Why did Fox cancel MWC in 1997 - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 07-08-2019, 06:01 AM

Married...with Children as I think everybody knows, never got a proper series finale.

If you ask Ed O'Neill, he'll tell you that MWC came to an end after 11 seasons because smaller affiliates who bought the show for syndication (which may have been about a $1 million an episode) couldn't take too many more episodes. And MWC produced about 258 episodes. These affiliates didn't need that many episodes to cycle when they could just cycle an estimate of 100 a year. So they began to beg Sony (who produced MWC) and Fox to stop making new episodes.

dee2364 · 07-08-2019, 01:36 PM

The show was canceled most likely because it absolutely sucked in the last two seasons and the ratings were abysmal.

TMC · 07-09-2019, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dee2364

The show was canceled most likely because it absolutely sucked in the last two seasons and the ratings were abysmal.

Well, bare in mind that Fox probably didn't do the show any favors. They moved MWC out of its long time and cushy Sunday 9 p.m. (Fox was likely making a preemptive move due to them believing that the show was running out of gas) slot to launch a new show there. They may have moved the show to Saturday night (back when Saturday nights were still being programmed regularly with scripted shows) that fall because Fox might've felt they wanted to get people to stay home and look at that. When it didn't work, they moved it again to Monday nights.

James28 · 04-23-2020, 02:26 AM

Considering the abruptness of Married... with Children's cancellation, how come that full-page ad still says "THE SERIES FINALE!"? Strange. I think if FOX-TV had given MwC advance notice to end at season 11, they should have done it when they moved it to Monday nights.

07-08-2019, 06:01 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,010	Why did Fox cancel MWC in 1997 Married...with Children as I think everybody knows, never got a proper series finale. If you ask Ed O'Neill, he'll tell you that MWC came to an end after 11 seasons because smaller affiliates who bought the show for syndication (which may have been about a $1 million an episode) couldn't take too many more episodes. And MWC produced about 258 episodes. These affiliates didn't need that many episodes to cycle when they could just cycle an estimate of 100 a year. So they began to beg Sony (who produced MWC) and Fox to stop making new episodes.
	Last edited by TMC; 10-21-2019 at 09:04 PM.

04-23-2020, 02:26 AM	#4
James28 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Apr 14, 2007 Posts: 3,978	Considering the abruptness of Married... with Children's cancellation, how come that full-page ad still says "THE SERIES FINALE!"? Strange. I think if FOX-TV had given MwC advance notice to end at season 11, they should have done it when they moved it to Monday nights.
	__________________ "When the run of a network TV show has ended, some go out with a bang, some with a whimper, but all are...Future Endeavored." "Stay Safe"? More like "Stay Sad". #2020Hurts

07-08-2019, 01:36 PM	#2
dee2364 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 20, 2019 Posts: 643	The show was canceled most likely because it absolutely sucked in the last two seasons and the ratings were abysmal.