What the Hell Is Wrong with Us?

Posted by John Marcotte on Aug 8, 2009 in Articles | 42 comments

I think this pretty much speaks for itself.

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Amy Johnson

You’re not kidding. *sigh* I can pretty much count on the powers that be canceling any show I find entertaining. “Bakersfield PD” is another awesome show that came and went way too quickly. And you can’t get it on DVD here in the States. :/
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jo

graphail.
does not speak for itself.
label your axes.
“ack-sees.”
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  Which part confused you? The names of the shows or just the numbers above 100?
- http://www.snarkymcf.com CTP
  
  No, I think he actually just wanted them to be physically labeled â€œack-sees.â€ from the look of it. ;->
  
  Awesome, but sad, thanks for putting it together.
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rouver

…what about Wings? How many of those were made?
http://urbanbundle.com patti

i was surprised to see only 19 “my so-called life” episodes. i thought there were more. loved that show!
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http://Fark Tom

Naked gun….6 episodes
- mPony
  
  Actually it was called “Police Squad!”, and it was awesome.
Kari

Deadwood–36 episodes
- James
  
  36 55 minute episodes! That’s the equivalent of 90 22 minute episodes, which is how long something like Arrested Development runs for.
  
  It wasn’t exactly cancelled like the others, either.
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  I actually made a fairly long list of good shows that were prematurely canceled. I pared it down to the six that you see her based on name recognition and how egregious the cancellation was.
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KFed

Well Family Matters actually had a market … and was obviously better than Firefly.
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  Don’t you belong under a bridge somewhere, troll?
- jimmyjames
  
  Anyone who thinks Family Matters was better than Firefly is too stupid to live.
KCA

The only channels that are willing to give a show a chance are the cable giants. And even their shows aren’t immune.

Family matters wasn’t better than firefly, it was just different.

And being one of the “market” that Family matters was targeted for….i found the show less than entertaining.
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  I would argue that Fox is fairly creative as well. The gave us The Simpsons, X-Files, Arrested Development, Firefly, etc.
  
  And the entire point is that “Family Matters” was “less than entertaining.” It also went on forever. Only the good die young.
cavale

you forgot Pushing Daisies.
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  Went with “Wonderfalls” instead. Same producer. Same actor. Only four episodes made it to air.
http://www.deathintheaisle.com Kwallen

There was also Greg the Bunny, Farscape and Futurama. Granted the last two had 3-4 seasons but it was short-lived compared to something that went bland quickly like Family Matters.
- rouver
  
  I really wanted to love Greg the Bunny…but it just was never as awesome as it should have been. I remember being slightly disappointed with it.
jimmyjames

Misfits of Science
Steveo

This chart does nothing for your synopsis. True, the average American TV watching drone prefers brainless laughtrack-induced junk over quality shows, but your chart randomly chooses shoes from differnt time periods. What was Family Matters up against that caused the embarrassing number of episodes. That’s worth an investiation.
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  I think you meant my “hypothesis,” not synopsis. And I would be interested in “shoes” from different time periods, but I think you meant “shows.”
  
  So to sum up, I’m right and you’re wrong because I nitpicked at your grammar and word choice.
Carmen

John Marcotte: Loved every reply you gave as I wholeheartedly agree with each and every one of them.

The chart was pretty funny but the following replies are even better:
2nd place. “So to sum up, Iâ€™m right and youâ€™re wrong because I nitpicked at your grammar and word choice.”
1st place. “Which part confused you? The names of the shows or just the numbers above 100?”

It’s so difficult to make people smile nowadays.
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SA

The Riches.

Carnivale.

Dead Like Me.

The problem with DVD culture and Netflix is that I get into too many shows that got the SIDS (Sudden IntelligenTV Death Syndrome).
Marc

Maybe I’m missing something. The only good show in this chart is Arrested Development.
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  Yep. You’re missing something.
Tom

I never got into ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

But WONDERFALLS, FIREFLY, FREAKS AND GEEKS AND MY SO-CALLED LIFE were all brilliant shows that died before their time.

