Why didn't this show succeed? Your thoughts

[DavidTyler]

I personally thought this show was fantastic and that Matt Ryan was perfect in the role. The stories... Well, I thought they were pretty good....

So why do you think Constantine was cancelled... Why didn't it succeed?

 

[Micromind]

I personally thought this show was fantastic and that Matt Ryan was perfect in the role. The stories... Well, I thought they were pretty good....

Agreed.

So why do you think Constantine was cancelled... Why didn't it succeed?

Some people think that the show wasted too much time establishing Constantine, they should have started the main villain story thread with some common running theme instead of having independent episodes with random "villain of the week", but I think that they had the correct approach even if that was somewhat similar to what viewers had seen earlier in shows like season one of Supernatural.


In the end apart from Studio's indifference, what killed the show was indifference exhibited by fans of the genre who thought that this was similar to season one of Supernatural and decided that it was no good as they had seen same type of stories many times.

They should have realized that the show needed to introduce Constantine to people who had never watched such shows (horror-magic type) shows earlier.

I mean I don't watch horror movies or Supernatural (besides few episodes of the first season) but still liked Constantine.

in the end the show needed 22 episodes to establish itself but people (audience and the network) were not willing to give them that.

I feel it would have worked very well in Netflix style limited episodes series.

 

[famicommander]

The pilot was really bad. It was leaked some months before the show debuted and the online response was overwhelmingly negative. As a result they had to reshoot it, write a character out, and change some other episodes (and air two out of order) to set up the replacement of the Liv character with Zed.

NBC was aware of the negative reception and so they tried to hide the show. They gave it a late Friday timeslot and debuted it late in the fall season with very little promotion, counting on its compatibility with Grimm to drive viewership.

By the time the show aired there was hardly any buzz. Combine the rough start quality wise, the timeslot, and the fact that the early episodes were up against the World Series and Halloween and it was not recipe for success. By the time the show hit its stride around episode 4 everyone either already had a negative impression of the show or had forgotten about it entirely.

 

[Syncos]

- Lack of promotion.
- Deathslot for airing time.
- Being on a Network.

Honestly. These types of shows need the network to have total faith in them to work. Because generally you need at LEAST a season of freak of the week episodes before digging in. (IE: Buffy, Supernatural, Smallville, and many more 7+ season shows).

There's also the problem where the show was setup to come off like a knockoff of Supernatural, (regardless of which characters -actually- came first). In a general public consciousness, Constantine was ripping off SPN. I think it would have went better if it leaned into the curve a bit more. Embraced the DC comics-ness of it. Etrigan, Zatanna, The Spectre (which was SOO CLOSE), Dr Fate, Swamp Thing... So much potential... Wasted.

Can you just imagine the snarky quips Matt Ryan's Constantine would have thrown at some of those characters?

 

[Micromind]

- Lack of promotion.
- Deathslot for airing time.
- Being on a Network.

Honestly. These types of shows need the network to have total faith in them to work. Because generally you need at LEAST a season of freak of the week episodes before digging in. (IE: Buffy, Supernatural, Smallville, and many more 7+ season shows).

Agreed.

There's also the problem where the show was setup to come off like a knockoff of Supernatural, (regardless of which characters -actually- came first). In a general public consciousness, Constantine was ripping off SPN. I think it would have went better if it leaned into the curve a bit more.

Embraced the DC comics-ness of it. Etrigan, Zatanna, The Spectre (which was SOO CLOSE), Dr Fate, Swamp Thing... So much potential... Wasted.

Part of the problem right there, the network realized this show was going to cost them a fortune in terms of the budget required to realize all those characters, hence they were not 100 % committed to it, too bad.

Can you just imagine the snarky quips Matt Ryan's Constantine would have thrown at some of those characters?

Yeah, we missed all that.

 

[metaphysician]

IMO, it just plain wasn't very good. Oh, Matt Ryan was a great bit of casting, and he really sold the hell out of John. However, only a few of the cast could hold a candle to him, mainly Harold Perrineau.

None of this really mattered, though, because the writing was crap. Actually, that's too harsh, the writing was mostly just mediocre. However, mediocre writing on a show in an extremely well-trod genre? Its a death sentence. I don't care if John Constantine is 35 years old, you cannot make a show with writing like a second generation Supernatural clone, and expect it to light the world on fire. It really needed either a compelling B-plot to supplement the procedural A-plot, or a cast with good chemistry such that it was fun enough to just watch them bounce off each other. It didn't really get either.

