History GenreKiller / LiveActionTV

* The VarietyShow's demise in the US has been linked to the abject failure of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff'' in 1980. The genre (much like the movie musical) had already spent most of the decade on life support (becoming relegated to "summer filler" material) as audiences became too jaded by Watergate and Vietnam to enjoy such light entertainment anymore, a change of tastes that led to the emergence of edgier SketchComedy shows like ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow and many]] [[Series/InLivingColor others to]] [[Series/AllThat this day]]. ''Pink Lady'' was a HotterAndSexier take on the format to make it marketable for TheEighties, but they pushed it too far, especially in a time when [[MoralGuardians religious and watchdog groups]] started massive "Clean Up TV" campaigns. While there have been several attempts to revive the genre, critics and audiences have been largely indifferent. Meanwhile, TV execs still remember ''Pink Lady and Jeff'' as one of the worst shows of all time, even managing to make David Hofstede's 2004 book ''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'', which also took [[TakeThat potshots]] at Fred Silverman, who greenlighted ''Pink Lady'' and [[CreatorKiller got fired from NBC]] shortly after the show tanked.
** The death of the variety show could also be attributed to the decreasing cost of televisions. Back in TheFifties and TheSixties when variety programs were at their most popular, a television was an expensive investment and there would typically be only one TV per household, if the household had a TV to begin with. When televisions became much less expensive, the need for specialized programming to appeal to the various members of a household became much more apparent as households acquired multiple sets starting in TheSeventies. Then cable television and home video took off in TheEighties and put the final nail in variety's coffin by offering even more niche programming. Though this is a story that largely played out in the U.S. Abroad, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the format remained popular]], either due to lower disposable incomes meaning fewer TV sets per household or over-the-air programming remaining dominant.

* The failure of ''Pablo y Andrea'' (2005) caused Televisa to stop producing telenovelas aimed at children. By the time that telenovela came out, most of the target audience had lost interest in the limited plots said novelas offered, most of which were of the "kids having magical and musical adventures with a bit of drama" variety that were over-commercialized.\\\
Similarly, the lukewarm reception of ''Niña de mi corazón'' (2010) caused the same network to stop producing novelas aimed at a teenage audience, since no novelas of that sort have been produced since then. The genre had been very popular for Televisa since the late 80s. Both examples can be explained due to the fact that most children and teenagers prefer to play videogames or be on the Internet nowadays instead of watching novelas (or TV in general).
* The massive failure of ''The Magic Hour'' (and to a lesser extent, ''The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show'' and ''Vibe'' a season prior) killed the trend of urban-oriented, syndicated, late-night talk shows (and syndicated late-night talk shows in general). The failure of Arsenio Hall's revived [[Series/TheArsenioHallShow talk show]] in 2013-2014 confirmed that a comeback of this trend isn't coming back, at least for the foreseeable future.

* The VarietyShow's demise in the US has been linked to the abject failure of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff'' in 1980. The genre (much like the movie musical) had already spent most of the decade on life support (becoming relegated to "summer filler" material) as audiences became too jaded by Watergate and Vietnam to enjoy such light entertainment anymore, a change of tastes that led to the emergence of edgier SketchComedy shows like ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow and many]] [[Series/InLivingColor others to]] [[Series/AllThat this day]]. ''Pink Lady'' was a HotterAndSexier take on the format to make it marketable for TheEighties, but they pushed it too far, especially in a time when [[MoralGuardians religious and watchdog groups]] started massive "Clean Up TV" campaigns. While there have been several attempts to revive the genre, critics and audiences have been largely indifferent. Meanwhile, TV execs still remember ''Pink Lady and Jeff'' as one of the worst shows of all time, even managing to make David Hofstede's 2004 book ''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'', which also took [[TakeThat potshots]] at Fred Silverman, who greenlighted ''Pink Lady'' and got fired from NBC shortly after the show tanked.

** Also in the Philippines, the success of [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Marina]] and [[BirdPeople Mulawin]] in the early 2000s spawned the genre of fantasy shows up to the 2010s. What killed the genre was the access to American and Korean series on streaming sites and TV writers running out of ideas to the point that the premises of these fantasy shows only became notorious for memes.

