Friday, June 09, 2017
Fri-Yay: Surprise Sitcom Cancellations; Cozi TV's Frasier Father's Day Marathon
by Vincent
This year's Upfronts saw a lot of surprising moves made by the networks, from the sudden revival of American Idol by ABC to the cancellation-than-uncanellation of Timeless by NBC to countless befuddling schedule changes – but of particular note to sitcom fans may have been the cancellation of two long-running sitcoms that had star casts and vocal fan support, Last Man Standing and 2 Broke Girls. While nether show was a particularly huge hit, both were generally solid performers that seemed like staple series for their networks. And yet, both were unceremoniously cancelled after six seasons of service, without even a planned ending to wrap up their storylines.
The cancellation of Last Man Standing caused a mild ruckus in the media, as many conservative media pundits wondered if the show's right-leaning politics had a hand in the show's demise. And many fans of 2 Broke Girls wondered if, considering CBS renewed lower-rated series like Superior Donuts and Man With a Plan, perhaps the network simply just had a vendetta against their favorite sitcom. It makes sense that fans would jump to conclusions like these, since looking solely at ratings, there didn't seem to be much of a case giving these shows such a sudden, cruel end.
However, we've entered a strange time on network television, where live ratings are rapidly dwindling as viewers gravitate towards DVR and on demand viewing, yet the networks haven't found a way to fully profit from them yet. So they're forced to look at other forms of revenue - syndication, streaming deals, and international sales. However, the network airing a show doesn't profit from these forms of revenue – rather, the studio that produces the series does. Each network has an in-house studio which produces some of their series, which means that if a network's studio owns one of their shows, they are able to make money on all of those syndication, streaming and international sales deals. Last Man Standing and 2 Broke Girls were not owned by their network's studio, and both shows were in their sixth season, meaning that their actors were beginning to demand more money as the series grew older – therefore, the shows were growing more expensive. So these shows were getting increasingly expensive, and the only profit the network was making on them were their good-not-great live ratings. So as a result? Both shows were cancelled.
So what does this mean? It means that we can expect a lot more "surprise" cancellations (and renewals!) in the coming years, and if you're concerned about your favorite show's fate, you may need to start looking a little deeper than its ratings to figure out if it's going to survive.
COZI TV is offering a special Father's Day gift to fans, complete with 20 memorable episodes of the Emmy-award winning sitcom Frasier. The national multicast network announced a special Frasier's Day marathon, which will kick off on Sunday, June 18 at 1 PM ET (check local listings). The marathon includes 1994's "Give Him the Chair!" episode in which Frasier searches Seattle for his dad's infamous recliner, as well as 1997's Emmy-award winning "Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine" episode in which Frasier and brother Niles discover their father is dating two women simultaneously. The marathon will also include 2002's "War of the Words" in which Frasier attempts to prep his son for the National Spelling Bee finals.
Episodes featured in the "Father's Day is Frasier's Day" marathon include:
01:00 PM: “Dinner at Eight”
01:30 PM: “Give Him the Chair!”
02:00 PM: “Burying a Grudge”
02:30 PM: “Breaking the Ice”
03:00 PM: “Chess Pains”
03:30 PM: “A Lilith Thanksgiving”
04:00 PM: “Our Father Whose Art Ain't Heaven”
04:30 PM: “Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine”
05:00 PM: “The Unnatural”
05:30 PM: “The Gift Horse”
06:00 PM: “Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do”
06:30 PM: “Dial M for Martin”
07:00 PM: “Good Samaritan”
07:30 PM: “Our Parents, Ourselves”
08:00 PM: “A Tsar is Born”
08:30 PM: “The Apparent Trap”
09:00 PM: “The Bad Son”
09:30 PM: “Cranes Unplugged”
10:00 PM: “War of the Words”
10:30 PM: “Star Mitzvah”
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Thursday, October 2
English Teacher - "College Week" (FX, 9:00PM ET/PT)
As the students prepare their college applications, Evan starts to question his own hiring. Written by Emmy Blotnick; Directed by Michael McDonald.
English Teacher - "Evan's Mom" (FX, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Evan receives a surprise visit from his mother Elena. Written by Jake Bender & Zach Dunn; Directed by Jonathan Krisel.
English Teacher - "Recruiter" (FX, 10:00PM ET/PT)
A military recruiter comes to the school, and the teachers experiment with new classroom phone policies.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 29)
Thursday, October 2
- Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) - Catch Jeremy on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth/The Bear) - Ayo appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. She shares details about her new film After the Hunt on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Maz Jobrani (Superior Donuts/The Knights of Prosperity/Better Off Ted) - Maz is a guest on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
- Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Benny Safdie (The Curse) - Benny appears on Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm. He also talks about The Smashing Machine on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Dwayne Johnson (Young Rock) - Dwayne talks about The Smashing Machine on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother/Star Raving Mad/Doogie Howser, M.D.) - Neil chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Glen Powell (Chad Powers/Scream Queens) - Glen dishes on Hulu's Chad Powers on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That.../Divorce/Sex and the City/Square Pegs) - Sarah talks about I Am You on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Mckenna Grace (Young Sheldon/Crash & Bernstein) - Mckenna talks about Regretting You on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am and on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Henry talks about his children's book Detective Duck: The Mystery at Emerald Pond on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Emayatzy Corinealdi (Ballers) - Emayatzy talks about Reasonable Doubt on Sherri, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
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