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Forever In The Media...


WendyCR72

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From TV By the Numbers, The TV Fan's Five Stages Of Grief Categories

Denial – "The show's fine, it won't be cancelled"; "They'd never cancel a show with a squinty jillion average viewers that wins its timeslot"; "They'd never cancel a show from JJ Abrams"; "The network executives love this show"

Anger – "Why this show? It's not fair, when reality crap continues to get renewed!"; "How can this happen to my show? "; "The morons who run the network are to blame!"

Bargaining – "If they cancel this show, I'll never watch anything on this network again!"; "If we send them bags of crap/sign internet petitions/barrage them with emails/perform other goofy stunts it will save the show!" "Netflix will save it!"

Depression – "I'm so sad, why should I ever start watching a new TV show again?"; "If every show I ever like gets cancelled... What's the point?"; "Maybe I should just stick to DVDs of old shows"

Acceptance – "It's going to be okay, it's had a good run of seasons"; "At least we got the story wrapped up, unlike lots of other shows".

I've decided to henceforth fast-forward through all of these, starting with Forever.

Who'm I kidding? I'm still using "henceforth" like Henry.

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E News did a vote of the best new shows of the season. Forever came in at number 3 with a 70% loved it vote. ABC was stupid to let this show go. 

 

NO. 3: FOREVER
Loved it: 70.4%
Hated it: 29.6%
Status: Canceled

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Liking It and watching it are two different things.  Ratings are the prime motive for continuing a show.

 

I can't fault any network for letting a low rated show go, but I just wish they would have a finale scripted and ready to go in case they are cancelled.  For the fans of the show to get some closure.

 

A couple of shows had a script that didn't get filmed that they released to the internet and gave some closure.

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Liking It and watching it are two different things.  Ratings are the prime motive for continuing a show.

 

I can't fault any network for letting a low rated show go, but I just wish they would have a finale scripted and ready to go in case they are cancelled.  For the fans of the show to get some closure.

 

A couple of shows had a script that didn't get filmed that they released to the internet and gave some closure.

You know what though, the more I read about it, the more the entire scenario annoys me. If the articles I've seen are correct, the show didn't have low ratings, it just had lower ratings then the network hoped for. It was put in a slot with very popular competing shows (although it still managed to consistently bring in several million viewers). Add that to the lack of promotion once the season started and the (excessive imo) scheduling breaks and the show didn't seem to have a chance. Anything short of instant Black-ish or How To Get Away With Murder numbers would've meant cancellation.

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You know what though, the more I read about it, the more the entire scenario annoys me. If the articles I've seen are correct, the show didn't have low ratings, it just had lower ratings then the network hoped for. It was put in a slot with very popular competing shows (although it still managed to consistently bring in several million viewers). Add that to the lack of promotion once the season started and the (excessive imo) scheduling breaks and the show didn't seem to have a chance. Anything short of instant Black-ish or How To Get Away With Murder numbers would've meant cancellation.

 

I respectfully disagree here. Not with the scheduling. That did suck mightily!

 

But the show premiered strong and promptly went lower with every consecutive week. The demo (which is what the networks give a crap about rather than overall viewers) went as low as a paltry 0.9. Yes, there are DVR numbers, but even now, networks only use those to pad PR press releases when trying to make the pie bigger than it really is.

 

I'm sure the breaks didn't help, but with trying the show on special reairings on another night with the same results...I think, as I've said, the show was just too niche for the masses. And as nice as I thought it was, having a lot of the action take place in an antiques shop maybe hurt the show. Not being cool or hip enough or whatever. I don't necessarily agree there, but it's something that may have turned viewers off, maybe?

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(edited)

I respectfully disagree here. Not with the scheduling. That did suck mightily!

 

But the show premiered strong and promptly went lower with every consecutive week.

Well not exactly. It hovered around 4.5 million (mostly over) for every week after ep 3, which is still (apparently) higher than whatever show Forever replaced. 

 

 

The demo (which is what the networks give a crap about rather than overall viewers) went as low as a paltry 0.9. ...I'm sure the breaks didn't help...And as nice as I thought it was, having a lot of the action take place in an antiques shop maybe hurt the show. Not being cool or hip enough or whatever.

I'll be the first to admit I do not understand demos or how they work (the scheduling breaks caused small spikes in 18-49 viewership so what do I know) but it seems like overall viewership should have some value in this equation. And it not being hip should also be in the show's favor, it isn't exactly expensive to produce. I also don't know how reairings are calculated towards a show's success but let's say it brought it in the exact same viewership: An inexpensive way to get 4.5+ million people to watch your network and ABC just goes 'nah'? 