** The death of the variety show could also be attributed to the decreasing cost of televisions. Back in TheFifties and TheSixties when variety programs were at their most popular, a television was an expensive investment and there would typically be only one TV per household, if the household had a TV to begin with. When televisions became much less expensive, the need for specialized programming to appeal to the various members of a household became much more apparent as households acquired multiple sets starting in TheSeventies. Then cable television and home video took off in TheEighties and put the final nail in variety's coffin by offering even more niche programming.

** The death of the variety show could also be attributed to the decreasing cost of televisions. Back in TheFifties and TheSixties when variety programs were at their most popular, a television was an expensive investment and there would typically be only one TV per household, if the household had a TV to begin with. When televisions became much less expensive, the need for specialized programming to appeal to the various members of a household became much more apparent as households acquired multiple sets. Then cable television and home video took off in TheEighties and put the final nail in variety's coffin by offering even more niche programming.

** The death of the variety show could also be attributed to the decreasing cost of televisions. Back in TheFifties and TheSixties when variety programs were at their most popular, a television was an expensive investment and there would typically be only one TV per household, if the household had a TV to begin with. When televisions became much less expensive, the need for specialized programming to appeal to the various members of a household became much more apparent. Then cable television took off in TheEighties and put the final nail in variety's coffin.

** In the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, daytime soap operas have fallen victim to this trope. Back in TheSeventies and TheEighties, ratings for daytime soaps hit peaks of 30 million viewers for events like [[SuperCouple Luke and Laura's]] wedding on ''Series/GeneralHospital'', and ad revenues from them helped to fund the [[{{Networks}} networks']] elaborate, expensive, all-but-nonprofit [[NewsBroadcast news divisions]], as well as tide the whole network over in years when the Prime Time lineup was struggling. Due to ValuesDissonance and society marching on, themes that used to be considered 'taboo' are commonplace nowadays, and soaps are lucky to pull in three million. Some people recommend that the networks drop them altogether and replace them with [[TalkShow talk shows]] and other daytime fare — which some networks are already doing (Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/{{NBC}} are down to one soap apiece, Creator/{{CBS}} has two). Nowadays, the phrase 'daytime soap opera' has come to be synonymous with [[{{Narm}} pure dreck]] in the minds of many TV fans, associated with bad writing, outrageous plots and [[LargeHam shoddy]] [[DullSurprise acting]], something that can be seen whenever [[FanDumb disgruntled fans]] of a UsefulNotes/PrimeTime series talk about how bad writers or actors "should never have been let out of daytime". A list of theories explaining this fall can be seen on the [[SoapOpera Soap Opera]] page. The fact that the {{cancellation}} of ''Series/GuidingLight'', [[LongRunner the longest running fictional TV show in the history of the medium]], was barely a footnote in ''Magazine/TVGuide'' and ''Entertainment Weekly'' just goes to illustrate how far soap operas have fallen in the public eye.

** Also in the Philippines, the success of [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Marina]] and [[BirdPeople Mulawin]] in the early 2000s spawned the genre of fantasy shows up to the 2010s. What killed the genre was the access to American and Korean series on streaming sites, TV writers running out of ideas to the point that the premise of these fantasy shows just became notorious for memes.

* Creator/VH1 released a host of popular "celebreality" dating shows in the mid- to late 2000s, starting with ''Series/FlavorOfLove'' (itself a spin-off of a spin-off), which ran for several seasons, and the next most popular series, ''Series/RockOfLove'', where contestants would compete to date celebrities Flavor Flav and [[Music/{{Poison}} Bret Michaels]], respectively. Popular losing bachelorettes from those shows ended up getting their own dating shows such as ''Series/ILoveNewYork'', ''Daisy of Love'', and ''Megan Wants a Millionaire,'' and losers from ''those'' shows even got their own spinoffs (''Real Chance of Love''). Popular contestants from ''Flavor of Love'' and eventually ''Rock of Love'' would end up on ''Series/CharmSchool'', while all contestants were eligible to compete for money on ''Series/ILoveMoney''. Though spin-offs kept multiplying, the genre itself was already suffering -- not only were ratings dipping lower as viewers started losing interest in Z-listers whose only claim to fame was being in a genre perceived as seedy and trashy, but many felt the channel was oversaturated with spin-offs, as well as the fact that the scripted nature of the apparent "reality" series, though always apparent, was getting more and more obvious. The death blow to the "celebreality" genre came at the close of the decade with a contestant named Ryan Jenkins, who was a competitor in ''Megan Wants a Millionaire'' and won the third season of ''I Love Money''. Jenkins' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jasmine_Fiore wife Jasmine was found dead]] with Jenkins the only suspected killer; he committed suicide while attempting to flee. [=VH1=] quickly pulled the plug on the remaining episodes of ''Megan'' and cancelled ''I Love Money'' without showing Jenkins's winning season, broadcasting only the already-filmed fourth season after a year. All future celebreality projects were shelved, including the third season of ''New York'' and future seasons of ''Flavor'' slated for the following year. The passing of time and the shock of the violent incident chilled most interest in the genre, and [=VH1=] has toned down reality programming in general to this day, with most of the celebreality contestants, the majority of whom failed to achieve fame outside of [=VH1=], fading into obscurity.

