TVSquad

When FOX launched I used to tell my friends (online and off), "When a show is on FOX, you can bet it'll get a chance." But now I tell them, "Better not get too attached to it because... it's on FOX!"

Sadly, a lot of FOX shows don't get the ratings they deserve because of what FOX does: yank new series from the air too fast. TV fans know that FOX is too quick to judge now and decide NOT to give those new FOX series a try because, in the end, they might end up being cancelled too soon.

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Was I watching the same Drive as you? The show was terribly acted, ok dialog and an interesting primise, but that's it. I'm so fucknig sick of people using Drive as Fox not giving it a chance! They had the most ads this year, and still no one watched!

And Fox now needs to cancel shows sooner because they aren't in a "we have nothing to lose" area that NBC now is. Fox is well known and needs to keep that up.

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Drive was one of the best shows on tv in a long time? Have you not watched Heroes or Lost? I can name at least a dozen more shows better that has come out in the last few years. Drive was a decent to good show and it didn't deserve to be pulled with 2 episodes left. I know it's sweeps month so all bets are off, Fox can't afford the ratings dip and it was hurting 24 as well. (After last night's episode of 24, they can pull that now too.) They should at least play the last 2 episodes in June.

FOX is now a much bigger network and has to play by the rules as far as advertisers and ratings go. The CW is the only network that can afford to let a show run it's course or build an audience. FOX wants to win the ratings war in May and Drive wasn't doing it's part to make that work.

Daybreak is about the only show that got pulled this year that upset me. It was a well put together show that was supposed to fill the void when Lost took a break. I wanted it to work so more networks would do the same, develop 6 - 13 episode series to fill the non-ratings months so we didn't have reruns. Just like we get some summer fun type series. Reality shows have lightened the budget for some networks, so why not develop more scripted shows too..... the solution is not more reality.... NBC!!!!!!!!

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Somehow I knew when I saw the headline there would be a Firefly pic there (or at worst, a shot of Nathan from Drive).

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The story of "Arrested Development" says it all really. A show that won award after award around the world, killed in its prime.

I feel sorry for y'all across the pond there. Here in the UK I don't think a show has ever been cancelled. They get commissioned for "a series" (season) and they all get made before any are aired. Then they're all shown and the viewing figures are what they are. It was either the right decision or it wasn't. Once the series is over, then comes the decision whether to make another series next year. So many shows started out slow (UK: The Office) but gained audience during their run. I think The Office actually got better viewing figures in it's first re-run some months later as the buzz grew about that show that so many people missed in its first airing.

This all comes down to stupid network executives that don't know what a good show is. How did they get that job if they don't recognize quality programming? If they like it, all their friends like it, the show wins awards, then it's good. If it's not getting viewing figures then maybe that's their fault by putting it in a bad time-slot, or not advertising it enough.

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Does it matter whether it is good or not? Three episodes is just enough for a viewer to get their feet wet on the premise. Not to mention just get introduced to the characters. We started to see what each character was about a little bit, as they just started the race. Who knows where the storyline would've taken us.

What gets me, is that the show wasn't even old enough for people to start suggesting it to their friends, which would've brought the ratings up, if only a little bit. I don't know about you, but I don't suggest a show to friends unless I've sat through a few episodes.

Networks aren't even giving people a chance to say yes or no anymore, and that will just drive people away. Why should I watch a show on any network, when I know it will get yanked before I settle in?

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"Drive was the most exciting, interesting and well acted show I have seen on TV in a long time."

Right....

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Parker Lewis can't lose had some pretty bad ratings, despite being a great show. It was on for 3 seasons.

Looks like a show has to be a hit within 2 weeks if it is going to survive these days. Ridiculous.

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I'm a TV lover but I got limits to how much awful TV I can handle.

Firefly, Vanished and Drive were all terrible shows that imo didn't even deserve to have a pilot filmed let alone have several episodes make it to the air.

Action was good though.

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Harsh Realm

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Fox going gives garbage shows a chance now. If there is anything good - IE DRIVE they yank it. That is why I only want Fox for NASCAR otherwise I don't even bother looking to see what's on.

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I still blame it on reality tv. Why pay $300K an episode to an actor and give $50K for a whole season for some schmo on the street.

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Derek,

I don't think Arrested development is a very good example. As smart and critically acclaimed the show was, it wasn't getting great ratings and being a Ron Howard production, I can't imagine being very cheap to produce. That being said, Fox kept it for 3 seasons.

Granted the third season needed a companion map just to find it on the schedule grid, but nonetheless it was the quality of the show that kept it around.

