http://www.looper.com/7669/shows-canceled-idiot-mistake/

Far too often television fans deal with the horror of seeing their favorite shows being cancelled long before their stories are finished. Oftentimes, the show simply isn’t getting good enough ratings to cover its costs, or the cast and crew want to move on to new projects. But every so often, there’s a show that goes away because somebody behind the scenes did something incredibly dumb.

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ones i can think of waS:
Quantum leap
early edition
john doe
kayle xy

Married With Children.

The Ropers. It did well enough for a second season, but then some jackass at ABC thought it would be a good idea to change its timeslot.

It never recovered.

The Ropers. It did well enough for a second season, but then some jackass at ABC thought it would be a good idea to change its timeslot.

It never recovered.
ABC Execs made a lot of bad programming decisions during the 1979-80 season, basically ruining just about all of their hit shows.

Just The Ten Of Us!

The WB's Savannah fits the bill here. Its first season was well-rated and was made it the #1 series on the WB network at the time. It aired on Sunday nights and was a big success. In season 2, the series was moved to Monday nights where it competed against Melrose Place, a big hit series on FOX which shared the same producer as Savannah, Aaron Spelling.

Ratings Fell steadily with the move and Aaron Spelling requested the WB cancel the series so it wouldn't steal any audience from Melrose Place.

So really TWO bonehead moves; moving the show to Monday and allowing a producer to control the scheduling.

Daytime Soaps in recent years were cancelled due to dumb moves by the networks.

First up, NBC's "Another World" was a massive success, an institution really, but somewhere along the lines NBC decided to tinker with it and made a lot of creative changes (in the early 90's) that drove fans away. Then they decided to kill off characters people LOVED (Frankie Frame!) and eventually it got cancelled in favor of dumb shows like Passions and Sunset Beach that never got a fraction of the audience AW had.

More recently, CBS cancelled Guiding Light and As The World Turns, for no reason other than sheer stupidity. GL has a big success, continued getting decent ratings (for a soap) and then they went and changed the production model (how the show is produced); changing it from a traditional soap with sets to a show filmed outside and on-location. Fans hated the new look, the new writing was a flop and the cast hated it too. It took too long, it was boring and ratings dropped massively because of this. The show was cancelled.

ATWT was still going strong in the ratings and with critics. CBS had no reason to cancel it.



ABC made the bonehead choice to cancel One Life To Live and All My Children, after spending nearly a decade trying to destroy them with bad creative decisions, slashing the budgets and giving these shows almost no promotion at all.

My Name Is Earl
The Rat Patrol
The Flintstones
Gilligan's Island
Lost in space
Hee Haw and all of it's rural Programming
Police Squad

I read somewhere that Sons of Thunder, a limited-run spinoff of Walker, Texas Ranger had ratings that rivaled the show it spun off from, but instead of making it a full-fledged series they decided to go ahead with a new kind of genre, "Reality" Shows. :angryfire

Daytime Soaps in recent years were cancelled due to dumb moves by the networks.

First up, NBC's "Another World" was a massive success, an institution really, but somewhere along the lines NBC decided to tinker with it and made a lot of creative changes (in the early 90's) that drove fans away. Then they decided to kill off characters people LOVED (Frankie Frame!) and eventually it got cancelled in favor of dumb shows like Passions and Sunset Beach that never got a fraction of the audience AW had.

More recently, CBS cancelled Guiding Light and As The World Turns, for no reason other than sheer stupidity. GL has a big success, continued getting decent ratings (for a soap) and then they went and changed the production model (how the show is produced); changing it from a traditional soap with sets to a show filmed outside and on-location. Fans hated the new look, the new writing was a flop and the cast hated it too. It took too long, it was boring and ratings dropped massively because of this. The show was cancelled.

ATWT was still going strong in the ratings and with critics. CBS had no reason to cancel it.