** In the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, daytime soap operas have fallen victim to this trope. Back in TheSeventies and TheEighties, ratings for daytime soaps hit peaks of 30 million viewers for events like [[SuperCouple Luke and Laura's]] wedding on ''Series/GeneralHospital'', and ad revenues from them helped to fund the [[{{Networks}} networks']] elaborate, expensive, all-but-nonprofit [[NewsBroadcast news divisions]], as well as tide the whole network over in years when the Prime Time lineup was struggling. Due to ValuesDissonance and society marching on, themes that used to be considered 'taboo' are commonplace nowadays, and soaps are lucky to pull in three million. Some people recommend that the networks drop them altogether and replace them with [[TalkShow talk shows]] and other daytime fare — which some networks are already doing (Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/{{NBC}} are down to one soap apiece, Creator/{{CBS}} has two). Nowadays, the phrase 'daytime soap opera' has come to be synonymous with [[SoapWithinAShow pure dreck]] in the minds of many TV fans, associated with bad writing, outrageous plots and [[LargeHam shoddy]] [[DullSurprise acting]], something that can be seen whenever [[FanDumb disgruntled fans]] of a UsefulNotes/PrimeTime series talk about how bad writers or actors "should never have been let out of daytime". A list of theories explaining this fall can be seen on the [[SoapOpera Soap Opera]] page. The fact that the {{cancellation}} of ''Series/GuidingLight'', [[LongRunner the longest running fictional TV show in the history of the medium]], was barely a footnote in ''Magazine/TVGuide'' and ''Entertainment Weekly'' just goes to illustrate how far soap operas have fallen in the public eye.

* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20181119041002/https://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/moviesandtv/columns/highdefinition/12756-Remembering-Comedy-Central-s-The-Colbert-Report This article]] by Creator/BobChipman argues that ''Series/TheColbertReport'' killed off the PompousPoliticalPundit TalkShow by parodying its form and style so effectively that it became impossible (especially for younger Gen-X and millennial viewers) to take seriously anymore. While ''Series/TheOReillyFactor'', the main show that Creator/StephenColbert was parodying, remained on the air for more than two years after ''Colbert'' ended, it and shows like it have notably ceased to be the dominant programming on the Fox News Channel, their viewerships notably trending much older while the new comparatively younger faces of the network (like Greg Gutfeld, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Tucker Carlson) largely eschew the style. Glenn Beck's 2011 departure from the network followed by O'Reilly's firing in 2017 only furthered this trend. The comparatively low-octane panel discussion show "The Five" later ended up in one of the network's key primetime slots, with Sean Hannity the sole surviving "old school" blustery host.

* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20181119041002/https://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/moviesandtv/columns/highdefinition/12756-Remembering-Comedy-Central-s-The-Colbert-Report This article]] by Creator/BobChipman argues that ''Series/TheColbertReport'' killed off the PompousPoliticalPundit TalkShow by parodying its form and style so effectively that it became impossible (especially for younger Gen-X and millennial viewers) to take seriously anymore. While ''Series/TheOReillyFactor'', the main show that Creator/StephenColbert was parodying, remained on the air for more than two years after ''Colbert'' ended, it and shows like it have notably ceased to be the dominant programming on the Creator/FoxNewsChannel, their viewerships notably trending much older while the new comparatively younger faces of the network (like Greg Gutfeld, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Tucker Carlson) largely eschew the style. Glenn Beck's 2011 departure from the network followed by O'Reilly's firing in 2017 only furthered this trend. The comparatively low-octane panel discussion show "The Five" later ended up in one of the network's key primetime slots, with Sean Hannity the sole surviving "old school" blustery host.

