’s back, which took place in Munich.”

It’s not yet clear what kind of impact Bono’s surgery and recuperation will have on the U2 360 tour schedule, but given the medical severity of the situation, it seems likely that more than just the Salt Lake City date will end up going by the wayside for the time being. U2 had been touring in support of its latest album No Line On The Horizon, which was released just over a year ago.

After NBC cancellations, scripted network television coming to an end?

Quick, name a non-reality show that’ll be on NBC in the fall. Heroes? Canceled. Law & Order? Canceled. Mercy? Canceled too. Parks & Recreation? Pushed to midseason, which means 2011. The new Law & Order, which the old Law & Order was canceled in favor of, whose cast we have no knowledge of? Good luck. Chuck? The network more or less admitted it wanted to cancel the show, but just didn’t get around to it in time. Thank goodness for 30 Rock and The Office, the latter of which at this point should perhaps be re-titled The Franchise. And while NBC has loaded up on twelve new scripted shows for the fall, few new scripted shows make it past their first season anymore. The fact that most of you can’t name one of the twelve beyond the Law & Order spinoff, despite the network’s best efforts this past week to promote them, tells you what you need to know about their likely prospects. But it’s not just NBC from which scripted shows are disappearing.

After all, 24 is seeing its closing run over on FOX, the most successful new scripted shows on CBS have been CSI or NCIS spinoffs which Law & Order demonstrated can be fatal when overdone, and we can’t recall a single show that’s on ABC (although someone must be watching, as the network has more viewers than NBC). Sure, the outgoing comedies and dramas are often replaced by new comedies and dramas, but declining ad revenue due to DVR viewing means that the networks have far less patience with new shows whose ratings aren’t a hit right out of the gate; it’s not uncommon for new “series” to get dumped right after the pilot. What almost inevitably happens is that the time slot ends up being eventually given to a reality show, whose lack of high-cost actors, writers, location shoots, or really anything beyond a guy walking around with a camcorder as a group of people make fools of themselves, makes those shows so inexpensive that they’re safe bets that are almost impossible to lose money on no matter how many or few people are watching.

So while those television viewers who enjoy reality shows (more power to ‘em) won’t have much to worry about when it comes to finding what they’re looking for on the network TV dial in the fall, those who’ve been hoping for the pendulum to swing back their way in the form of scripted comedies and dramas have a lot riding on those twelve new NBC shows in the fall (and to an extent the seven on FOX, although that network’s less dire situation means there’s less riding on them). If several of the NBC twelve improbably succeed, it could set the tone for the other major networks when their aging shows soon have to be replaced. But if the majority of the twelve newbies have been canceled and replaced by substitute reality shows before Christmas, that could discourage the other networks from even bothering trying when their turn comes, which could make for a long dark winter for those network television viewers who are no fans of reality TV – and we’re not just talking about winter 2011.

Comedy of errors: NBC renews Chuck for embarrassing reason

Good news, fans of Chuck: NBC is bringing your favorite sitcom back for another season. Here’s the less encouraging news: the show was only renewed because the network says it “can’t change every hour of the schedule at once.” Wow. Has any TV show ever been given a more tepid green light by its network than NBC just did with Chuck, which is only getting a fourth season because the network claims it was too busy canceling other shows like Law & Order and Heroes and trying to find their replacements to find time to do anything about it?

The network’s “you’re not currently worth the ammo required to kill you” approach toward Chuck is, at the least, a refreshingly honest admission from NBC, a network that’s become so deeply mired in flawdom (we had to create that word just for the situation) that it’s managed to get most of the television headlines so far in 2010 despite being the fourth place network, simply because it’s had that many things go horribly, horribly wrong. Regardless of which side viewers took in the Leno-Conan debacle, they nearly all agreed that NBC handled the whole thing stupidly. And now the network thinks that the best way to get fans of Law & Order to tune in for the new “Law & Order Los Angeles” spinoff is to cancel Law & Order. Things have gotten so bad for the network that while no one is quite sure how the once-heralded Heroes managed to become completely unraveled so quickly, viewers are bound to simply blame NBC out of habit.

