Before I get started, forgive me for using this picture again. It's the only one I have on hand of a show that was recently canceled. Now that's out of the way. I suppose if you're reading this you know that this television season has been particularly brutal (especially on the broadcast side) of shows getting canceled immediately. I personally don't have a vested interest in shows getting renewed or canceled because I don't actually watch them. I suppose that because I only look at ratings it kind of puts me in somewhat of a bubble where I only determine a show's worth on how well it's doing and if it looks like it's going to get canceled then quite frankly I'm sitting here counting down the days until it happens. It's not my intention to use this post to ramble so basically I'm just going to make a list of the biggest qualms I see across the internet about why people lament the cancellation of shows and then offer an answer to that. If that list happens to be long then so be it because unlike most of my posts, I'm writing it as I go along.
1. "They never give shows a chance!" This is an argument that you don't typically see for cable shows but there have been instances (Starter Wives Confidential being the most recent example) where a show gets pulled from the air before the end of it.s run. Truth is, these shows are given a chance. When shows get canceled and pulled from the air it's because the ratings are so low that it becomes embarrassing for networks to leave them on the air (ex. The Mob Doctor). There has to be a point where the network realizes that the numbers aren't going to get better and they have to cut their losses and take their chances with reruns or a backup show and usually that becomes evident by the second or third episode. It sucks that the networks won't hold their noses and deal with crappy ratings for your enjoyment but business is business and promises were made to advertisers for whom they are expected to deliver eyeballs for.

2. "It had __ million viewers! That's a lot of people who watched." This is another argument that doesn't really hold a lot of weight for with cable networks. The biggest misconception people have about TV ratings is that they look at the numbers. 7 million viewers looks good. On cable there is not one show that could get 7 million viewers and get canceled. Broadcast TV is different. They sell ads based on demographics, specifically the 18-49 demographic. If a show has 7 million viewers and a 3.0 demo (aka 3% of all American 18-49 year olds who watch TV. See how low that is when you think of the bigger picture?) then a show is in good shape. If a show gets 7 million viewers but a 1.3 demo (Harry's Law is the best example of this) then it's in danger and every broadcast network except The CW (and possibly NBC but it's not particularly good there) is going to look at what their other options are because it' not long for this world.

3. "This is why ___ network sucks. They cancel everything too early." People tend to forget that running a network is somebody's job. It's somebody's job to get people to watch the shows they decide to put on. If people watch the shows then everything is all good. If people don't watch the shows then naturally that person's job is probably in danger and questions will have to be answered so that means the dead weight (shows that are going unwatched) needs to go. For some networks it appears to be more casualties than anything but that's what happens. They just have to keep trying until they find something that works.

4. "They keep (whatever reality crap) over this?" Yes I'm personally on the reality shows suck train but people watch reality shows. This is fact. If people didn't watch them then they would get canceled and they would put on shows that do get watched. Cable networks can run on the reality model because they can program as many hours as they want when they want. Broadcast networks don't have that luxury. They have the task of filling 10-22 of the most expensive hours (ad wise) on television. They can't put 10-22 hours of reality shows on because reality shows have little to no syndication value, they don't attract much ad revenue (unless it's named American Idol, The X Factor or The Voice) and people crave variety. So reality shows are sometimes the anchors and sometimes they are just quick fixes. They serve their purpose but scripted shows are always going to be the bread and butter for broadcast networks. Scripted shows aren't getting canceled to just usher in a bunch of new reality shows.

5. "How are the fans supposed to get closure?" Networks don't care if fans get closure. As far as they are concerned, once the cancellation decision is made, they have already come to terms that the show has been soundly rejected by the majority of the population. If they decide to make the rest of the episodes available either online, through a Saturday or summer burnoff method or by some other means then that is their choice. Networks are not obligated to keep airing a dud show no matter how many petitions are written.

6. "This is why I'm hesitant to watch new shows." The ultimate paradox. People don't want to watch new shows because they are scared they will get canceled. If people don't watch new shows then they are going to get canceled. The cycle has to break somewhere and because not all new shows get canceled this proves that this is not the determining factor why shows get axed.

7. "They should have kept (previously canceled show)!" Shows get canceled because they are old, the ratings suck or because they become too expensive to keep pandering to a declining viewer base. Most shows experience some sort of ratings decline from the previous season so if a show had low or middling ratings before it doesn't make sense to expect that the ratings are going to hold steady or increase (not that it hasn't happened. Look at Scandal. That show spent all of season 1 and the 1st half of season 2 on the mediocre line). Sometimes it is easier to cut their losses and try again with a fresher concept. There's no guarantee that it works but that's the risk they take.

8. "____ network always makes stupid decisions." Networks make stupid decisions. It happens. If you're NBC then it seems like a tragic pattern of endless suffering. Not all decisions are stupid though. Sometimes there are often very few options to go with and since networks want to make at least some money on their shows then they have to go with what they have which may not be all that good.