* In the Philippines, celebrity gossip talk shows used to be dominate the weekend afternoon time-slots and was a favorite pastime for celebrity-obsessed viewers. However on the midst of social networking where many Filipinos would rather read gossip news online and many celebrities discuss their views on their social media accounts, these gossip talk shows slowly lost their purpose. As a result, the longest-running talk shows such as ABS-CBN's ''The Buzz'' and GMA Network's ''Startalk'' ended up cancelled in 2015 and the afternoon weekend timeslots are filled for Tagalog-dubbed Hollywood and Chinese movies instead.
** Also in the Philippines, the success of [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Marina]] and [[BirdPeople Mulawin]] in the early 2000s spawned the genre of fantasy shows up to the 2010s. What killed the genre was the access to American and Korean series, tv writers running out of ideas to the point that the premise of these fantasy shows just became notorious for memes.

* The [[GameShows Quiz Show]] was discredited for about fifteen years in the US after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiz_show_scandals a series of scandals]] in TheFifties, in which it was learned that a number of popular quiz shows (most notably ''Series/TwentyOne'') were being [[ExecutiveMeddling rigged]] in order to increase tension, bring in ratings, and to give the victory to the contestant the producers wanted to win. After the scandals, the focus of questions generally shifted from knowledge to word games and puzzles, and low-stakes panel games like ''Series/ToTellTheTruth'' were at their peak. ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' helped America trust ''quiz'' shows again in 1964, but it was not until about 1973 and ''[[Series/{{Pyramid}} The $10,000 Pyramid]]'' when game shows really began offering five-figure sums again [[note]](and note the change in name from "quiz show" to "game show"; the former name was still associated with rigged challenges)[[/note]]. Even after the genre came back into vogue, the effects of the scandals left a permanent mark; these new game shows had winnings caps and somewhat smaller amounts of money to be won, and it wouldn't be until 1998 when '''really''' big-money games returned in the form of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''

The poor ratings (the show was featured in the 7:30 death slot too - this was before digital cable and satellite with "Eastern time channels" were more popular), production costs of $45,000 per episode, and awful reception not only killed the idea as a whole, but also convinced some networks to drop their airings of American or British soaps too, and the show is seen as one of the worst Canadian TV shows of all time. Ironically, one of the staples of competitor Creator/CBC's programming is an imported soap opera: ''Series/CoronationStreet''.

The poor ratings (the show was featured in the 7:30 death slot too - this was before digital cable and satellite with "Eastern time channels" were more popular), production costs of $45,000 per episode, and awful reception not only killed the idea as a whole, but also convinced some networks to drop their airings of American or British soaps too, and the show is seen as one of the worst Canadian TV shows of all time.

** While the PointAndLaughShow survived for a while in Britain with ''Series/TheJeremyKyleShow'', that show too was eventually cancelled in 2019 after the suicide of a guest one week after his episode was filmed.

* The murder of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Scott_Amedure Scott Amedure]] in 1995 and the subsequent legal fallout, in addition to serving as a wake-up call for the issue of homophobia in American society at the time, killed the kind of [[PointAndLaughShow trashy tabloid talk show]] that had become popular in the late '80s and early '90s. Before that, talk shows such as ''Geraldo'', ''The Montel Williams Show'', ''The Charles Perez Show'', ''Ricki Lake'', and ''The Jenny Jones Show'' were regularly staged for maximum sensationalism, openly inviting audiences to [[ComeToGawk gawk at the dysfunction on screen]]. After Amedure's murder (perhaps more specifically, the $25 million awarded after a lawsuit against ''The Jenny Jones Show''), many of these series either faced cancellation or promised to tone down the sleaze. The final nail in the genre's coffin was the rise of reality television in the early 2000s, which provided similar content in a manner that many audience members considered far more accessible than the old TalkShow format. Only ''Series/TheJerrySpringerShow'''s established and unabashed commitment to full-sleaze survived the initial backlash.

