Froodee

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Canceled: Stargate Universe

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Syfy has officially pulled the plug on the third (and last?) Stargate series, Stargate Universe. Currently only half of the show’s second season has aired, and in typical Syfy fashion, the network will burn off the final 10 episodes sometime next Spring.

Following lower-than-hoped-for ratings, Syfy opted not to renew the show for a third season.

Maybe Syfy would get better ratings if they’d quit jerking fans around with their shows’ air schedules. Viewers are often left scratching their heads when Syfy’s original programs find their seasons halved, with the second half of a season assigned an unspecified air date that’s months or even a year or more (*cough* Battlestar Galactica) after the first half was shown.

AMC Cancels ‘Rubicon’

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Now that AMC has entered the “original scripted series” landscape, the cable network has been put in the difficult position of having to cancel a show for the first time ever. Rubicon is the unfortunate victim, having been undone by extremely poor ratings.

Rubicon had a strong premise in the tale of a man who stumbles upon a conspiracy involving a secret fourth arm of the U.S. government, and a great cast that included the likes of James Badge Dale and Miranda Richardson. So what went wrong? Why couldn’t a show with so much promise find an audience?

I see a few different factors to blame. Most prominent among them: critics who constantly cited the “sleepy,” “slow-moving” nature of the show. Anytime we viewers hear the word “conspiracy,” we think of suspense and excitement, but Rubicon didn’t seem to have enough of either to suit viewers’ appetites. There’s also its Sunday-at-9:p.m. timeslot, which was fine for a while, but after The Walking Dead settled into the 10:p.m. slot, it probably proved an eye-opening contrast between the low-rated Rubicon and the mega-hit that followed it.

Canceled: Medium, Dark Blue

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It’s been a long time coming, but CBS has formally announced the cancellation of Medium. Currently in its fifth season after moving to CBS from NBC, Medium‘s ratings just weren’t strong enough to justify the rising production costs of the show.

CBS will air the show’s final episode on Friday, January 21st.

Also in cancellation news, TNT has pulled the plug on Dark Blue. Likewise citing low ratings, TNT decided that 2.2 million viewers per episode simply wasn’t enough to save the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama about undercover cops. Dark Blue just aired its second season finale in September.

It’s Dead, Jim: Caprica

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Just days after Syfy announced a second Battlestar Galactica spinoff, Blood & Chrome, its first spinoff has been cancelled. Before the end of its first season has even aired, the plug has been pulled on Caprica.

Caprica won fans and critics alike, as its numerous characters have been slowly fleshed out and its overall mythology expanded. But Syfy claims that “Caprica has not been able to build the audience necessary to justify a second season.” About a month ago, Syfy began airing the final block of episodes from the show’s first season, but now says that it will end this block on Tuesday, November 2nd, and then burn off the remaining five episodes sometime in early 2011.

Needless to say, this is sad news for all fans of intelligent entertainment. Particularly when there’s mindless dreck like $#*! My Dad Says actually garnering a big enough audience to justify keeping it on the air. And another thing: Why is it that these kinds of shows always get the axe right when they’re hitting their stride? Caprica has been getting better and better with each new episode, and it’s more obvious than ever that seeds for very big things were being planted.

So very frustrating.

It’s Dead, Jim: Undercovers

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NBC has decided not to give J.J. Abrams’ Undercovers a full season order. The show, despite an appealing cast and a fun premise, never managed to find an audience that NBC deemed big enough. Last night’s show scored 5.8 million viewers and a 1.3 adult demographic rating. Although these numbers would be more than enough to sustain an original cable show, broadcast networks need more to turn a profit.

This is another recent cancellation that I’m saddened by. Admittedly, this one never sinked its claws into me the way that Abrams’ other shows (like Alias and Lost) did, primarily because it never featured his famous love of mythologies (i.e., ongoing, overarching storylines with complicated backstories). Itt was a light, frothy hour of entertainment that had sparkling chemistry between its two leads, fun globetrotting adventures, and some great humor. But my wife and I repeatedly remarked, from the very first episode, that Undercovers simply offered too little to invest in. It was all gravy and no meat. Alias proved you could a jet-setting spy series that was both adventurous fun and filled with heavy mythology, so why would Abrams cripple himself by removing one of the primary ingredients that make his shows work?

It’s especially bittersweet since show co-creator Josh Reims just days ago announced his intention to ramp-up the show’s mythology (which is centered around the CIA’s hidden agenda for bringing the main characters back into the fold) in order to better ensnare Abrams’ usual fanbase.

Unfortunately, Reims recognized the mistake too late in the game. Undercovers now goes down in history as the first official failure for J.J. Abrams in primetime network television.