Cancellations... why even watch new shows?

[Alidar Jarok]

I think its also because in this age of DVD for the past 10 years, I prefer to watch shows for the first time via DVD too. No commercials every five seconds, no waiting the whole week (or longer) for the next episode, no waiting all summer to start the next season, you can actually watch the credits without it being squeezed up for ads or some announcer talking all over it, watch it whenever you want at any time of day etc etc etc

It completely changes the way an episode is presented, though. A big surprising shock before a commercial break is supposed to have a break of anticipation before you continue. An episode has a cliffhanger that gives you a week to think and discuss it. Seasons end with big moments that you have to wait months to see resolved.

Granted, this is annoying, but it is how the episode was originally designed to be presented.

 

[mswood]

If you aren't supporting good shows from S1 Ep1 you are part of the problem. "Waiting to see if it's cancelled" only helps guarantee shows GET cancelled. The networks want to see numbers. If a show is good, then watch it. Help it get the numbers it needs to survive!

Unless you are a Nielsen family it doesn't make much difference to the ratings. They've started taking into account the people who watch shows on dvr but not everyone has a dvr.

DVR results only impact ad rates if you are a Nielsen family. The only legal viewing method where you can matter without being a Nielsen family is leal streaming sites, but since those don't provide age, gender, income breakdown not to mention breakdown if you are even paying attention to what your streaming teh rates for one person versus the ad rates on live broadcast for one person are much, much smaller.

 

[Warp Coil]

As someone who "cut the cord" two and a half years ago and no longer watches live, on-air television, I watch all of my shows via DVD or online. And I tend to do it one season (or more) at a time. By the time I sit down to try a new show, it's been around long enough that we usually know if it's been renewed or canceled. I just started watching "Fringe" for the first time because it's now available to stream for free on Amazon Prime. So I've got 4 seasons' worth of material to catch up on, plus the upcoming final season.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Strange when reading many of these comments that make it seem like SO much effort goes into enjoying a TV show.

Me? I watch TV live, if a show gets cancelled, if I like it, sure I'm bummed but I ENJOYED IT WHILE I WATCHED IT.

People seem to ignore that last part. They may get an hour of entertainment that day, but if they don't know it lasts 8 seasons, they don't care. And who's to say things get any better, anyways?

Enjoy the moment. Watch what you enjoy when it's on. It's only TV.

 

[Ethros]

^ I don't think I ever watch anything 100% "live" anymore. As in even shows I do watch week in week out (as opposed to what we're talking about, waiting for dvd or watching online etc)

I record everything on Sky+ (similar to Tivo for non UK board members) and then watch it either later that night or maybe the next day or so. I just can't do with sitting through ad breaks anymore, and so that way can fast forward through them. As such I honestly haven't watched an advert (apart from at the cinema) for about 5 years.

 

[MacLeod]

Well I rarely watch shows live these days, it's mostly on DVR, but that is due to half the time being at work when I show I want to watch is on. These days we live in a 24/7 ulture. A lot of people work when some of these shows are on, so they wouldn't be counted into possible aduiance figures.

Though I think one of the issues is not so much shows are cancelled is that they are cancelled without being given an opportunity to provide closure for the audiance. I suspect many don't mind if a show last 1 year or 5 years so long as the writers have enough of a chance to write a final episode that ties up as many plot elements as possible.

 

[RoJoHen]

Strange when reading many of these comments that make it seem like SO much effort goes into enjoying a TV show.

Me? I watch TV live, if a show gets cancelled, if I like it, sure I'm bummed but I ENJOYED IT WHILE I WATCHED IT.

People seem to ignore that last part. They may get an hour of entertainment that day, but if they don't know it lasts 8 seasons, they don't care. And who's to say things get any better, anyways?

Enjoy the moment. Watch what you enjoy when it's on. It's only TV.

Well, I don't actually watch any TV live. I don't even have a cable box hooked up anymore. I watch all of my shows either on DVD or via Netflix streaming, so I seek out specific shows that I know have been successful because I want to watch something with a good story and an actual ending.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

DVR results only impact ad rates if you are a Nielsen family.

Good to know.

 

[RandyS]

There are very few shows I watch week to week anymore and if I do it's because I've watched the first few seasons back to back.

This is what I've found myself doing now, waiting till a show gets a few seasons under its belt then check it out via DVD, and then keep watching new.

Same here. Most shows get a DVD release now days. It's much easier to just wait for that.

Plus, you don't have to put up with commercials, those annoying on-screen popups advertising other shows that just got worse and worse as time went on, and you get to see the end credits.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Cable costs plus the increasing amount of onscreen ads are what's finally driven me to DVD/streaming only. I don't mind zapping ads with a DVR so much but some channels are going berserk with their ads at the bottom of the screen which are taking up ever bigger proportions of the screen. Even channel logos are sometimes distracting. I don't think DVD versions of shows carry those logos, I can't recall ever noticing them.

I rarely come across a show I want to watch that Netflix doesn't carry. I usually have to settle for DVD, but they're got practically everything. The only things they're missing are some documentary series, and that may be simply because they're not on DVD at all.

 

[PKerr]

There are very few shows I watch week to week anymore and if I do it's because I've watched the first few seasons back to back.

This is what I've found myself doing now, waiting till a show gets a few seasons under its belt then check it out via DVD, and then keep watching new.

Same here. Most shows get a DVD release now days. It's much easier to just wait for that.

Plus, you don't have to put up with commercials, those annoying on-screen popups advertising other shows that just got worse and worse as time went on, and you get to see the end credits.

Gawd, tell me about it.
I just love the animated ones that dance around on the lower 10% of the screen telling you what you are watching and on what Chanel you are watching it on or the count downs to the next show.
I'm like ummm yes, thank you for letting me know 27 times during my show what show I'm watching, I would have never figured that out unless you told me.