I actually have 3 out of 4 of these shows on DVD sets. One of these days, I will pick up FREAKS AND GEEKS on DVD.
- Juzhataeshaooerrr
  
  “I never got into ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
  
  But WONDERFALLS, FIREFLY, FREAKS AND GEEKS AND MY SO-CALLED LIFE were all brilliant shows that died before their time.” —- Tom
  
  I never got into firefly(as in never watched a single episode) , but I loved all the other shows!—- this got me thinking , what if there were different subtypes of geeks that had slightly different tastes.
  Now generally geeks bring home pretty decent bacon and have less girls around them than the average population at the same income levels.
  What if a lack of interest in any one of the shows on list (except maybe family matters)indicates that you belong to a particular subtype of geeks?
  
  Now as a marketing exec all you need to do go out a mine data like crazy and pinpoint these subtypes of geeks.
  Then create tailor made marketing campaigns for them, with the exact combination of accessories to turn them on.
  
  The evidence of the propensity of geeks to spend needless amounts of money on products they like is pretty strong.(i’m referring to the so called, hard-core overclockers who buy extreme editions of cpus)
  Any company that does this , will make SHITloads of money!!!
  
  This bring me to my conspiracy theory, guess what’s StumbleUpon’s business plan is?
  
  (guess what’s stumble upon’s biz plan is)
CTHULHU

Do you have any data on total DVD sales of each show?

I really hope that there is no such thing as a “Family Matters” box set, but the fact that most of those other shows are available for consumption says something.
Heck, Whedon got a motion picture deal out of his gig, and McFarlane was able to restart a show and produce another on the strength of DVD sales.
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http://www.munchkyn.com munchkyn

You left off “Pushing Daisies”.
- http://www.badmouth.net/ John Marcotte
  
  Wanted to limit it to six for legibility. Wonderfalls was by the same producer, also starred Lee Pace and only four made it to air.
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Alex

Just wanted to second Pushing Daisies and cry again for Wonderfalls. Woe to anything Brian Fuller creates. Why can’t the witty, intelligent, whimsical and beautiful shows stay on the air???
- http://www.badmouth.net Brian
  
  Because stupid has you surrounded. Surrender, or go down fighting.
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sevter

I curse Fox while regretfully weeping at Firefly cancellation. Serenity wasn’t nearly enough for my addiction…
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Elliander

I never watched any of those shows, never seemed interesting to me, and never even heard of the lower end ones. So I don’t really understand what you are getting at. Are you saying that the shows with higher numbers are of lower quality than the shows of lower numbers? If so, allot of the problem has less to do with a show actually being good and more to do with time slots (though I have been sent some horrible pilot videos in the mail). There have been a number of shows that were killed by one network, but then when picked up by another popularity kept it going. If one show is only remotely good but gets in at a time when the target audience is able to watch it, there is a good chance that if they find some kind of “hook” they can keep the series going long term. On the other hand, put a really good show in when no one will see it, and popularity will wane. Some other series experience drop offs of viewers because the time between seasons are just too large or the story is hard to follow. Other times the writers try to change allot of stuff to attract viewers but end up removing the quality it originally had and find themselves with no way to save it. There are really a number of reasons why it all works out to let a show of higher quality fail and a show of lower quality succeed.
William

It is all Obama’s fault!
Todd

We need term-limits for shitcoms !
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Animal

Alex, you are right. Brian Fuller’s “Wonderfalls” and “Pushing Daises” were great. But it was his “Dead Like Me” that has my vote as a Top 10 TV show of all time. Brilliant!
Calisia

I would like to reply to the response stating that the geek males fall into different subgroups and this changes the outcome. I would like to point out that not all geeks are male and as a geeky female I have loved almost ALL of these shows.I own the first four on DVD along with Pushing Dasies and Dead Like Me. Serenity was not up to par with Firefly and if it had been it had the possibility of being picked up by another network. The reason Family Matters did so well is because it reached so many different groups where as all the other shows were niche shows. They needed to reach a wider audience. And although I loved them they were just to nerdy for some!
http://charlesstover.com Charles Stover

Family Matters was awesome. It deserved all of those episodes. Also, Fresh Prince and Boy Meets World. Takes me back.
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http://www.google.com japon

Mon Aug10 Chart of the Day
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