Worst Network Decisions

[Chambers]

What were some of the worst network decisions ever made? I'm guessing this list will include a lot show cancellations.

[Brian]

ABC made a big mistake making all these alterations (getting rid of all the supporting cast and moving the show to a different time slot) to Mork & Mindy before the 1979-80 season. The results were irrepairable.

I forget which network The Outer Limits was on (the 60s version) but they shouldn't have changed the show's time slot.

Another network decision that was really bad was NBC giving another year to Chico and the Man, even after Freddie Prinze committed suicide. I pretend that season doesn't exist, that it's a different series.

[Sid]

CBS cancelling Gilligan's Island instead of Gunsmoke which went on to last anthoer 8 years.

NBC canning Inside Schwartz in the middle of it's first season of course they were the same "geniuses"(sarcasism) that let "Friends" on for a full decade (Sorry I hate Friends).

[spunkygirl]

This probably doesn't sound like a biggie but ABC moving Boy Meets World from 8:30 to 9:30 during it's 4th Season

Hmmm ABC cancelling Lois and Clark, and not giving the fans any type of closure for the series, word has it ABC deliberately moved L&C to a different day to kill it, so they would have Sundays free for the The Wonderful World of Disney

I'll probably think of more later

[vashti1999]

CBS giving Family Matters another life after it already died, maybe not the worst, but pretty bad.

[spunkygirl]

Originally posted by barwars
Im just glad it wasn't cancelled at that one point (was it Season 4? Im not sure)

I read that somewhere, I'm not sure if that is just an online rumor or what. I think ABC was trying to kill it by moving it to 9:30 though, and an episode from Season 4, where Topanga is babysitting and Cory comes over is another parody, the boy talked about this Curly headed kid on tv and the Friday night lineup, and that they moved that show to 9:30, and says "they're trying to kill it, they're trying to kill it" after that ABC moved BMW back to 8:30

[spunkygirl]

Originally posted by barwars
HAha.
I remember that!!
Networks sure are run by idiots.

Although, fans of Cheers and Family Ties everywhere will always admire Brandon Tartikoff for his brilliant idea "I like it, its staying"

I miss Brandon, he was a true network genius, he would def. be shocked by how networks treat shows nowadays

[treky]

CBS-canncelling "WKRP in Cinncinati" after just 3 seasons

ABC- letting "Welcome Back Kotter" go on after John Travolta & Gabe Kaplan left.

Nick at Nite-deciding to show 80s and 90s shows, and deciding to rerun "The Cosby show" 6 times every night, or however many times they show it

[spunkygirl]

Originally posted by treky
CBS-canncelling "WKRP in Cinncinati" after just 3 seasons

ABC- letting "Welcome Back Kotter" go on after John Travolta & Gabe Kaplan left.

Nick at Nite-deciding to show 80s and 90s shows, and deciding to rerun "The Cosby show" 6 times every night, or however many times they show it

I don't see anything wrong with them airing 80's and 90's shows, TVLAND is for classics, N@N should be for 80's and 90's IMO

I agree, but now it's Roseanne, and soon Fresh Prince

[stella]

Don't forget NBC and "The Heidi Game":

The Heidi Game
Oakland Raiders 43, New York Jets 32
Nov. 17, 1968


By Phil Barber
NFL Publishing

(Nov. 24, 1999) — You want an indication of the bizarre nature of the football war waged by the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets on the afternoon of Nov. 17, 1968? Though the game was filled with marquee-worthy stars — Joe Namath, Daryle Lamonica, Fred Biletnikoff and Don Maynard among them — the two most notable acts were turned in by guys named Preston Ridlehuber and Dick Cline.

Ridlehuber would be permanently out of football little more than a year later. Cline never set foot on an NFL field.

The event now known as the Heidi Game featured a most remarkable ending. But what earned it a spot in sporting lore — and 10th place among the Most Memorable NFL Games of the Century — is the fact that most of the nation was not allowed to see that conclusion. After the Jets' Jim Turner kicked a field goal to give his team a 32-29 lead with 1:05 to play, NBC went to a commercial. When the network returned, it was not to a taut battle of American Football League heavyweights. It was to "Heidi," that pig-tailed Alpine goat-herder, as played by Jennifer Edwards in a made-for-TV premiere movie.