 

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your overall point, I just wish I understood the business model these decisions are based on. 

Edited by Jaded Sapphire
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SpoilerTV posted a long article about Forever and it's potential renewal. Says that "every year, a network makes the wrong decision" - Forever was the 2015 mistake cancellation. A link to the petition and also dropping the "maybe on Hulu, TNT or Netflix" response. Don't tease me, like they teased me with Constantine. I would almost consider watching it on this medium to be honest.

 

And this awesome fact...In France, Forever averages SIX MILLION viewers per episode. Stupid ABC.

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I think this is a show that was just on the edge and got cancelled.  It could have went either way.  Yep, the ratings weren't terrible which gives the show a fighting chance to land somewhere else.  But, most of the time, it's over...or better put, it's not Forever.  I couldn't help it.

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I think this is a show that was just on the edge and got cancelled.  It could have went either way.  Yep, the ratings weren't terrible which gives the show a fighting chance to land somewhere else.

The ratings were pretty bad. Much as I wish it were otherwise, I don't think it ever stood a chance with ratings like those on ABC and most industry reporters had it pegged for cancellation halfway through the series.

 

It's true that some low-rated shows with incredibly dedicated audiences have been picked up by Hulu/Netflix/DirecTV/etc in recent years, but they're usually ones with more than one season under their belt. The only one-season show I can think of that has been saved is Southland, and that is kind of a weird situation because it had already filmed its entire second season when it was cut by NBC and TNT just had to buy them all.

 

And this awesome fact...In France, Forever averages SIX MILLION viewers per episode. Stupid ABC.

Yeah but ABC doesn't make or own the show -- Warner Bros does -- so it doesn't make that much of a difference to ABC if six million or six people in France watch it. Overseas popularity may be one of the reasons Warner Bros is still shopping it around, but license fees for networks outside of America still tend to be far cheaper than domestic ones, so they'll still need to find an outlet here willing to shoulder about half of the costs of creating the shows.  

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American Crime did just as bad in the ratings and was renewed. Galavant looks better in ratings but has less viewers overall and was renewed (everyone thought it would be cancelled). Galavant was also pegged to be cancelled and it was a surprise that it wasn't.

 

It's a combo of ratings, does the network own the show (they own Galavant I believe and most likely American Crime), demo and cost to produce the show. So I suspect Forever was much more expensive, not worth the money. It's a business decision but still sucks thought.

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I have managed to avoid Netflix lo these many years, although I was tempted with House of Cards because I love Kevin Spacey.  But I pledge that if Netflix picked up Forever, I would cast my principles about tv on the internet to the side and sign up in a hot minute!

 

I would also add a pay cable channel even if I wasn't interested in any of their other programming just for Forever, and I haven't done that since Oz.

Edited by Sile
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(edited)

And this awesome fact...In France, Forever averages SIX MILLION viewers per episode. Stupid ABC.

ABC likely doesn't see any money from French viewership, no matter how high it is.  It's a Warner Brothers production, not an ABC Studios Production.

 

That was bad news (and likely part of why it got canceled) in the short term, because in-house shows get silent preference.  But once a show is canceled, obviously things flip, because a powerful entity like Warner Brothers actually has a vested interest in reselling a show elsewhere.

Edited by Kromm
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I hate to say this, but if not a peep of the shopping around has been mentioned (since upfronts have been done for a couple weeks now), I think it's safe to say the show is gone. Usually, when other shows move, like The Mindy Project, the stars or distributor often keep up the hints and press, etc. As of now, it appears all quiet where Forever is concerned.

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*whines*  I wanted to keep seeing her on Forever. Stupid ratings. *grumble grumble*

 

Seriously though, it makes me a little sad reading that. Nevertheless... good luck to Alana (and all the other Forever cast members)!

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Matt Miller

This is a hard message to write but I'm sorry to report that despite Warners Bros best efforts they haven't been able to find a new home for Forever. That doesn't mean they won't keep trying but wanted to give you all the real, although disheartening news.

More at the link

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1smvn9q

 

Sad, but that is what I figured, especially since Alana De La Garza has a new job/role on Scorpion.

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I can't believe I never checked to see if it was cancelled. I just assumed it would be back in the fall. I loved this show. I'm sad now.

Here I was living out the summer with not a care in the world :(

I just started checking when my shows would be starting again. Bummer.

Edited by imjagain
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Oh man, I wish every showrunner of a prematurely cancelled show would do that. 

 

I do wonder how they could have kept up "Jo aaaaalmost finds out but still doesn't know" before it got old. My guess is they would have strung it out all season 2, and that may have grated. 

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