Now while I enjoyed Drive as a guilty pleasure, I can't blame them for dumping it is it wasn't bringing in the ratings. The advertised the hell out of it and were priming it for a may sweeps winner, but when it didn't perform in April, they cut it. It looked to be another expensive show to produce. They may have kept it a little longer if it didn't cost as much. Look at what CBS did with Smith. They canned it real quick due to the cost/ratings ratio

TV is a business and if the shows don't perform they are cut. Most like to use Firefly as an example, but even though the show had a large dedicated core fan base, it couldn't even generate enough revenue in the theaters for Joss Whedon to produce another film.

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Drive. Good?

Nevermind. When I think of FOX I remember the schedule changing week by week. Shows being announced, premieres being moved, shows being canceled. A lot of shows I used to watch on FOX I stopped watching, not out of lack of interest, but because I never knew when they'd be airing. Color me surprised that Dark Angel had a semblance of an ending when I caught it on Sci-Fi.

It's like that speech Peter gives on the first of the "new" family guy episodes. A lot of good shows died.

And it's worse that the other big networks are now following this FOX policy of shuffle a show around until you cancel it. We knew Andy Barker P.I. was canceled before it aired, but did NBC have to move the last episodes to Saturday?

For me, DVRs arrived at just the right time.

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"Maybe I was the only one who liked Vanished"

I think you were. The show was nearly unwatchable. Bad acting, bad premise (hey Kidnapped was the exact same premise with better actors and its flopped), and bad writing.

That being said I enjoyed Drive, loved Firefly after the fact, and don't think Fox gave them a chance. But that's because they don't have to. They can just put another hour of House or extend American Idol. The only reasons shows had a better chance to grow and thrive in the old Fox was because Fox had no other choices. The CW is more like the old Fox. No way Veronica Mars would have lasted a full year on Fox.

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Sure, FOX has had some winners, but what about all the losers? I mean, are we really going to lament:

Down the Shore
Herman's Head
Kelsey Grammer's Sketch Show
Duet
Luis (Guzman, what were you thinking??)
Method & Red (From "How High" fame)
The Pitts
Happy Hour
Quintuplets (Yet another Richter failure)
That 80's Show (though the punk chick was HOT)
Wanda at Large
Women in Prison
The Heights (How do YOU talk to an angel?)
Justice
Models Inc.
Pacific Palisades
Pasadena
VR.5
and about a billion terrible reality shows?

Sure, we lost some good ones along the way - I mean, they canned the Ben Stiller Show fast (which is now on DVD and hillarious - watch Ben as Bono and you'll be rolling), and I loved the zaniness of Banzai (which then jumped to Comedy Central, and now G4), but look at some of the crap they've put out.

Drive, for me, was just too silly. Cross country race meets Lost? Pass. I can understand wanting a bit of something different in a sea of sameness, but it needs to be something we can all sink our teeth into.

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who liked "Vanished," and that includes the makers of "Vanished." They hated that show almost as much as they hated us, and set about proving it early and often.

"Drive" was an interesting concept, but fell far short of the finish in pretty much every department, from writing and casting all the way through to editing and cinematography. Bash Fox all you want for yanking "Arrested Development" and "Firefly" - but if you're whining about "Vanished" and "Drive" being cut down in their prime, you're devaluing the "Fox has terrible programming instincts" argument.

Want to dry hump a spectacular Minear gem, unjustly given the shaft by the dullards at Fox HQ? Give us a frothy thousand words or so on the brilliance that was "The Inside." That show was quaking with potential, then right when the awesomeness kicked into overdrive (they made Peter Coyote into Batman), 'byoink!' - it vanished.

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I couldn't agree more. It's not just FOX. Andy Barker, PI fell victim to the same thing over at NBC. These networks don't care about building a fan-base and having the ratings consistently good once they got up there. All they want now are huge shares from the premier on. They're so wrapped up in "event TV" that they've forgotten regular television.

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It's become a self fulfilling prophecy and Fox are losing out. If a show requires a modicum of intelligence and isn't based around cops / courts / hospitals and it airs on Fox then forget it. If they're trying to appeal to the lowest common demographic then they've got it nailed. Good luck on advertising all those baked beans and chilli dogs, and don't bother covering the Emmys, you weren't invited.
Seriously, if a show airs on Fox I won't even bother to Tivo it, I'll wait and see if it lasts a full season, wait to see if it's picked up for a second and *then* will I check it out.

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I miss Drive already. I was so sad to find out that it was cancelled after only a few episodes.

Even though I was disappointed, though, I can say that I was definitely not surprised. Ever since Fox gave up on Firefly, one of the best shows on television *ever* (I'm not exaggerating, but clearly this is my opinion and I don't expect everyone else to think this :P) I have had no faith in them or any shows that they pick up. I *knew* that they weren't going to give Drive a chance.

Ugh. My hatred for Fox runs deep. Drive was the first show that made me tune into Fox in a long, long time.

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