ABC made the bonehead choice to cancel One Life To Live and All My Children, after spending nearly a decade trying to destroy them with bad creative decisions, slashing the budgets and giving these shows almost no promotion at all.
NBC made the same mistakes with BOTH "Sale Of The Century" and "Another World"(for example the Winners Big Money Game on "SOTC" and in the case of "AW" decided to kill off characters people LOVED (Frankie Frame!) although i guess with "SOTC" it was getting tried anyway but canceling "SOTC" for shows like "Passions" and "Sunset Beach" was stupid! i could add "Santa Barbara" too NBC made a few dumb mistakes with daytime

i can add "China Beach" ABC made a dumb mistake putting it on opposite "Golden Girls" and "Empty Nest" it didn't stand a chance against those two shows

ABC was pretty dumb for cancelling Just The Ten of Us despite the fact it had pretty good ratings and was very popular.

More recently, CBS cancelled Guiding Light and As The World Turns, for no reason other than sheer stupidity. GL has a big success, continued getting decent ratings (for a soap) and then they went and changed the production model (how the show is produced); changing it from a traditional soap with sets to a show filmed outside and on-location. Fans hated the new look, the new writing was a flop and the cast hated it too. It took too long, it was boring and ratings dropped massively because of this. The show was cancelled.

ATWT was still going strong in the ratings and with critics. CBS had no reason to cancel it.


It's not ratings it's DEMOS and ATWT wasn't doing well in them. You expect a network to keep a show on the air that is costing them money? Seriously?

I love ATWT and miss it still but it's ratings weren't good nor were it's demos same with AMC and OLTL.

I know people are upset and rightly so but seriously be realistic at least

The Wb cancelled the shows until its shutdown in 2006:

Popular
Maybe It's Me
Do Over
Greetings From Tucson
Run Of The House

It's not ratings it's DEMOS and ATWT wasn't doing well in them. You expect a network to keep a show on the air that is costing them money? Seriously?

I love ATWT and miss it still but it's ratings weren't good nor were it's demos same with AMC and OLTL.

I know people are upset and rightly so but seriously be realistic at least


Actually, both GL and ATWT were doing pretty well in demos. In fact they were doing numbers on-par with what The Talk is getting now, and far above what Let's Make A Deal is getting.

As for AMC and OLTL, they were actually in the top of demos for Daytime, right after B&B, Y&R and GH. In fact, OLTL was actually BEATING GH at the time of its cancellation, flat out BEATING GH! By all accounts, the soaps were still making money and were profitable for ABC. The truth is that Brian Frons hated the soaps and tried to dismantle them from his first day in office.

I agree about AMC and OLTL also Freaks and Geeks.

When CBS decided to move Murder, She Wrote from its cushy Sunday night timeslot to Thursdays opposite Friends. At the time CBS was trying to shed its image of being the old people network and those shows that were a hit with older viewers they no longer wanted. It worked, and the show was gone soon after the move.

Here's one...

Gimme a Break!

It should've cancelled at Season 5 once Dolph Sweet died, it seemed that the Kaniski daughters were used less and less. The people of GAB revamped the show on Season 6 to compete against The Cosby Show by being set in New York and ditching the daughters...with the exception of Lara Jill Miller.

Alien Nation was cancelled after 1 season because Fox panicked and cancelled all their dramatic series for the 1991-1992 TV season. At least they gave the show some closure with the TV movies though.

Agree about Just The Ten of Us. It got good ratings and won its time slot yet was cancelled because it wasn't a Miller-Boyett show.

Mama's Family: Technically, it wasn't really canceled, it was just decided that they had enough episodes to be sold into syndication. This was just a dumb move. We could've/shoud've gotten at least one more season to see more of baby Tiffany Thelma.

I'll also agree with other posters about the soap genre. I'm a huge fan of Days of our Lives and I hope it doesn't get canceled (at least for another 5 or so years). I was also somewhat of an All My Children fan. I miss AMC being on ABC.

Freaks and Geeks definitely fits in this area.

