I don't think the show ever jumped the shark. It was pretty solid to me. Yeah, had a few weak eps, but I never thought the show really jumped the shark. In a way, I wish the show would've lasted longer, but in a way, I'm kind of glad it went out when it was still good. Some shows, ohno: they just get so sucky and yet they still stay on the air. It just kind of destroys the good parts of the show if you have any bad parts of the show. lol, I think I'm talking in codes.

I think it didn't. Like you said, there were weak eps, but every series has those. I thought even the colors eps were pretty solid. A lot of that though was Bill and Ray. They were always on.

...there WERE plans for a fourth season. Producer Jack {"Mr. Cheapo"} Chertok KNEW the ratings were down during the 1965-'66 season on CBS, so he decided to show the network what he intended to do to "freshen" up the show- the last episode that was filmed that season introduced Uncle Martin's nephew Andy ["When You Get Back Home To Mars, Are You Gonna Get It"]. Ray Walston recalled that, when CBS executives saw this episode before it aired in February 1966, they told Jack Chertok and his entourage, "That's it, boys, so long". And shortly after that, the network announced that "MY FAVORITE MARTIAN" would not return for another season. And the final episode was "burned off" that February, so viewers wouldn't notice the direction the plot was going (ironically, the last original episode that aired on CBS, in May 1966, was the first "time-travel" story that was shot in black & white for season two, but withheld from broadcast because Chertok wanted to introduce the "TTCBS" element at the beginning of season three!).

I don't see anything wrong with the amount of time it ran.


If the ratings were bad its 1st season CBS would have pulled the plug at the end.

The show was cancelled while it was still in it's prime and in beautiful color. It never had a chance to become tired, I hate the jump shark term. It could have gone on for another 5 years in color, it would have been great!

If you read what TV Knowledge Fan said?


The ratings were down.

I'm answering the original question posed. "Could it have gone on longer?" What excuses were given for cancelling it are irrelevant to the question.

Whatever.

If you read what TV Knowledge Fan said?


The ratings were down.

I want to comment on your original point and then say something about TV Knowledge Fan.

"I don't see anything wrong with the amount of time it ran".

You make a valid point, there are 107 episodes of My Favorite Martian, to put that in context The Big Bang Theory produced 111 episodes in its first 5 seasons! The Brady Bunch 117 episodes! Martian's three seasons were super seasons. My Favorite Martian faced stiffer competition in season three, Disney was still a top 20 perennial at the time plus ABC moved Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea to Sunday at 7 pm, so the competition was just too stiff.

The wacky thing about all this is what CBS did next, It's About Time moves into the 7:30 slot the following season and bombs. What were they thinking, this show had virtually nothing going for it at all, the network would have been better off renewing Martian until something better came along.

I wanted to write briefly about TV Knowledge Fan, whoever this was did great posts, he hasn't been seen in these parts since 2014 (the post you responded to was from 4/6/2006), but he always seem to come to the table with interesting things to say. I was surprised by the fact that he indicated the network was not happy with the nephew Andy angle, I thought it was a solid strategy that might have worked.

I want to comment on your original point and then say something about TV Knowledge Fan.

"I don't see anything wrong with the amount of time it ran".

You make a valid point, there are 107 episodes of My Favorite Martian, to put that in context The Big Bang Theory produced 111 episodes in its first 5 seasons! The Brady Bunch 117 episodes! Martian's three seasons were super seasons. My Favorite Martian faced stiffer competition in season three, Disney was still a top 20 perennial at the time plus ABC moved Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea to Sunday at 7 pm, so the competition was just too stiff.

The wacky thing about all this is what CBS did next, It's About Time moves into the 7:30 slot the following season and bombs. What were they thinking, this show had virtually nothing going for it at all, the network would have been better off renewing Martian until something better came along.




And you honestly expected them to keep a low rated show on?

Also you can't expect a network to avoid scheduling shows on certain time slots just because they might get canceled easily.

Something's gotta go there.

And you honestly expected them to keep a low rated show on?

Also you can't expect a network to avoid scheduling shows on certain time slots just because they might get canceled easily.

Something's gotta go there.

