The Strangest Reasons For TV Show Cancellations Revealed!

There is so much work that goes into producing a series of television shows, and with so many variables that a production agency, studio, cast and crew have to work around, any show that makes it to air is a success.

One of the most misunderstood aspects of broadcasting is why shows are commissioned and why they are cancelled, particularly in a multi-channel entertainment environment where many television shows are not only watched over the air, but online and on-demand as well.

Generally, the decisions for why shows are cancelled are based on metrics; either not enough people are watching relative to the budget, the show does not attract a desired demographic for advertisers and sponsors, or the show receives poor reviews that affect its visibility or desirability.

In other cases, the reasons why a show is cancelled are more complex and sometimes quite murky, ranging from controversies surrounding the show itself, a desire to refresh the brand of the production company or network, budgetary problems, or issues during production that make continued production impossible.

With that in mind, here are some of the strangest reasons why TV shows were cancelled.

The Channel Was Already Closing Down

The producer, editor and television host Debbie King was a major part of the ITV Play show Quizmania, a late-night interactive game show focused around a premium-rate telephone line.

It was so successful that Debbie King was set to get a variety TV show of her own, also focused 

on a phone-in quiz. However, this show lasted one episode, as it aired after the channel it was on had already been discontinued due to a widespread investigation into premium-rate phone services, according to The Guardian.

It is rare that a TV channel ending causes the cancellation of a TV show, but even rarer that a TV show is launched even after said decision has been announced.

The Set Was Demolished Too Early

Poor communication kills television shows, and nowhere was this more evident than in the bizarre circumstances surrounding the demise of the 1960s Batman television show starring the late Adam West.

By the end of its third season, where it became the longest-running superhero television show in a generation and inspired a huge cult following, ratings had started to dip dramatically, leading broadcaster ABC to cancel the series.

This by itself is not unusual, but what made it strange was that NBC planned to buy the rights to the series and keep it going.

The problem? ABC very quickly demolished $800,000 worth of the sets and props, including the famous Bat-Cave, in order to make studio space for another show.

NBC quickly withdrew their offer once they realised just how much money they would need to spend to bring the show back.

Overshadowed By A Cheaper Phenomenon

In 1999, Kids’ WB announced that they were going to air a live-action series based on high school wrestling known as On the Ropes.

Aimed at teenagers, the show was set to launch either in late 1999 or 2000, but ultimately never went into production as the channel had stumbled upon the biggest phenomenon of the 1990s.

Kids’ WB had the rights to broadcast the Japanese animated series Pokémon, which had become a multimedia phenomenon and remains one of the most successful video game series of all time.

Rather than broadcast a live-action series alongside it, Kids’ WB struck while the iron was hot and cancelled the newer, more expensive series in favour of broadcasting more episodes of a cheaper and more popular import.

Contextless Controversy

Controversy affects a huge number of shows and is such a major cause of cancellations that it is far from unusual. However, there is one particular combination of contextless controversy, moral panic and terrible communication that is far more unusual.

Following a unique, if mixed career which included one of the first ever adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, animation pioneer Ralph Bakshi was working on two shows for then-new television channel Nickelodeon.

The first was Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, an adaptation of the 1940s cartoon character that is credited with the start of a renaissance in television animation, becoming the springboard for countless animators. The other was an original concept known as Tattertown, based on Mr Bakshi’s comic Junktown.

However, both were cancelled somewhat abruptly following a controversy involving one particular episode of the former.

In the episode The Littlest Tramp, Mighty Mouse is given the remnants of a flower crushed by a rich man. When reminiscing about the girl who gave it to him, he sniffs the pink crushed remains, inadvertently inhaling them in the process.

This was described by Donald Wildmon of the National Federation for Decency as a depiction of drug use, citing Mr Bakshi’s previous work on adult animated films, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic, as further incrimination.

Mr Bakshi spoke out against the controversy, claiming that it was reminiscent of “burning books” and “McCarthyism”, but when he cut the scene to try to stop the scandal, this was seen as a “de facto admission” that it was a depiction of drug use.

The controversy led to the cancellation of Tattertown, with the completed pilot airing as a one-off special.