I loved Freaks and Geeks, that was the dumbest thing ever to cancel that like they did. I hear many fans were out raged over the cancellation as well.

what about WKRP IN CINCINATTI? CBS moved it from Mondays right after MASH then they kept moving it all over their schedule, then cancelled it because of low ratings-well OF COURSE it got low ratings!! They kept moving it all around, audiences could never find it, and they got tired of looking. And back then the only ways to find out when a show was on were to either look in the newspaper or TV guide or through network promos.

^^^ That's the same dumb kind of stuff that screwed Freaks and Geeks over as well.

Daytime Soaps in recent years were cancelled due to dumb moves by the networks.

First up, NBC's "Another World" was a massive success, an institution really, but somewhere along the lines NBC decided to tinker with it and made a lot of creative changes (in the early 90's) that drove fans away. Then they decided to kill off characters people LOVED (Frankie Frame!) and eventually it got cancelled in favor of dumb shows like Passions and Sunset Beach that never got a fraction of the audience AW had.

More recently, CBS cancelled Guiding Light and As The World Turns, for no reason other than sheer stupidity. GL has a big success, continued getting decent ratings (for a soap) and then they went and changed the production model (how the show is produced); changing it from a traditional soap with sets to a show filmed outside and on-location. Fans hated the new look, the new writing was a flop and the cast hated it too. It took too long, it was boring and ratings dropped massively because of this. The show was cancelled.

ATWT was still going strong in the ratings and with critics. CBS had no reason to cancel it.



ABC made the bonehead choice to cancel One Life To Live and All My Children, after spending nearly a decade trying to destroy them with bad creative decisions, slashing the budgets and giving these shows almost no promotion at all.


Had Sale of The Century still been on in the the 90s, would have NBC still canceled it for Sunset Beach in 97, or maybe put two game shows then a soap? If AW got canceled, then that's where Sunset Beach would have went?

Their's a lot but most went out on their with shows finale's

NBC made the same mistakes with BOTH "Sale Of The Century" and "Another World"(for example the Winners Big Money Game on "SOTC" and in the case of "AW" decided to kill off characters people LOVED (Frankie Frame!) although i guess with "SOTC" it was getting tried anyway but canceling "SOTC" for shows like "Passions" and "Sunset Beach" was stupid! i could add "Santa Barbara" too NBC made a few dumb mistakes with daytime

Another bone headed move by the network was scheduling Hot Potato in the 12 noon slot, where it was constantly preempted by NBC affiliates in favor of either local newscasts or syndicated programming.

Sledge Hammer smart move putting it opposite of the Cosby show
Wild Wild West damn political correctness at the time killed it
Quark
Battlestar Galactica

When CBS decided to move Murder, She Wrote from its cushy Sunday night timeslot to Thursdays opposite Friends. At the time CBS was trying to shed its image of being the old people network and those shows that were a hit with older viewers they no longer wanted. It worked, and the show was gone soon after the move.
CBS did the same thing with Rescue 911 in moving it to Thursday Nights at 9 PM from it's Tuesday Night 8 PM home for 6 Seasons. Rescue 911 was a TOP 30 Show from Season 2 thru 5 (1990-1994). The ratings did drop from #29th place in 1993-1994 to #48th place the next season (according to Wikipedia).

For the 1994-1995 TV Season, NBC had started a successful Sitcom Block led by "Wings" and "Newsradio." This unfortunately hurt 911's ratings. From 1991-1994, 911 and ABC's Full House dominated the Tuesday 8 PM timeslot in terms of ratings and NBC was throwing pasta at the wall trying to see what stick.

Back to 911, putting the show up against NBC's Must See TV was wrong. However, even worse than that was taking a 8 PM Family Show and putting it in a Foreign 9 PM timeslot. Also, debuting as a midseason show (Feb '96) hurt too.

Finishing #48 in the ratings was still okay for TV standards, could the show have stayed at 8 PM Tuesday Night for the 1995-1996 Season? I doubt it, with ABC and NBC both hoarding ratings success with their sitcom blocks, but a slight move to Wednesday at 8 PM would have been GREAT! The only successful shows on Wednesday Nights were ABC's Ellen and The Drew Carey Show and both had finished with a ratings rank in the 40's, very similar to what Rescue 911 in it's final season at 8 PM Tuesday Night.

