Why are people so deathly afraid of cancellation these days?

Submitted by SuspendedInKarmaMama t3_11u8ukw in television

What the fuck is this new thing where people are so afraid that a show might get cancelled.

It used to be that if you watched a show, you knew it might get cancelled and if you didn't want that to happen then you tried to get more people to watch it.

Now people won't watch a show on the off chance it might get cancelled. It could get three seasons first but if it gets cancelled, people act like there's no value in watching it.

Guess what, if you don't watch a show because it might get cancelled only contributes to lower ratings which leads to cancellation.

You know, Twin Peaks and Arrested Development were both cancelled. I guess those shows weren't worth watching until they made the revivals. Which also both ended on cliffhangers so I suppose they're still not worth watching.

Freaks and Geeks was cancelled with a cliffhanger and never brought back so I suppose it's not worth watching at all.

Holy shit, do these people annoy me on here.

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LiveFromNewYork95 t1_jcn9xwx wrote

>Guess what, if you don't watch a show because it might get cancelled only contributes to lower ratings which leads to cancellation.

This is the part that bugs me the most. "I'm gonna wait 5 years to make sure the show gets 5 full seasons and a satisfying ending and then I'll pirate it." The rest of us aren't here to subsidize your entertainment.

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Latter_Feeling2656 t1_jcn0njv wrote

It goes along with ever-increasing serialization. It used to be that people only got over-invested in soap operas, but serialization has taken over in most genres so the dependence on shows is spread much more widely.

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Sithfish t1_jcqp7e9 wrote

Shows used to be mostly episodic so there was no investment if a show did get cancelled and you didn't lose anything. Now every show has at least some element of continuing plot, people don't want it ruined.

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Skavau t1_jcmydc8 wrote

>It used to be that if you watched a show, you knew it might get cancelled and if you didn't want that to happen then you tried to get more people to watch it.

In the past, shows that were cancelled were sometimes just pulled from air midseason. There was no streaming service around that acted as a graveyard for incomplete series. They mostly just disappeared. I'd also suggest there was somewhat less competition between providers - there's much more TV now.

Also, assuming you mean the 90s and 00s - most TV really wasn't anything to write home about to get engaged with as it is now. It was really only HBO and AMC acting as prestige flagbearers.

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frenin t1_jco5306 wrote

>Also, assuming you mean the 90s and 00s - most TV really wasn't anything to write home about to get engaged with as it is now. It was really only HBO and AMC acting as prestige flagbearers.

There were ton of great shows and comedies during that time.

Imagine not watching the Prince of Bel Air because you believe it's going to be cancelled

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Skavau t1_jconloi wrote

I am less talking about sitcoms, and more serial prestige TV to be fair

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Thetimmybaby t1_jcn8ikh wrote

>Freaks and Geeks was cancelled with a cliffhanger

Not really

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frenin t1_jco5b3y wrote

It's a new phenomenon indeed, cancelled shows have always been part of the deal and linear TV was far more cruel than streaming these days anyway.

It's kinda confusing and annoying but eh. To each... If people aren't willing to put their faith in a show, "until it ends or it has three seasons", then they can't hardly complain it's being axed.

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risquare t1_jcsbmqu wrote

I think it's pretty weird too. I would rather have a single season of something that ended on a cliffhanger than nothing (of a show I really enjoyed). I think the position of requiring a 3-season commitment plus 100% resolution of all plot points up front is a bit much. I also think this crowd seems a bit hung up on story alone rather than the whole experience.

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unorthadox12 t1_jcx0l3h wrote

Shows were cancelled left right and centre before streaming, is just more noticeable now.

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Lethal234 t1_jco6no9 wrote

It’s basic psychology for why this is happening

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frenin t1_jcojm5q wrote

How so? Cancellations aren't a new phenomenon.

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Lethal234 t1_jcpwqft wrote

It’s not a new phenomenon, but one that is more visible due to social media water cooler discussion, and how we get news about a cancellation or renewal very directly. Netflix has created a catch-22 in many ways due to their strategies

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frenin t1_jcpymp2 wrote

>and how we get news about a cancellation or renewal very directly

Before we didn't?

>Netflix has created a catch-22 in many ways due to their strategies

It seems like the only way any company can avoid it is by keep airing shows no matter how unpopular or unprofitable.

Oh well, at the end it's a pity shows die but shows will keep coming.

>due to social media water cooler discussio

Don't really know what this is tbf

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Skavau t1_jcqjvm1 wrote

>Before we didn't?

No, not as much. People just weren't into TV in the way that they are now generally. And most shows were set up procedurally so that it could also kinda resolve itself.

>Don't really know what this is tbf

In the 90s and 00s there were less online spaces to talk about shows, share show news etc. You likely just talked about TV shows with your friends.

Now a HOTD episode thread can have 2000 comments in a day.

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frenin t1_jcqlfwl wrote

>No, not as much. People just weren't into TV in the way that they are now generally

That's just not true tho. TV had legions of fans too. From Sopranos to Friends.

>And most shows were set up procedurally so that it could also kinda resolve itself.

Cliffhangers aren't an streaming phenomenon dude.

>In the 90s and 00s there were less online spaces to talk about shows, share show news etc. You likely just talked about TV shows with your friends.

But between 00s to 2015 there were plenty of online spaces to talk about shows and cancellations were still ripe.

Kinda weird but then again, psychology is weird

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Skavau t1_jcqlq5c wrote

>That's just not true tho. TV had legions of fans too. From Sopranos to Friends.

