Why Do All the Good Sci-Fi Shows Get Cancelled?

Posted by Dominic Messier Mar 29, 2009

As I read the latest trades online, vis-a-vis the Sci-Fi shows out and about, I found myself wondering what it is that makes studios consider remaking everything under the sun.

This past year has seen its share of such, what with the Knight Rider revamp starring Justin Bruener as the son of Michael Knight, and Val Kilmer as the new voice of KITT ( I guess William Daniels was too busy awaiting word of a Boy Meets World TV movie); our small screens have also seen recent attempts at cashing in on the latest crazes (vampire chic of late gave us Moonlight -- cancelled after one season), with superheroics in theatres giving us access to the hit that is Heroes, a show yet to face cancellation, yet under constant scrutiny from its fanbase.

So there comes a time when an audience must commit itself to a show, supporting it one hundred percent, lest the studios (obsessed with their bottom lines -- gotta answer to them shareholders, you know) decide to end yet another potential hit, replete with syndicated possibilities, not to mention the DVD sales which can only logically follow.

So why is it that these Sci-Fi beauties suffer a larger share of cancellations than others? I've given this some thought, and came up with a few possibilities:

1) Sometimes a particular sub-genre is just too particular

Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty easy demographic to satisfy (white male aged 18-35), so any genre will do, when faced with 90210 as the only viable alternative. That having been said, I often scratch my head at why some studios (Sci-Fi, or SyFy as they want to be known nowadays) decide to invest in outdated concepts, for the sake of exploiting any remnants of its potential audience, for nostalgia's sake.

Take the very short-lived Flash Gordon for example. I mean, sure, everyone should know the name, just as easily as anyone (regardless of background) would have a basic concept of who Superman and Batman are. That being said, Flash Gordon was a marginal hit in the golden age, and didn't exactly shine in its myriad interpretations throughout the last decades (though that Queen song still gets stuck in my head from time to time......Flash! Ahhh-ahhhhhhhh!). So why expect more support nowadays?

So, rather than expect a fringe group of oceanographers to start a petition in favor of bringing about a new incarnation of Seaquest DSV, try and think up concepts that will really encompass as many demographiccs as possible, and ensure a renewal fan base.

2) Concepts are cool. Expecting writers to sustain plausible storylines over five season is not.

I get goosebumps every spring, when I surf the major news sites, looking for the networks' fall schedules. Why is that, you ask? Well, because in all likelihood, I am in dire need of being taken aside, and be reassured that something, anything, will replace that once cool sci-fi series that had finally hooked me in, until the network unceremoniously cans said show, without so much as a chance to tie up its stories' loose ends.

This has become commonplace in recent television history. With the exception of the post-Heroes influx of sci-fi shows which permeated most of the 2007-2008 TV season (before the Writer's Strike hit, and killed them all very slowly), most smaller sci-fi/fantasy concepts are lucky to get a full season order, and most usually these decisions are based on the strength of the first 6 or 7 episodes alone.

I think the reason those shows don't last, is because the shiny quality of their original concept, dies down once the writers have exhausted their original ideas, pitched to the network for a go.

Those shows that do manage to live out a healthy four or five season run, end up repeating themselves, and jump the ever popular shark. Alias was fun, no doubt, but how many times can the same 6 characters coincidentally work together, under 3 or 4 different shadow organizations? And why not stick to the original Rambaldi mystery? But i digress...

Producers should therefore have at least one good long-term storyline already well established, before considering the long-term viability of their product. Many detractors stated two years back, that Lost was slowly losing its steam, and the castaways of The Island had nowhere left to go. Then, a media announcement is made which confirms that Mr. Abrams and company, have set a series end date, two years down the line.

The result? Fans come back in droves, knowing their time investment will be paid back to them in spades, and the assurance that the show is going somewhere.

A show which I was a fan of for a while, but which quickly turned into a mostly soap operatic mess, is Smallville. Sometimes, when half your top cast moves on to other projects, it's usually a good sign to leave well enough alone, before you start having to dig into really old back issues, to try and locate obscure villais yet utilized in the series. I mean, Doomsday? Come on, sirs.

Heroes fares quite well in terms of retaining its audience from week to week (those addictive cliffhangers work really well), however it won't be long until we ask ourselves how many new storylines can come of this large cast, until it starts repeating itself. Also, some characters quickly outlive their popularity -- the online boards filled with hateful Anti-Cheerleader posts, is a sign of this strain.

There are many more possibilities as to why these great ideas die off more quickly than others, but I thought I'd put in my two cents about some of the more obvious signs, I leave it to you, my good reader, to think on this, while you say your goodbyes to this year's batch.

I love Val Kilmer as a talking car, but it seems that a show can't go on without The Hoff. Sad, but true.