Cancelled shows of Tomorrow: The War on Chuck Lorre - Part 8

[Warhammer]

That would be a first. A network that started as something returning to its roots successfully. I would almost say SyFy has done that but it never completely left its roots as a science fiction/fantasy network. They have gone much deeper into returning to it but they never abandoned it so heavily as MTV abandoned it's musical roots.

I fear TLC will never be about learning again however. I think Honey Boo-boo and its ilk killed off the brain cells at that network.

When I was a kid, TLC was such a great channel. Discovery is not too too far behind from the modern TLC either.

 

[Sawyer]

https://***********/HIGHzurrer?lang=en

Eric Heisserer
‏@HIGHzurrer
OKAY, RANT TIME, because I'm ready to punch a wall. This is gonna be long, so I'll try to remember to number it.

Note that I am not talking about any one show, just the trend. This has now happened on FOUR shows that I know of recently.

1) HYPOTHETICAL: You write for a show. One of your leads wants to leave and try movies for a while. Network says, "Uh, no. You're a lead."

2) You now have a cranky lead making things tough for everyone else. You try to bear it best you can.

3) Your lead then asks for reduced hours. Fewer scenes. Something to ease the wanderlust. This makes it hard in new ways, naturally.

4) While dealing with this, possibly during shooting, Troubled Lead comes in with a doctor's note that Lead must get reduced hours.

5) Here's where it gets VERY tricky, legally. Due to confidentiality, you can't ask the ailment. You CANNOT share it publicly either.

6) If you do, you open yourself and the network to lawsuits. So now you are burdened with a SECRET problem + fewer scenes for Lead.

7) This medical condition progresses, according to Lead, to where Lead's agent demands: "Lead should get every 3rd episode off."

8) This is a ridiculous task for any writer. Especially since Lead is one of the engines for your show. Yet here you have to do something.

9) So to comply with medical condition as per Lead's note, you drop Lead out of some episodes. Fans rage at you. Not network -- you.

10) New twists, next: Co-Lead realizes Lead has gotten a deal, and demands the same. Now you're really screwed. Network says: Manage it.

11) The situation is becoming untenable. Lead has to go or else everything collapses. Network says: All right, kill Lead off.

12) (And because Network operates on fear, the next week they say: Wait, make it so Lead can come back. Flip-flops a lot.)

13) The reason you, writer, signed up for this is to write Lead and Co-Lead, now you don't get to do much of each. Plus Lead must exit show.

14) Lead is relieved, they're getting what they want after months of frustration. But the DNA of the show has mutated due to constraints.

15) And again, you CANNOT say any of this publicly or else major lawsuit due to a number of laws on confidentiality+medical health.

16) Meanwhile, it's not just fandom RAGING at you for "****ing up" Lead's role, now TV critics have hopped on. Without any research.

17) Journalists who could make a few calls and get the real scoop decide instead to get clicks by supporting fan claims.

18) Now, finally, you get called into show office. You hope it's good news. "Write episode where Lead dies." Oh, no. No no.

19) This is your job as writer. You have the story, likely broken by room and/or showrunners. It's like trying to steer a train.

20) And so, you do your job. And when episode airs, fans write fanfic about you, writer, getting murdered. Piles of "**** off & die" msgs.

21) AND STILL, you can't say a thing. You can't speak to what goes on behind the scenes for obvious legal reasons.

22) So to end the hypothetical, the question: Would you still want to write for TV?

*glances awkwardly at Nicole Beharie*

 

[Hunter Rider]

It has been a big month for leads leaving shows, at least 3 I can think of, although one of those is still uncertain.

 

[terry78]

What he says in that Twit rant is truth. Fans and normal people still don't give two ****s about it though because he's still doing better than most of them.

 

[Teelie]

With all the secrecy you can't say for certain if Ricky Whittle (or any particular actor for that matter) is the one pulling this **** but it still definitely does happen.

I've read more than a few after-the-fact stories of a star in a television or movie who suddenly gets "ill" or in one case, actually does drive their car into a wall to cause an accident to get out of a contract to film a movie (Cracked had an article on this very thing just a day or two ago).

At the same time I have seen stories where the lead actors are truly treated like **** and insulted by either the writers, producers, the studio or someone else up the food chain (Nicole Beharie is the most recent example I know of) and they want out of an awful situation that was not their doing at all.

Picking a side in these things is not easy. You never know who it is that's really pissing off the other side or where in the middle the truth lies.

 

[Sawyer]

‘The Exorcist’, ‘Lethal Weapon’, ‘Making History’, ‘Pitch’, ‘The Mick’ & ‘APB’ Get Fox Series Orders

 

[Warhammer]

Other than [blackout]The Blacklist[/blackout], what are the other shows that killed off their female leads in the past month or so?

 

[Teelie]

Sleepy Hollow although that was probably more a mercy than anything and the series is probably killed too.

The 100 didn't kill off a female lead but did kill off a prominent lesbian character.

Arrow killed off one ([blackout]Laurel[/blackout]) although being a comic series that death is probably temporary. It wouldn't be the first death reversal or even the third on that series.