And now NBC’s execs have come up with the bright idea of trying to increase the size of Chuck’s audience by telling the whole wide world that the show is only still on the air because they wanted to cancel it but literally couldn’t come up with anything else to replace it with. That sounds like a great strategy for getting the show’s current audience to stick around next season while motivating others to start tuning in. Here’s another good one: NBC says it thinks taking Parks & Recreation off the air for half a season will cause the show to gain momentum. And the network thinks new show “Undercovers” will do well because the competition in its time slot isn’t any good either. The scary part? Those aren’t sarcastic jokes on our part. That’s what the network actually said about those shows.

Perhaps NBC should instead launch a sitcom starring its own executives; clearly they’ve got the material for it. In any case, good luck, Chuck.

Heroes, Law & Order movie finales possible, says NBC

NBC’s cancellation of once-popular shows Law & Order and Heroes this week doesn’t mean that you’ve seen the last of them, and not just because the former still has a few yet-to-be-aired episodes left in the tank. NBC executives have said they’re hoping to wrap up both shows with movie finales at some point. Heroes ran for four seasons on NBC and for the first half of that run was one of the most popular and beloved shows on television. Law & Order ran for twenty seasons on the network and despite a revolving cast throughout the years managed to remain part of the zeitgeist. It’s not clear whether the show’s ongoing storylines, which include the cancer treatment of Lt. Anita Van Buren, wil be resolved by the end of the season, whose final episodes were filmed before official news of the cancellation; however, Law & Order’s impending cancellation has been an ongoing possibility for some time, suggesting that series creator Dick Wolf would be unlikely to leave loose ends hanging, knowing he might not get the opportunity to wrap them up later. Then again, the show’s previous season ended without any of the “Law” characters knowing whether they were going to continue to have jobs.

Since the news broke of his show’s cancellation, Heroes star Greg Grunberg has said that there’s going to be “good news” announced in New York City this week, and it’s something that can’t be announced via his Twitter account, but it’s still not clear whether Grunberg’s news is related to Heroes.

Traditional media cares about Law & Order, Twitter cares about Heroes

CNN has a headline about this evening’s cancellation of Law & Order, and the front page of Google News has seven of them – but neither has any front page mention of this evening’s cancellation of Heroes. The choice of headlines stands in sharp contrast with Twitter, where “NBC cancels HEROES” has been the number one most talked about topic on the social networking service all evening, according to the trending topics list, while Law & Order hasn’t even cracked the top ten. So what’s spurred the vastly different prioritizing of the simultaneous cancellations of two NBC dramas? That’s a good question.

Age differential could explain it, as mainstream television writers may be more likely to be of an age to have recalled Law & Order’s heyday as an adult, while much of Twitter’s younger-skewed userbase were still schoolkids when Law & Order made its debut twenty years ago. But does that paint the whole picture? While the Law & Order cancellation is news primarily because of how long the show lasted and what kind of impact it had over that long run, Heroes was the more recently popular – and relevant – of the two. So perhaps it’s as much the fact that social networking conversations tend to skew more toward the present than the past that explains this evening’s reporting chasm. Then again, social networks are the reason eighty eight year old Betty White made it onto Saturday Night Live, and recently deceased legend Lena Horne was a Twitter trending topic on the day of her death.

It may come down to the fact that Law & Order, despite having an episode structure considered radical when it first launched, was very much considered to be a traditional standard show (complete with several spinoffs) by its end. Heroes, in contrast, never quite fit the mold of anything and was, for better or worse, very much a twenty-first century experimental television show from start to finish.

No doubt NBC pushed out all this bad news on a Friday afternoon so that the negative headlines for the struggling network would be at a minimum one way or the other, as by Monday morning the headline writers and the tweeters alike will have found another topic to obsess over. Then again, come to think of it, the fact that the Law & Order news leaked out unofficially on Thursday gave the traditional headline writers all day Friday to prepare their Law & Order epitaph pieces if the news indeed turned out to be official, while the Heroes cancellation articles weren’t able to be written in advance.