 

[the G-man]

If it bothers you this much, just wait for a new show to get an annoucement that it is getting a second season before you start watching. That's what I've starting doing with new Sci Fi shows...

Me too. It also gives me a chance to hear how good or bad the show is before investing in it.

Strange when reading many of these comments that make it seem like SO much effort goes into enjoying a TV show.

Me? I watch TV live, if a show gets cancelled, if I like it, sure I'm bummed but I ENJOYED IT WHILE I WATCHED IT.

People seem to ignore that last part. They may get an hour of entertainment that day, but if they don't know it lasts 8 seasons, they don't care. And who's to say things get any better, anyways?

Enjoy the moment. Watch what you enjoy when it's on. It's only TV.

Your point is well taken, at least with shows that aren't serialized. However, you must admit how frustrating it is/would be to get invested in a serialized show that purports to be building to an actual conclusion or solution to a mystery, only to have it cancelled before the finale. That's a little like buying a book only to have the last chapter torn out by the publisher.

 

[Greg Cox]

Your point is well taken, at least with shows that aren't serialized. However, you must admit how frustrating it is/would be to get invested in a serialized show that purports to be building to an actual conclusion or solution to a mystery, only to have it cancelled before the finale. That's a little like buying a book only to have the last chapter torn out by the publisher.

More like reading the first two books in a trilogy, but the third book never comes out.

(I once had to field an angry call from a reader who was upset because Tor had discontinued a book series before it reached its conclusion. "Well, the books weren't selling so we couldn't afford to keep publishing them.")

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Your point is well taken, at least with shows that aren't serialized. However, you must admit how frustrating it is/would be to get invested in a serialized show that purports to be building to an actual conclusion or solution to a mystery, only to have it cancelled before the finale. That's a little like buying a book only to have the last chapter torn out by the publisher.

But until you find out it's cancelled, did you enjoy the time you had?

EVERY new show but, like, 2, this year was cancelled. I watched quite a few of them (I'm in the minority that loved Alcatraz, for example). And I'm glad I watched it, despite things not being tied up. At the time of viewing, I wasn't regretting a thing. And I still don't. On to the new crop of shows!

I guess I'm more about the journey than the final destination.

 

[the G-man]

That's a nice cliche, but stories are supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end.

 

[RandyS]

That's a nice cliche, but stories are supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end.

In novels, yes. But TV shows weren't always that way. Go back just twenty years and look at show made then, and you'll see what I mean.

No, I take that back. Go back thirty years. Twenty years ago is when all that arc based continuous stuff started to happen.

 

[Greg Cox]

That's a nice cliche, but stories are supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end.

In novels, yes. But TV shows weren't always that way. Go back just twenty years and look at show made then, and you'll see what I mean..

Good point. I mean, look at THE AVENGERS (Steed and Emma, not Tony and Bruce) or PERRY MASON or THE LONE RANGER or COLUMBO.

They didn't have beginnings or endings. Didn't hurt them one bit.

 

[MacLeod]

This is what I've found myself doing now, waiting till a show gets a few seasons under its belt then check it out via DVD, and then keep watching new.

Same here. Most shows get a DVD release now days. It's much easier to just wait for that.

Plus, you don't have to put up with commercials, those annoying on-screen popups advertising other shows that just got worse and worse as time went on, and you get to see the end credits.

Gawd, tell me about it.
I just love the animated ones that dance around on the lower 10% of the screen telling you what you are watching and on what Chanel you are watching it on or the count downs to the next show.
I'm like ummm yes, thank you for letting me know 27 times during my show what show I'm watching, I would have never figured that out unless you told me.

Even though it's not quite as bad in the UK as it is in the US, I loathe and detest channel logos. I don't need a logo to tell me what channel I'm watching. As I've just changed to that channel or if need be I can press the I/Guide/info button on my remote to get than information.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Your point is well taken, at least with shows that aren't serialized. However, you must admit how frustrating it is/would be to get invested in a serialized show that purports to be building to an actual conclusion or solution to a mystery, only to have it cancelled before the finale. That's a little like buying a book only to have the last chapter torn out by the publisher.

But until you find out it's cancelled, did you enjoy the time you had?

EVERY new show but, like, 2, this year was cancelled. I watched quite a few of them (I'm in the minority that loved Alcatraz, for example). And I'm glad I watched it, despite things not being tied up. At the time of viewing, I wasn't regretting a thing. And I still don't. On to the new crop of shows!

I guess I'm more about the journey than the final destination.

Yeah, I agree with that. Sure it's a bummer when something gets cancelled and doesn't have a chance to wrap everything up but I liked watching the shows. It seems many times that even when shows do get an actual conclusion they were less than satisfactory anyway,

I still think about Surface, Invasion and SG-U occasionally which I wouldn't have seen or Firefly, Dollhouse, Reaper, Terminator, and so on. Going back, I wouldn't have seen Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Max Headroom, UFO, Kolchak. I'm sure there's many more.

 

[RoJoHen]

That's a nice cliche, but stories are supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end.

In novels, yes. But TV shows weren't always that way. Go back just twenty years and look at show made then, and you'll see what I mean..

Good point. I mean, look at THE AVENGERS (Steed and Emma, not Tony and Bruce) or PERRY MASON or THE LONE RANGER or COLUMBO.

They didn't have beginnings or endings. Didn't hurt them one bit.

It simply depends on the show. Some shows have arcs. Some shows are more episodic. I prefer shows with stories that have a beginning, middle, and end. For the casual TV viewer, episodic shows are ideal because you can watch any random episode and understand what's going on.

I prefer story arcs. Since I don't have cable and never watch live TV anymore, when I watch a show, I want it to be worth the investment in time. Episodic TV doesn't do that for me.