There were less Sopranos type shows, and sitcoms are different thing entirely. They tend to be cheaper, tend to be less plot-driven.

>Cliffhangers aren't an streaming phenomenon dude.

Shows were much more commonly set up in the procedural 'monster/criminal/case of the week' style. Also seasons were longer so you felt like you got more from it.

>But between 00s to 2015 there were plenty of online spaces to talk about shows and cancellations were still ripe.

I think people have complained about cancellations in the late 00s and 10s tbh.

But there's definitely a lot more competition now.

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frenin t1_jcqr0ol wrote

>There were less Sopranos type shows, and sitcoms are different thing entirely. They tend to be cheaper, tend to be less plot-driven.

Less not zero and it was because of budget and by the end of the 90s tv dramas started ramping up.

>Shows were much more commonly set up in the procedural 'monster/criminal/case of the week' style. Also seasons were longer so you felt like you got more from it.

Ending in cliffhangers each season.

>I think people have complained about cancellations in the late 00s and 10s tbh.

>But there's definitely a lot more competition now.

People have always complained about cancellations but I don't remember any time in which a quarter of the audience refused to watch a show for fear of cancellation...

Either that audience has just turned 18 so they only remember TV under Netflix or people have really forgotten how ruthless linear tv could be.

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Skavau t1_jcqr6id wrote

>Less not zero and it was because of budget and by the end of the 90s tv dramas started ramping up.

Indeed.

>People have always complained about cancellations but I don't remember any time in which a quarter of the audience refused to watch a show for fear of cancellation...

I mean I don't know if there's ever been data on this historically. But also in the 90s and 00s you kinda had to watch the show when it aired, or wait for reruns or eventually buy it.

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frenin t1_jcquzj6 wrote

>I mean I don't know if there's ever been data on this historically. But also in the 90s and 00s you kinda had to watch the show when it aired, or wait for reruns or eventually buy it.

You didn't have to do that once piracy became widespread tho. And if you don't want to watch a show because you fear it'd be cancelled, that doesn't really matter.

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Skavau t1_jcqv36t wrote

Well yes, but not everyone did pirate in the 00s (either for ethical reasons or inability to do so) - and internet was slower, quality was worse, and HD space was less

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frenin t1_jcssg6z wrote

Not everyone pirates now and honestly quality never stopped people from pirating.

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Skavau t1_jct5sfv wrote

I know, but shitty Internet might

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Sithfish t1_jcqpl2e wrote

Before streaming you would find out once a year in May whether all shows are renewed or cancelled, right before the Upfronts where they reveal the new shows. Now you find out as soon as the decision is made.

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frenin t1_jcqqgti wrote

What? Before streaming shows could be cancelled and pulled from air mid season.

What are this rose tinted glasses?

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Feisty-Avocado-444 t1_jcq9fex wrote

People didn't somehow develop a 'fear' of cancellations. You know what changed? There's a lot more competition now. 20 years ago, I had 5 TV channels, about 3 hours a day viable for airing 'mature' rated series, the only way to watch older series was buying $100/season boxsets, and there really weren't any serialized stories that had an ending to choose from even if you did that. Picking from the handful of shows airing on TV each night was the most common practical form of entertainment. Right now I've got over 1500 completed TV series available to stream beginning to end and at least as many movies, hundreds of video games and new ones on GamePass and PS+ each month, YouTube channels, Kindle Unlimited. The amount of entertainment practically available to the average person has increased by many orders of magnitude, and that means the bar for what you spend your time on has been raised. I've got more than 30 shows in my queue that I already know have a proper ending, and I don't have time to watch, read, or play even a tenth of what I'd like to. Why would I spend my limited time starting stories that might end halfway through when I have so much I can watch that I know won't? If you went to the cinema and there were 30 movies playing that guaranteed a full runtime, would you instead buy a ticket for one that had a 70% chance of ending at a random point partway through?

Does the behavior comply with the categorical imperative? No. But this is not a situation where I think you'll ever get people behaving in a way that does. And honestly, personally, I don't care. If this consumption pattern means that shows in the format I like don't get made, then they don't get made, I'm fine with that. I wouldn't go to the cinema if 4 out of 5 movies cut out mid-sentence 30 minutes in just because I love movies that have their full story, and if the movie industry said "but we can't financially support ourselves any other way", then that's a shame, but I'm still not going to keep buying tickets. I'd rather spend my time on other entertainment. That's exactly what this is. It isn't my responsibility to keep the TV industry financially viable. If they offer me what I want I'll buy it and if they don't they don't. I'm not going to spend my time and money on stuff I don't like, simple as that. It's not fear or idiocy to behave this way, and I guarantee you have the same attitude about something else you enjoy.

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TheShowLover t1_jcnd5l2 wrote

Nice try Netflix bot. I'm still not watching any of your crap.

> Guess what, if you don't watch a show because it might get cancelled only contributes to lower ratings which leads to cancellation.

But if I did not watch the show in the first place, why would I care if it got cancelled? Does anybody care if shows they don't watch get cancelled?

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bhind45 t1_jco0zub wrote

Yes, I notice it a lot on this sub when a show gets cancelled. Half the comment section consists of people going "I am so fucking angry they've cancelled this, I haven't started watching, and I definitely won't now!!!!". It's even funnier if the show came out like 9 months before it was cancelled.

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frenin t1_jco54h3 wrote

>But if I did not watch the show in the first place, why would I care if it got cancelled? Does anybody care if shows they don't watch get cancelled?

Yes.

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