Time out for a little contextual set-up: The Jets and Raiders were the class of the AFL. Each was 7-2 coming into this showdown at the Oakland Coliseum. More than that, their games had blossomed into hatefests, full of late hits and bloody noses. This one was not a disappointment.

The Heidi Game featured five lead changes and a dizzying show of aerial acrobatics. Namath passed for 381 yards and a touchdown, Lamonica for 311 yards and four touchdowns. Maynard caught 10 passes for 228 yards. The game also included 19 penalties for 238 yards.

It was the penalties, in part, that caused the game to overflow its three-hour time slot. It was due to end at 7 p.m. Eastern time. When it didn't, NBC switched to Heidi in the Eastern and Central zones. The man who threw the switch was Cline, NBC's supervisor of broadcast operation control (BOC).

"I knew something big had happened," says Cline, who still directs sporting events for NBC and CBS, "because we didn't get any phone calls at all. And we couldn't call out."

What happened was a torrent of angry calls from East Coast couch potatoes, who asked, in colorful terms, why a spunky little girl had replaced their football game. They flooded the switchboard at Manhattan's Rockefeller Plaza and crashed the phone exchange.

As it happened, they missed a fairly exciting 65 seconds. Lamonica threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to halfback Charlie Smith with 42 seconds to play, giving Oakland a 36-32 lead. The ensuing kickoff spurted free and Ridlehuber, the Raiders' reserve fullback, picked it up and ran into the end zone. The Raiders had scored 14 points in a shorter time than it took Heidi to yodel.

NBC president Julian Goodman issued a formal apology the next day. But no heads rolled, least of all Cline's.

"I was saved by the set of conditions [distributed to network executives each week]," he says. "I had it in print. In fact, the vice president of my division told me that if I had taken it on my own and stayed with the game, I would have been fired."

The problem was one of policy, not individual decision-making. NBC had sold the Heidi advertising to Timex, and was obligated to show the movie from 7 to 9 P.M. The game's surreal finish altered that practice. Evermore, TV networks would stay with football games until their conclusion. The program to follow would then "slide," rather than being joined in progress.

At NBC, one other lasting change followed in the wake of the Jets-Raiders game. The network installed a new phone in the BOC room, wired to a separate exchange. Of course, it became known as the Heidi Phone.

[Superstar]

The WB-moving Sabrina, the Teenage Witch to Thursday nights, in competition with Friends. Moving the show to Thursdays was the final nail in the coffin for the show

[JT]

WKRP ran for four seasons, 1978 to 1982.

My choices...

NBC:
- Moving Flamingo Road from Monday night to Tuesday night, against the big hit Hart to Hart
- Creating Must See TV. I hate most of the shows that ever came from that lineup

CBS:
- Cancelling Gilligan's Island because William Paley's wife wanted Gunsmoke to stay on the air

ABC:
- Moving Ryan's Hope a half-hour earlier so that Loving could take its spot
- Expanding General Hospital and One Life to Live to 45 minutes from 1977 to 1978.

[Dean Winchester]

WB deciding they couldn't afford Sarah Michelle Gellar's salary, so Buffy was picked up by the inferior UPN... a station which never gave it the same treatment as WB did. You could tell the difference when Dawson's Creek ended one week before Buffy did... the WB gave it a 2 hour sendoff, complete with tributes, interviews with the cast during the commercial breaks, "best of" moments during breaks, and an all-round great sendoff. And then UPN gave Buffy a 1-hr finale, NO tributes, no cast interviews, no nothing. And when the final episode ended, no final sendoffs, WB gives their shows.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
WB deciding they couldn't afford Sarah Michelle Gellar's salary, so Buffy was picked up by the inferior UPN... a station which never gave it the same treatment as WB did. You could tell the difference when Dawson's Creek ended one week before Buffy did... the WB gave it a 2 hour sendoff, complete with tributes, interviews with the cast during the commercial breaks, "best of" moments during breaks, and an all-round great sendoff. And then UPN gave Buffy a 1-hr finale, NO tributes, no cast interviews, no nothing. And when the final episode ended, no final sendoffs, WB gives their shows.

WB/UPN treated Roswell even worse. Which is a shame because the show could've run a lot longer than 3 seasons if WB/UPN both didn't treat the show like crap

[gOoSe]

ABC - getting rid of TGIF, i know these shows were having problems but they could of started revamping with new shows THAT season BMW and Sabrina left..
also, "Family Matters" and "Step By Step" to CBS -