Despite being canceled, Heroes star Greg Grunberg promises good news

Heroes has been canceled by NBC, but series star Greg Grunberg has promised that good news is on its way despite the cancelation. Grunberg, who has his hand in several other projects beyond the television show, including a rock band and iPhone app Yowza, could be referring to just about anything. But shortly after the news of the Heroes cancelation broke this evening, he tweeted “W/bad news comes GOOD!!” and promised that his next tweet (which he hasn’t yet posted) will explain what he’s referring to. While some fans are surely hoping that Grunberg is referencing some of possible spinoff or other positive news for Heroes fans, it’s worth emphasizing that he could be talking about just about anything.

Greg Grunberg spoke with us late last year about Heroes, Yowza, Band from TV and more in our in depth interview.

Law & Order suvived long enough to outdate itself

The news that Law & Order’s twentieth season might be its last is not particularly surprising in light of NBC’s continued downward spiral. But the possibly canceled show, which has lasted long enough to see its entire cast gradually replaced over the years (with some of the show’s fictional job posts replaced half a dozen times or more), has reached another milestone: while the current season’s episodes feel very much part of the twenty-first century, the show began life as essentially a 1980′s crime drama. After all, that’s the decade in which the show was developed before hitting the air in the year 1990. Watching a first season episode of Law & Order feels like a glimpse into another era almost as much as if one had instead dusted off an episode of Hill Street Blues or Starsky and Hutch. Not only were the early Law & Order plotlines centered around subjects that were “current” two decades ago, many of the plot’s hangups could have been avoided if the “good guys” had had access to a cellphone, or perhaps the internet, or even a criminal database that ran on something more advanced than DOS.

Throughout wholesale changes over the years, something has to remain constant for viewers to feel like they can identify later seasons of a TV show as still being the one they first fell in love with. And for Law & Order, despite about a 500% cast turnover, the evolving science of criminology, and topical plotlines from a new generation, it was that rigid half and half format – half police procedural, half courtroom drama – that made episodes from the show’s twentieth season still qualify as being “Law & Order” despite bearing so little resemblance to that moody eighties drama that debuted twenty years ago. In that sense, the more recent seasons of the show managed to make its early years feel outdated in a manner that a show rarely gets to do to itself in one continuous run. We’ve seen next generation Star Trek series arrive that made the original feel outdated, and a movie recently arrive that made even the later series feel outdated. But Law and Order got to do that to itself within its own original run, and the show should be remembered for lasting long enough to pull that off as much as any other accomplishment.

Law & Order canceled after twenty seasons?

Rumors of the impending demise of one of the longest running dramas in the history of television have been circulating for at least a few years, but it appears the rumor may now be the truth, at least if a breaking news report is to be believed. The move would come as a modest surprise, as the show appeared to have settled on a stable charismatic cast of characters after so many years of a revolving door cast that many fans had come to accept the fluctuations as part of the show’s premise.

Having premiered on NBC in 1990, Law & Order no longer retains any of its original cast but still largely follows the same formula with the first half of the show consisting of police detectives tracking down a murder suspect and the second half of the episode serving as the court trial. Dick Wolf has been in charge of the show since its inception; S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays Lt. Anita Van Buren, and Sam Waterston, who plays DA Jack McCoy, have been the show’s longest tenured actors.

Breaking News: iPad canceled

In what will surely come a disappointing surprise to the hundreds of thousands who pre-ordered the device and were expecting delivery on Saturday morning, Apple has quietly announced that its iPad tablet computer has been canceled due to what CEO Steve Jobs termed “over-interest” on the part of the public.

According to Jobs, who called it the “hardest decision” he’s ever had to make in his tenure, “While we know that a lot of people were looking forward to the iPad, Phil Schiller and I realized last night that the public’s unprecedentedly high level of expectations would mean that the iPad itself would never be able to meet those expectations.” He went on to compare the hype surrounding the iPad to the Guns ‘n Roses Chinese Democracy album, which was released fourteen years after it was first announced and failed to live up to ever-heightened expectations, and stated that everyone who paid money for an iPad pre-order would be refunded in full on the first of April.

No word on whether those who bought Chinese Democracy will be eligible for a refund.

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Filed Under: Industry News
Tagged: Apple, April Fools, canceled, iPad, launch, Steve Jobs