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
Friday, April 19
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 15)
Friday, April 19
- Joey King (Bent) - Watch Joey on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Esther Povitsky (Dollface/Alone Together) and Haley Joel Osment (Future Man/Alpha House/The Jeff Foxworthy Show/Thunder Alley) - Esther and Haley Joel are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Christine Taylor (Search Party/Arrested Development/Hey Dude and David Lascher (Sabrina the Teenage Witch/Blossom/Hey Dude) - Drew is handing the show over to Hey Dude…The 90s Called! Podcast Hosts Christine Taylor and David Lascher to interview her show for a special Drew's Download edition of the show. Christine and Drew reminisce on filming The Wedding Singer together and reveals which role she auditioned for but Drew got instead. Plus, they have a big surprise in store when they reunite Drew with a former castmate on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Michaela Watkins (Dinner with the Parents/Search Party/The Unicorn/Casual/Trophy Wife) and Daniel Thrasher (Dinner with the Parents) - Michaela and Daniel talk about Amazon Freevee's Dinner with the Parents on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Lauren Ash (Not Dead Yet/Superstore/Super Fun Night) - Lauren talks about ABC's Not Dead Yet on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- DulcĂ© Sloan (The Great North) - DulcĂ© shares easy Mother’s Day craft gift ideas on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Alison Brie (Community/GLOW) - Alison is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD/Blu-ray
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/15 - Letterkenny - Season 11
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
12/22 - Three's Company - The Official 40th Anniversary Collection (includes The Ropers and Three's a Crowd)
01/09 - South Park - Seasons 11-15 (Blu-ray)
01/16 - Ghosts (UK) - Season Five
02/13 - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/27 - The Really Loud House - Season One
03/12 - Ghosts (UK) - The Complete Series
03/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
03/12 - Rick and Morty - Season 7 (Blu-ray Steelbook) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/03 - Too Close for Comfort - The Complete Series (VEI)
04/08 - Check It Out! - The Complete Series (VEI)
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