9. "The show needed a better timeslot." There are some legitimately terrible timeslots (ABC- 8pm Thursday, NBC- 10pm Thursday, The CW- 9pm Tuesday to name a few) but sometimes there are no better timeslots. Would you rather put a show up against The Walking Dead and every other 9pm Sunday show or would you rather take your chances on Tuesday if there's an opening? Simple question...or is it? Making a schedule is hard. You're not going to move all the shows that are doing well (yes moving a few is an option but networks live by "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" if its possible) so you have to work on the slots that are troublesome. There will be failures but something is going to hit eventually. There is just no way of knowing what it will be or when.

10. "____ network wanted to kill the show." A large majority of shows that get canceled were not killed. If you want to see the true example of a killed show then look up Law & Order: LA. Most shows don't get killed. Some are at more of a disadvantage than others (sometimes by how they are scheduled) but it's not a network's aim to purposely make a show see its demise (For the record I don't think VH1 is trying to kill Mob Wives. There are some things going on that I will try to elaborate on in a future post).

11. "The first episode has been online for days." There is really no proof that making the first episode available online depresses premiere ratings on television, If that were the case then you would almost always see ratings for the second episode increase but they don't usually increase. If a show comes in as a dud at the outset and doesn't improve in a week or two then the show just flopped. Simple as that.

12. "The ratings system is outdated. They need to count online and DVR viewing." Everyone knows the ratings system is outdated but that's all that we have so it will be here. There's no way to track everyone because a lot of people would say that networks want too much info and would shut them down plus there's the issue of cost. Some networks do their own internal methods of tracking online views but online views don't sell ads which is ultimately more important than how many people actually watch the show (really if people only watched the commercials and not the shows networks and advertisers would be happy). DVR viewing is tracked and it is counted in all current ratings (Live+Same Day ratings are ratings for shows that were watched at the time the show aired plus all DVR viewings up until 3am the next morning and those are the numbers that get reported every day). Of course none of this counts if you're not a Nielsen family so if you hate it so much Google it and try to apply to be one.

13. "____ killed the show." Petitions, activist groups, individual people, rival network executives and celebrities don't kill shows generally (yes there was Oxygen's All My Babies Mamas but that never aired so that doesn't count for this post). If people cried about shows being offensive or whatever and networks listened every time then every scripted show with violent or sexual undertones and 90% of all these trashy reality shows would not still be on TV. Money talks. Ratings talk. If the eyeballs aren't there then the show is just easier to part ways with.

14. "The show wasn't promoted enough." This is mostly a b.s. argument. There are some shows that don't get promoted well but if a network does everything short of mailing fliers to everyone's house telling them to watch a show and it doesn't catch on then it's not the fault of promotion. It just means that nobody was here for this show and the money can be spent on something else. Just because you didn't see 20 commercials in 2 weeks for a certain show doesn't always mean that nobody else did either.

15. "The show was up against too much competition." Unless the show airs at 9pm on Sunday or it's up against a major sports or awards event then there is really no way in hell that there was far too much competition for the show. If networks put the same genre of shows against each other then that can be problematic but for the most part every show (broadcast and cable) has to go against something. Every primetime hour of every night is not a cagematch and not every show can get the softball treatment. A show has to learn how to pull its own weight and if it can't succeed on a weak night or even an average night then chances are it's a wrap for that show.

16. "The show didn't fit with the other shows around it." This is always a possibility but when you're bound for prime spots (cable, FOX or The CW especially) then sometimes you have to put shows that aren't ideal fits with each other. If one show works and the other doesn't then the network can always try to find a better match next time. Of course there is always the trap spot of trying to launch a new show behind the most popular show on the network (basically any show behind The Kardashians, Pretty Little Liars or The Vampire Diaries) and it never seems to work no matter the concept so again it's just another risk that had to be taken.

17. "Other shows have been saved before! Why not this one?" There is no Captain Save-A-Show out there. There are some entities that do their best to save shows (cable, Netflix and formerly DirecTV) but every show can't get saved. Not only that, every show isn't worth saving. It's a special case that can happen but it shouldn't be an expectation for all canceled or in danger shows.

18. "Broadcast networks need to be more like cable. Those shows get watched." Cable shows have the advantage of producing niche shows that push the boundaries. They can make a show that will really only appeal to 2.5 million people at best and that's ok for most of them (not cool with USA or TNT if the desired demos aren't there). If a broadcast network not named The CW tried to pull that mess then the show would be canceled before the 1st episode numbers sink in. Broadcast networks have to live by the broadcast part of their name. They have to try to make shows that appeal to a lot of people and yes they will appear cookie-cutter and boring but they just can't afford to target a small number of people.

19. "____ show would do well if it was on cable." That's not always a guarantee for a show's success. People like broadcast shows because of the production values and the cast. They can spend much more money per episode for their shows. Think about it. If you liked a show that aired on broadcast TV but the production budget was slashed would you still like the show if it lost its headline actors plus some producers and writers, and the visual graphics just weren't as ambitious as its broadcast counterpart? The answer is likely no. Nobody likes a cheap looking show. Although the rising popularity of cable shows is beginning to allow for bigger budgets on some shows, most still can't compete with broadcast shows so the gap will still remain for quite a while.