 

[hellblazer103]

Nbc.

 

[famicommander]

Nbc.

Well, considering dozens of NBC shows manage to survive every season I'd guess there's a bit more to it than that.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Nbc

 

[Syncos]

The problem with NBC is when they invest in a show like this, they want it to be Season one of Heroes. They want it to be pulling in 16million viewers an episode. That's why it would have been better off on a smaller cable network like CW or FX, etc.

 

[famicommander]

The problem with NBC is when they invest in a show like this, they want it to be Season one of Heroes. They want it to be pulling in 16million viewers an episode. That's why it would have been better off on a smaller cable network like CW or FX, etc.

NBC never expected those kinds of numbers. If the show had averaged something like a 1.2 and 5.5 million viewers it would still be going right now.

The plain and simple fact of the matter is that the ratings were terrible. Some of that is NBC's fault but the showrunners carry just as much of the blame, if not more. If they hadn't botched the pilot so badly it would have premiered earlier in the season and gotten more promotion, and then who knows what could have been?

 

[Fallen Angel]

NBC
Lack of promotion
Friday night slot

 

[dude stannis]

It's a shame, as this totally sat on par with The Flash for me.

 

[Naked Shia]

I think it waited too long before using a bigger story serialized on several episodes. They should have done that immediatly. The case of the week stuff was fun, but not great enough. the second half of the show is really great.

 

[Syncos]

I think it waited too long before using a bigger story serialized on several episodes. They should have done that immediatly. The case of the week stuff was fun, but not great enough. the second half of the show is really great.

That's not unusual for a show of this style. Typically they want to define the characters and world before having world changing events take place. Keeping in mind that Constantine only got half their season. The back half would have probably kept going towards the bigger story stuff had they been picked up for a full season order, or a season 2.

 

[famicommander]

I think it waited too long before using a bigger story serialized on several episodes. They should have done that immediatly. The case of the week stuff was fun, but not great enough. the second half of the show is really great.

The show was a mess early on because of all the changes that they made late in development. They reshot the pilot, wrote a character off, introduced a new character, and aired two episodes out of order in the first four. It took them some time to get running but when you only have 13 episodes you just can't afford to start out with 2-3 messy ones.

They really crapped the bed with the original pilot. After that NBC lost confidence in it, which is why it ended up debuting late in the season in the late night Friday timeslot. That's where you put a show that you don't have confidence in. Most shows that are put in that timeslot will fail, but there's usually a reason the show is put there in the first place.

If the pilot was better it could have entirely changed the fate of the show.

 

[dude stannis]

I think it waited too long before using a bigger story serialized on several episodes. They should have done that immediatly. The case of the week stuff was fun, but not great enough. the second half of the show is really great.

I think they tried to mimic Arrow season 1. Start with the case of the week and build a looming threat in the background.

 

[TheVileOne]

It was on the wrong network. Constantine/Hellblazer is not an NBC show.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

What turned me off was the freak of the week Smallville formula.

Gets pretty stale quuckly.

But even Agents of Shield was able to evolve by the 2nd season so who knows what could've been.

I like the Heaven vs Hell thing but with a darker edge so maybe Preacher will be better for me.

 

[DlAMONDZ]

Fridays at 10

 

[Fallen Angel]

David Goyer doesn't think NBC was the best network for #Constantine: http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/constantine-david-goyer-nbc-arrow-cameo-1201622606/ …

I loved ‘Constantine,'” Goyer said. “In retrospect, I don’t think it should have been on NBC. I think it was the wrong channel and I’m sure they probably agree with that as well.”

“We almost doubled our numbers in DVR numbers, but they weren’t quite there in network television in counting those metrics,” he said. “If it had been on a basic cable channel, it could still be on.”

 

[famicommander]

If it were on basic cable they never could have afforded the same actors, special effects, or creative staff. Goyer knows that.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

If it were on basic cable they never could have afforded the same actors, special effects, or creative staff. Goyer knows that.

Why? There were no actual big names on Constantine.

 

[Syncos]

I think they tried to mimic Arrow season 1. Start with the case of the week and build a looming threat in the background.

That's been a tv trope for shows of this style for long before Arrow.

Supernatural did it almost 10 years before arrow.
Buffy was over 15 years.

I'm sure it happened long before then.
It's pretty common.

 

[chamber-music]

Hellblazer readers were saying for years the show should of be on Cable instead of network televisions if it ever gets made.