My point (and obviously the network executives did not agree) was the My Favorite Martian series with the young nephew added into the mix might have revitalized the show. It's About Time was a one trick pony, once the two astronauts are settled into the caveman village there isn't a whole lot more you can do with it.

I want to comment on your original point and then say something about TV Knowledge Fan.

"I don't see anything wrong with the amount of time it ran".

You make a valid point, there are 107 episodes of My Favorite Martian, to put that in context The Big Bang Theory produced 111 episodes in its first 5 seasons! The Brady Bunch 117 episodes! Martian's three seasons were super seasons. My Favorite Martian faced stiffer competition in season three, Disney was still a top 20 perennial at the time plus ABC moved Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea to Sunday at 7 pm, so the competition was just too stiff.

The wacky thing about all this is what CBS did next, It's About Time moves into the 7:30 slot the following season and bombs. What were they thinking, this show had virtually nothing going for it at all, the network would have been better off renewing Martian until something better came along.

I wanted to write briefly about TV Knowledge Fan, whoever this was did great posts, he hasn't been seen in these parts since 2014 (the post you responded to was from 4/6/2006), but he always seem to come to the table with interesting things to say. I was surprised by the fact that he indicated the network was not happy with the nephew Andy angle, I thought it was a solid strategy that might have worked.

The only other plausible reason for MFM's cancellation is Chertok himself. My Living Doll was a complete disaster and I feel CBS blamed him solely despite the fact that it was Bob Cummings who ditched the show but I digress. Obviously the network must have been pleased with Jack Mullaney carrying the remainder of the show that they decided to give him a series by Sherwood Schwartz and we all know how that turned out...

The only other plausible reason for MFM's cancellation is Chertok himself. My Living Doll was a complete disaster and I feel CBS blamed him solely despite the fact that it was Bob Cummings who ditched the show but I digress. Obviously the network must have been pleased with Jack Mullaney carrying the remainder of the show that they decided to give him a series by Sherwood Schwartz and we all know how that turned out...

I don't believe the problems that plagued My Living Doll came into play with respect to the decision to cancel My Favorite Martian. From what I've read the network felt the show had run out of gas. One real danger sign was the declining ratings, the series ranked number 10 its first season, number 24 its second season, and dropped all the way to 45 in season 3. Sherwood Schwartz who of course benefitted from the series cancellation felt the show had lost focus. The premise was a Martian stranded on Earth searching for a way to get back to Mars and dealing with various impediments to that. By season 3 the show was pulling in time travel plots, and additional elements that seemed far away from the original concept. I don't agree with his conclusion, I thought season 3 was the best season, I'm just putting that out there. I don't know what CBS was thinking greenlighting It's About Time, it was a one note piano. Under those circumstances I thought Martian was a better option and certainly had potential to be a big hit in the syndication market.

I don't believe the problems that plagued My Living Doll came into play with respect to the decision to cancel My Favorite Martian. From what I've read the network felt the show had run out of gas. One real danger sign was the declining ratings, the series ranked number 10 its first season, number 24 its second season, and dropped all the way to 45 in season 3. Sherwood Schwartz who of course benefitted from the series cancellation felt the show had lost focus. The premise was a Martian stranded on Earth searching for a way to get back to Mars and dealing with various impediments to that. By season 3 the show was pulling in time travel plots, and additional elements that seemed far away from the original concept. I don't agree with his conclusion, I thought season 3 was the best season, I'm just putting that out there. I don't know what CBS was thinking greenlighting It's About Time, it was a one note piano. Under those circumstances I thought Martian was a better option and certainly had potential to be a big hit in the syndication market.

I completely agree with the last sentence especially. One more season would've been perfect...two b&w and two color. It's About Time was a grave mistake for everyone.