By the way, Rescue 911 finished it's final season in August 1996 with a dreadful #84th place in the ratings. Thank You CBS!

I can think of two gameshows from the year 2000 that were canceled due to an idiot mistake. Plus, another from 1998.

NBC's Twenty One was a modest hit for the network at a time when NBC was starting to decline in the ratings and CBS was rising to the top. The show had finished between a respectable 30-50th place in the ratings over a 4 month period in 2000 and yet that wasn't enough to renew the show for the 2000-2001 season.

FOX's Greed had settled in to a decent Friday night timeslot by the spring of 2000. While the ratings were nowhere near as good as NBC's Twenty One, Greed was one of the FOX network's better rated shows. "After renewing the show for the summer of 2000 with a possible return for the following season, FOX abruptly canceled the program on July 14th, 2000." (Taken word for word from Wikipedia page)

Lifetime Network's "Debt" was the channel's highest rated show from 1996 to 1998 and it even won a Cable Ace Award for best gameshow. Yet after 2 Seasons Lifetime decided to cancel Debt because research had shown that more men than women (the channel's target audience) were watching the show. This was an incredibly dumb decision considering a lot of men including myself had been watching Unsolved Mysteries reruns on Lifetime since that channel acquired the show in 1992.

The Wb cancelled the shows until its shutdown in 2006:

Popular


Last year, Ryan Murphy spoke about Popular and The WB saying they were homophobic. (http://ew.com/article/2016/09/26/ryan-murphy-wb-popular-homophobic/) He said the reason Popular changed so dramatically in its second season is because The WB forced him to. It sucks because out of all of Ryan's shows, Popular is the best one. It has the best cast, characters, and stories. It's a lot better than Glee, which is basically Popular with singing. It sucks The WB ruined a great show.

Daytime Soaps in recent years were cancelled due to dumb moves by the networks.

First up, NBC's "Another World" was a massive success, an institution really, but somewhere along the lines NBC decided to tinker with it and made a lot of creative changes (in the early 90's) that drove fans away. Then they decided to kill off characters people LOVED (Frankie Frame!) and eventually it got cancelled in favor of dumb shows like Passions and Sunset Beach that never got a fraction of the audience AW had.

More recently, CBS cancelled Guiding Light and As The World Turns, for no reason other than sheer stupidity. GL has a big success, continued getting decent ratings (for a soap) and then they went and changed the production model (how the show is produced); changing it from a traditional soap with sets to a show filmed outside and on-location. Fans hated the new look, the new writing was a flop and the cast hated it too. It took too long, it was boring and ratings dropped massively because of this. The show was cancelled.

ATWT was still going strong in the ratings and with critics. CBS had no reason to cancel it.



ABC made the bonehead choice to cancel One Life To Live and All My Children, after spending nearly a decade trying to destroy them with bad creative decisions, slashing the budgets and giving these shows almost no promotion at all.

I've sworn off NBC ever since they canceled "Another World," "Sale of the Century," "Santa Barbara," and "Sunset Beach."

Mama's Family: Technically, it wasn't really canceled, it was just decided that they had enough episodes to be sold into syndication. This was just a dumb move. We could've/shoud've gotten at least one more season to see more of baby Tiffany Thelma.



I agree, honestly, Mama should have paid for Vint and Naomi's trailer to be fixed so they would save up for their spot at the trailer park. And finally she would have them out of their hair with the exception of frequent visits to the house. Now that is a show I would love to see be rebooted. But I am afraid it's impossible due to the old age of characters.

I'll also agree with other posters about the soap genre. I'm a huge fan of Days of our Lives and I hope it doesn't get canceled (at least for another 5 or so years). I was also somewhat of an All My Children fan. I miss AMC being on ABC.

The Wonder Years and the sexual harrassment debacle.

Doogie Howser MD-idiot mistake was ABC decided to cancel it! Steven Bochco had a plan for Doogie to retire from medicine and become a writer but ABC canned the series before he could finish it off.

