Should the Broadcast Networks Just Stop Ordering Shows from Outside Studios Entirely?

[James28]

For some time, I've been thinking that the American Broadcast Networks should just stop picking-up shows from outside/unaffiliated studios and just stick with picking-up shows from their in-house or sister studios going forward. It's no secret that scripted shows get more expensive to produce the longer they stay in first-run production. Outside-studio shows tend to get the short end of the stick during the broadcast nets' spring-cleaning each May. Cancellations are budget-related: Traditionally at the latter stage of a series's run, networks have to pay "full-freight" the cost of production, something nets in the current business environment have been successfully pushing back on and rarely do. This makes series-es in season six and beyond expensive to license for the networks, but also sometimes expensive for the studios themselves to continue to deficit.

I've had a few experiences with shows getting buried or cancelled due to non-ownership. 2 Broke Girls was cancelled by CBS a month after its sixth-season finale aired, simple because it was getting "too expensive" to keep in first run due to what else but non-ownership, being produced by Warner Bros.. Person of Interest (another Warner Bros. production) deserved to have a longer run than just five seasons based on its above-average viewership during its first two seasons. Life in Pieces (owned by 20th Century Fox) was buried in a similar manner, its fourth season being reduced to 13 episodes and airing from April to June, and its final episode had no real closure.

What points can you raise on this? An entire network's scripted slate being entirely produced by that network's sister/in-house production company just because that network is too scared to take any more risks on outside-studio shows.