And I'm sure there are a few others but it's mostly just people looking for something to tie together in some kind of grand conspiracy of killing off women because mysogny or something.

 

[rashad]

As far as The 100 was concerned they only had the actress for 7 episodes due to her commitment as a series regular on another show.

 

[chamber-music]

I doubt it is a British actor like Ricky Whittle. Whittle is pretty vocal on his opinions.

In the UK they don't sign actors up for multiple seasons outside of Soap Operas which is why so many British shows have a revolving cast and a ton of deaths.

Many British actors go to the U.S because they have far better job security with these multi-season lead TV actor contracts.

 

[terry78]

Yes, we do love our long running shows with characters being chained to them for decades.

 

[chamber-music]

David Morrissey talked about how he was signed up for five seasons as the Governor on The Walking Dead. They were not going to have him for five seasons but they have actors sign up for that long just in case they don't have to renegotiate the actors contract if they turn into a hot commodity.

 

[Warhammer]

Sleepy Hollow although that was probably more a mercy than anything and the series is probably killed too.

The 100 didn't kill off a female lead but did kill off a prominent lesbian character.

Arrow killed off one ([blackout]Laurel[/blackout]) although being a comic series that death is probably temporary. It wouldn't be the first death reversal or even the third on that series.

And I'm sure there are a few others but it's mostly just people looking for something to tie together in some kind of grand conspiracy of killing off women because mysogny or something.

Ahhh, I gotcha. That article seemed to be blowing things way out of proportion then.

David Morrissey talked about how he was signed up for five seasons as the Governor on The Walking Dead. They were not going to have him for five seasons but they have actors sign up for that long in case so they do not have to renegotiate the actors contract if they turn into a hot commodity.

Smart move from the studio prospective. An actor usually won't turn down starring in a pop culture phenomenon and can't try to hustle later on either.

 

[Teelie]

Another body to add to the proverbial pile would be Kate Beckett from Castle although she is not dead (at least as far as we know she won't be), she will not be returning next season if it does get another season.

The list of female leads and co-leads that are seemingly dead or written off is only apparent because it has hit a groundswell in the public finally taking notice of the disparities in show business and now people are getting a distorted view of what is happening.

Every female or minority (be it racial or sexual orientation/identification) is closely scrutinized for evidence of a bias, whether there is a bias or not. Having a month of several high profile characters of those criteria dying has earned the ire of many people who failed to notice the time of the year: Sweeps.

A lot of major ratings ploys go on during the April/May time when ratings are most important and what better way to make the ratings jump than to kill off or announce the departure of someone high profile?

Are there more than usual during the year? Probably. Is it because of a backlash or deeper hidden agenda than ratings grabs? Probably not.

 

[terry78]

Case in point, Agents of Shield.

Spoiler

I wonder which Negro is gonna bite it in the season finale.....Lash already got it last night.

 

[chamber-music]

Case in point, Agents of Shield.

Spoiler

I wonder which Negro is gonna bite it in the season finale.....Lash already got it last night.

I remember when The Walking Dead just had a revolving door for black men.
Then T-Dog got a couple lines you knew he was a dead man

 

[Sawyer]

DC Comics Comedy 'Powerless,' Legal Spoof 'Trial & Error' Picked Up to Series at NBC

Powerless is set in the DC Comics universe full of superheroes, villains and people just like us, Powerless is described as an office comedy about the exceedingly average employees at an insurance company and their quest to find their own power. Based on characters from DC Comics.

Trial and Error is a half-hour legal spoof described as a serialized comedy following a young big-city lawyer (Nick D'Agosto) and his oddball defense team during a high-profile murder trial in a small southern town. John Lithgow, Sherri Shepherd, Steven Boyer, Jayma Mays and Krysta Rodriguez co-star in the Warner Bros. Television single-camera comedy.

 

[Warhammer]

I remember when The Walking Dead just had a revolving door for black men.
Then T-Dog got a couple lines you knew he was a dead man

S5 had too many negroes. Five exceeded the quota. Then they popped three of them off.

 

[Sawyer]

Yeah, but then they kind of reversed that when they had an entire 10+ person group and the only ones who immediately made it back alive were Michonne, Heath and the black dude who got shot in the leg.

 

[Blue42]

Life in Pieces’ renewed for Season 2 on CBS

 

[chamber-music]

Yeah, but then they kind of reversed that when they had an entire 10+ person group and the only ones who immediately made it back alive were Michonne, Heath and the black dude who got shot in the leg.

Heath is probably going to die because the actor got cast as the lead on the new 24 series.

The black dude who shot in the leg is the husband of the actress that plays Sasha so he will live atleast as long as her character does.

The only somewhat safe black guy is Morgan.

 

[Sawyer]

CSI: Cyber Cancelled

So that franchise really ended with a whimper, huh?

 

[terry78]

Cybercrime....ooooh, riveting.

 

[Sawyer]

Archie Comics Take 'Riverdale,' 'Frequency,' 'No Tomorrow' Picked Up to Series at CW

'Chicago Justice' Ordered to Series at NBC

NBC's ***** for Chicago cannot be quenched.

 

[rashad]

Nashville - Cancelled by ABC