The Jeffersons-CBS abruptly cancelled it without letting the cast and crew know. In fact, Sherman Hemsley had to find out via the newspaper.

When ABC moved "Samantha Who" from its post-Dancing With The Stars timeslot and along w/Ugly Betty put it on Thursday nights. Its ratings fell as it wasn't yet a proven series.

Match Game 1990-noon death slot and canned to expand the home show

Harper Valley PTA-when Sherwood and. Lloyd Schwartz were forced out as showrunners

Match Game 1990-noon death slot and canned to expand the home show


The same thing happened to Ryan's Hope in 1989, which was moved to the noon death slot to make way for Loving.

Match Game 1990-noon death slot and canned to expand the home show


The same thing happened to Ryan's Hope in 1989, which was moved to the noon death slot to make way for Loving.

ABC Execs made a lot of bad programming decisions during the 1979-80 season, basically ruining just about all of their hit shows.

The worst decision was to spin the Ropers off in the first place, IMO.

Norman Fell didn't want to do it and in retrospect, he was right.

How about the "rural purge" of the 1971? Several iconic shows that proved to be popular in syndication got cancelled that year including The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mister Ed, Lassie, Petticoat Junction, and Hee Haw. Apparently they were too old and rural skewing, and there was trend in the early '70s to appeal to young urban people. Fred Silverman is responsible for this. I personally liked Green Acres and Petticoat Junction and I think it was a mistake to cancel them :rolleyes:

The worst decision was to spin the Ropers off in the first place, IMO.

Norman Fell didn't want to do it and in retrospect, he was right.

Agree. I watch The Ropers on Antenna TV, and that show and Three's A Crowd is seriously lacking in quality. Neither of the spin-offs should have happened.

How about the "rural purge" of the 1971? Several iconic shows that proved to be popular in syndication got cancelled that year including The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mister Ed, Lassie, Petticoat Junction, and Hee Haw. Apparently they were too old and rural skewing, and there was trend in the early '70s to appeal to young urban people. Fred Silverman is responsible for this. I personally liked Green Acres and Petticoat Junction and I think it was a mistake to cancel them :rolleyes:



Agree. I watch The Ropers on Antenna TV, and that show and Three's A Crowd is seriously lacking in quality. Neither of the spin-offs should have happened.

The Ropers leaving Three's Company was the beginning of the end for me. Stanley Roper was replaced by the annoying Ralph Furley and the following season, Suzanne Somers would depart. The show was never the same after the third season.

Canceling Hee Haw and other rural based shows for more hip urban programming which ironically HH outlasted.

Canceling Hee Haw and other rural based shows for more hip urban programming which ironically HH outlasted.

Had I been running the network, I would not have cancelled Hee Haw.

I simply wouldn't have put on any new rural shows from that point onward.

Canceling The Rat Patrol neutering and canceling the Wild Wild West all because of parents groups whining about violence you know the type okay with fist fights and pier 6 brawls but not with the good guys shooting the villains. and not giving When Things were Rotten and Police Squad a chance.

"BOB"

Lasted almost two full seasons.

Newhart's third sitcom.

The 1990's.

His follow-up to hit shows from both the 1970's and 80's.

A critical darling lost in time that could have gone on for 5 + seasons.

Awful time slot.

"BOB"

Lasted almost two full seasons.

Newhart's third sitcom.

The 1990's.

His follow-up to hit shows from both the 1970's and 80's.

A critical darling lost in time that could have gone on for 5 + seasons.

Awful time slot.

Didn't they make some changes to the show for the second season as well?

I didn't see many episodes, but I vaguely recall that there were some changes made for the second and final season.

Didn't they make some changes to the show for the second season as well?

I didn't see many episodes, but I vaguely recall that there were some changes made for the second and final season.

Yep. Total overhaul. Killed the show for me and I stopped watching. Cast change, setting change, and went from being about a comic book artist to a greeting card artist. Lame.