Here's what I was told by the MFM representative: Mr Walston was not happy with the overall direction of the series, particularly in the 3rd season scripts, with the use of animals in the plots, (because it was cheaper than hiring actors) and the abandonment of the premise of the series, which was the Martian observing human nature as he tries to return home.
(He once said in a video interview, "They killed the goose that laid the Golden Egg. They didn't know how to keep the goose alive." and "We should have run for 8 years.") In another interview from the 1990s, contrasting "Martian", Mr. Walston expressed admiration for the way Star Trek had evolved, wishing MFM could have reflected such sci-fi ideas.
Therefore, because Mr. Walston wanted to leave the show, the producers then came up with the idea of his 11 year old nephew Andromeda showing up on earth, so that Ray Walston would not have to appear in every episode. If the series had been picked up for a 4th season, Uncle Martin and Andy would have returned to Mars, but Andy would have been sent back to live with Tim in order for him to learn about Earth and Uncle Martin would check in with him from time to time.
Needless to say CBS rejected that idea. The show was said to have been shopped to ABC, but without Mr. Walston's participation, that network was not interested either.

Here's what I was told by the MFM representative: Mr Walston was not happy with the overall direction of the series, particularly in the 3rd season scripts, with the use of animals in the plots, (because it was cheaper than hiring actors) and the abandonment of the premise of the series, which was the Martian observing human nature as he tries to return home.
(He once said in a video interview, "They killed the goose that laid the Golden Egg. They didn't know how to keep the goose alive." and "We should have run for 8 years.") In another interview from the 1990s, contrasting "Martian", Mr. Walston expressed admiration for the way Star Trek had evolved, wishing MFM could have reflected such sci-fi ideas.
Therefore, because Mr. Walston wanted to leave the show, the producers then came up with the idea of his 11 year old nephew Andromeda showing up on earth, so that Ray Walston would not have to appear in every episode. If the series had been picked up for a 4th season, Uncle Martin and Andy would have returned to Mars, but Andy would have been sent back to live with Tim in order for him to learn about Earth and Uncle Martin would check in with him from time to time.
Needless to say CBS rejected that idea. The show was said to have been shopped to ABC, but without Mr. Walston's participation, that network was not interested either.


There certainly is a lot to unpack here, so first thanks for posting, although most of the information is available on the web I don't believe it has ever been presented in this forum. With that as a set up let's take a look:

"Mr Walston was not happy with the overall direction of the series, particularly in the 3rd season scripts, with the use of animals in the plots"

Uncle Martin's ability to communicate with animals was certainly a part of the first season (maybe a bit in the second season), I don't remember it being a significant part of season 3.

With respect to the abandonment of the original premise, that sounds like the observation made by Sherwood Schwartz (which I covered). I think the show was up against very formidable competition on NBC with the increasingly popular Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and on ABC Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea which started at 7pm. Martian was doing well against Voyage but the science fiction series was definitely siphoning some of the Martian audience particularly boys and younger adults, and that mixed with the female friendly Disney programming left My Favorite Martian in a very vulnerable position. Jack Chertok (the Producer) had to do something after the 14 position rating drop in season two so he introduced more elaborate gadgetry (chiefly the time machine), gave the Martian a few new powers. Of course it was gimmicky but he needed to fight fire with fire. I thought season 3 was the best so I don't agree with the premise that the scripts were bad, look at the first two episodes of season 3, funny, exciting a lot of energy, some of the best work done during the series run.

With respect to the shows that followed Martian's cancellation, see how well they did:

It's About Time 66-67 - one and done

Gentle Ben 67-69 - two seasons cancelled

To Rome With Love - Lasted one season in the 7:30 time slot, moved to Tuesday cancelled after half a season.

Hogan's Heroes 70-71 Final season

Martian did better than all those shows!

One final note Lassie the lead in series was also going down, dropping to number 17 in Martian's second season, and then to 27 in Martian's third season, and keep in mind it was not up against Disney.

I've seen the Andromeda discussion before. The key reason he was being added to the series had it gone to a 4th season was an attempt to bring back some of the younger viewers who had drifted away from the series. I thought it was a good idea, the show was up against an increasingly popular Disney show, fire with fire.

Walston wasn't going anywhere, don't kid yourself. He was a working actor, 52 years of age with a five year contract (pretty standard at the time), walking away from the series leaving the producer holding the bag would have been potential career suicide. Hollywood is a small town, old saying. I don't doubt he had issues, but my guess would be they were related to money, he considered Chertok a cheapskate.

One final note, I don't know what Walston was thinking comparing My Favorite Martian with Star Trek, to me that would be like comparing The Munsters with The Waltons.