Yep. Total overhaul. Killed the show for me and I stopped watching. Cast change, setting change, and went from being about a comic book artist to a greeting card artist. Lame.

All this and more.

Eventually, Les Moonves became President and transformed the network to what it is today.

I believe even he took solace and realized his predecessors mistake and so "George and Leo" was born over a Golf Course meeting with Newhart.

Unfortunately, that show wasn't very good and even on Monday's under performed for the network.

It was quickly cancelled.

The Ropers. It did well enough for a second season, but then some jackass at ABC thought it would be a good idea to change its timeslot.

It never recovered.

Totally agree! The chemistry between Brooks & Roper was better than the chemistry on any show today. It was a great show compared to the average sitcom & should've gotten a 3rd season!

Yep. Total overhaul. Killed the show for me and I stopped watching. Cast change, setting change, and went from being about a comic book artist to a greeting card artist. Lame.

Thanks for refreshing my memory. It had been so long ago that I'd forgotten.

I'm still going with not giving shows like When Things Were Rotten Police Squad Last Precinct Sledgehammer and Danger Theatre a chance with the popularity of Airplane and the Naked Gun movies as well as Mel brooks movies these shows were a breath of fresh air from all the family sitcoms and Norman Lear type shows of the 70's 80's and the smarmy self ridicule sitcoms of the 90's.

a few years back on cbs aired a sitcom called friends with better lives wich got decent ratings and that most of the tv critics thought had a real chance to grow into a hit but since it was not owned by cbs then entertainment cheif nina tassler overruled common sense thinking and insisted on renewing the cbs owned but so so rated and criticlly trahed the millers for a second year wich turned out to be a HUGE mistake

"BOB"

Lasted almost two full seasons.

Newhart's third sitcom.

The 1990's.

His follow-up to hit shows from both the 1970's and 80's.

A critical darling lost in time that could have gone on for 5 + seasons.

Awful time slot.
Bob was okay, but I loved George and Leo. Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsch had such great chemistry together. Loved the episode that had a bunch of their various former co-stars from their various series.

a few years back on cbs aired a sitcom called friends with better lives wich got decent ratings and that most of the tv critics thought had a real chance to grow into a hit but since it was not owned by cbs then entertainment cheif nina tassler overruled common sense thinking and insisted on renewing the cbs owned but so so rated and criticlly trahed the millers for a second year wich turned out to be a HUGE mistake

FWBL had promise and Rob was a cute little family comedy that did decent in the ratings. Cheech Marin was a gem on that show as rob's father-in-law. The actress who payed the wife was really hot as well. :)

Also, The Class was from the producers of Friends. It had heart and more importantly it was very funny and had a good cast. Could've been a classic.
It was so much better than that stupid piece of trash, HIMYM.

All this and more.

Eventually, Les Moonves became President and transformed the network to what it is today.

I believe even he took solace and realized his predecessors mistake and so "George and Leo" was born over a Golf Course meeting with Newhart.

Unfortunately, that show wasn't very good and even on Monday's under performed for the network.

It was quickly cancelled.
G&L lasted one full season, and I thought it was very good. Newhart and Hirsch had great chemistry together. IMO, Much better chemistry than Newhart had with any of his Bob co-stars, except maybe for season two's Jere Burns and Betty White.

The WB's Savannah fits the bill here. Its first season was well-rated and was made it the #1 series on the WB network at the time. It aired on Sunday nights and was a big success. In season 2, the series was moved to Monday nights where it competed against Melrose Place, a big hit series on FOX which shared the same producer as Savannah, Aaron Spelling.

Ratings Fell steadily with the move and Aaron Spelling requested the WB cancel the series so it wouldn't steal any audience from Melrose Place.

So really TWO bonehead moves; moving the show to Sunday and allowing a producer to control the scheduling.

That should be Monday

My Name is Earl not even a MFTV movie to follow up with the cliffhanger sheesh.

That should be Monday


Yes, you are correct. Sorry for the typo. They moved it to Monday.

How about the "rural purge" of the 1971? Several iconic shows that proved to be popular in syndication got cancelled that year including The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mister Ed, Lassie, Petticoat Junction, and Hee Haw. Apparently they were too old and rural skewing, and there was trend in the early '70s to appeal to young urban people. Fred Silverman is responsible for this. I personally liked Green Acres and Petticoat Junction and I think it was a mistake to cancel them :rolleyes:



Agree. I watch The Ropers on Antenna TV, and that show and Three's A Crowd is seriously lacking in quality. Neither of the spin-offs should have happened.

I think you mean Mayberry RFD, because the Andy Griffith Show had ended in 1967. Anyway, years ago I had to take a television history class for my masters in media and we discussed this. Even though most of the shows were hits, they tended to skew towards, older, rural, conservative viewers. Personally, yes it was a mistake to cancel but they were looking at advertiser money and believed that younger, more affluent people would spend more.

Caving in to parents groups and other sjw groups by either canceling or neutering shows that they don't like and of course the rural purge.

I think you mean Mayberry RFD, because the Andy Griffith Show had ended in 1967. Anyway, years ago I had to take a television history class for my masters in media and we discussed this. Even though most of the shows were hits, they tended to skew towards, older, rural, conservative viewers. Personally, yes it was a mistake to cancel but they were looking at advertiser money and believed that younger, more affluent people would spend more.

Yes, I meant Mayberry RFD. Wikipedia was saying The Andy Griffith Show was a part of that mix, but clearly it's wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge

Yep went from good quality sometimes stereotypical rural shows to the endless flow of often liberal urban and suburban shows that pollute the airwaves from 1972 to present we need a counter purge.

I think you mean Mayberry RFD, because the Andy Griffith Show had ended in 1967. Anyway, years ago I had to take a television history class for my masters in media and we discussed this. Even though most of the shows were hits, they tended to skew towards, older, rural, conservative viewers. Personally, yes it was a mistake to cancel but they were looking at advertiser money and believed that younger, more affluent people would spend more.

The Andy Griffith Show ended in 1968

How about the "rural purge" of the 1971? Several iconic shows that proved to be popular in syndication got cancelled that year including The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mister Ed, Lassie, Petticoat Junction, and Hee Haw. Apparently they were too old and rural skewing, and there was trend in the early '70s to appeal to young urban people. Fred Silverman is responsible for this. I personally liked Green Acres and Petticoat Junction and I think it was a mistake to cancel them :rolleyes:

I agree completely. It was an absolutely boneheaded move that did nothing to improve the quality of TV. And the fact that so many people today that are not rural and not old still love these shows is proof that the purge was a mistake.

Admittedly some of those shows were running low on story ideas but I think Green Acres could have easily run 2 more seasons if not for the stupidity of Fred Silverman.

Yes, I meant Mayberry RFD. Wikipedia was saying The Andy Griffith Show was a part of that mix, but clearly it's wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge
you should know not to trust Wikipedia.

I agree completely. It was an absolutely boneheaded move that did nothing to improve the quality of TV. And the fact that so many people today that are not rural and not old still love these shows is proof that the purge was a mistake.

Admittedly some of those shows were running low on story ideas but I think Green Acres could have easily run 2 more seasons if not for the stupidity of Fred Silverman.
same with Gomer Pyle. But I think that was cancelled because Jim Nabors didn't want to do it anymore.
(I've never thought of that as a "rural sitcom" however)

Canceling SWAT because it was too violent but somehow Starsky and Hutch and Hawaii 5'0 managed to stay on the air two to three more years.

I agree completely. It was an absolutely boneheaded move that did nothing to improve the quality of TV. And the fact that so many people today that are not rural and not old still love these shows is proof that the purge was a mistake.

Admittedly some of those shows were running low on story ideas but I think Green Acres could have easily run 2 more seasons if not for the stupidity of Fred Silverman.

I would have let the rural shows with good ratings continue, but would have told producers that the network would not be taking on any new shows of that ilk.

Why kill a cash cow when something's still bringing in $$$?