* The murder of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Scott_Amedure Scott Amedure]] in 1995 and the subsequent legal fallout, in addition to serving as a wake-up call for the issue of homophobia in American society at the time, killed the kind of [[PointAndLaughShow trashy tabloid talk show]] that had become popular in the late '80s and early '90s. Before that, talk shows such as ''Geraldo'', ''The Montel Williams Show'', ''The Charles Perez Show'', and ''The Jenny Jones Show'' were regularly staged for maximum sensationalism, openly inviting audiences to [[ComeToGawk gawk at the dysfunction on screen]]. After Amedure's murder (perhaps more specifically, the $25 million awarded after a lawsuit against ''The Jenny Jones Show''), many of these series either faced cancellation or promised to tone down the sleaze. The final nail in the genre's coffin was the rise of reality television in the early 2000s, which provided similar content in a manner that many audience members considered far more accessible than the old TalkShow format.

* After ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' became popular in 1999, dinosaur documentaries were a regular feature on networks such as Creator/DiscoveryChannel and Creator/AnimalPlanet. Even Creator/TheHistoryChannel got in on the action with ''Series/JurassicFightClub''. By the late 2000s, however, they were beginning to decrease in number, and by 2013 there were none being produced. The "extinction" of the dinosaur documentary was a one-two punch. The first blow was probably the [[QuoteMine quote-mining]] controversy that surrounded ''Series/ClashOfTheDinosaurs'', in which paleontologist Matt Wedel asserted that the writers had taken his statements out of context to suggest the opposite of what he actually said. ''Clash of the Dinosaurs'' ended up being the last dinosaur documentary produced by Discovery (although NetworkDecay also played a part with that). The genre as a whole was killed a few years later, by the box-office and critical failure of the ''WesternAnimation/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' movie, which not only served as the FranchiseKiller for the ''Walking With...'' series, but also ensured that no major studio or TV network would ever produce another dinosaur documentary for over a decade, until the smash hit of ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'' helpee revive interest in it.

** In the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, daytime soap operas have fallen victim to this trope. Back in TheSeventies and TheEighties, ratings for daytime soaps hit peaks of 30 million viewers for events like [[SuperCouple Luke and Laura's]] wedding on ''Series/GeneralHospital'', and ad revenues from them helped to fund the [[{{Networks}} networks']] elaborate, expensive, all-but-nonprofit [[NewsBroadcast news divisions]], as well as tide the whole network over in years when the Prime Time lineup was struggling. Due to ValuesDissonance and society marching on, themes that used to be considered 'taboo' are commonplace nowadays, and soaps are lucky to pull in three million. Some people recommend that the networks drop them altogether and replace them with [[TalkShow talk shows]] and other daytime fare — which some networks are already doing (Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/{{NBC}} are down to one soap apiece, Creator/{{CBS}} has two). Nowadays, the phrase 'daytime soap opera' has come to be synonymous with [[SoapWithinAShow pure dreck]] in the minds of many TV fans, associated with bad writing, [[IdiotPlot outrageous plots]] and [[LargeHam shoddy]] [[DullSurprise acting]], something that can be seen whenever [[FanDumb disgruntled fans]] of a UsefulNotes/PrimeTime series talk about how bad writers or actors "should never have been let out of daytime". A list of theories explaining this fall can be seen on the [[SoapOpera Soap Opera]] page. The fact that the [[{{Cancellation}} cancellation]] of ''Series/GuidingLight'', [[LongRunner the longest running fictional TV show in the history of the medium]], was barely a footnote in ''Magazine/TVGuide'' and ''Entertainment Weekly'' just goes to illustrate how far soap operas have fallen in the public eye.

* The VarietyShow's demise in the US has been linked to the abject failure of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff'' in 1980--However, the genre (much like the movie musical) had spent most of the decade on life support (becoming relegated to "summer filler" material) as audiences became too jaded by Watergate and Vietnam to enjoy such light entertainment anymore (a change of tastes that led to the emergence of edgier SketchComedy shows like ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow and many]] [[Series/InLivingColor others to]] [[Series/AllThat this day]]). Actually, ''Pink Lady'' was a spicier take on the format to make it marketable for the 80s, but they pushed it too far[[note]]Especially as religious and watchdog groups started massive "Clean Up TV" campaigns at the time[[/note]]. While there have been several attempts to revive the genre, critics and audiences have been largely indifferent. Meanwhile, TV execs still remember ''Pink Lady and Jeff'' as one of the worst shows of all time, even managing to make David Hofstede's 2004 book ''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'', which also took [[TakeThat potshots]] at Fred Silverman, who greenlighted ''Pink Lady'' and got fired from NBC shortly after the show tanked.
** The death of the variety show could also be attributed to the decreasing cost of televisions. Back in TheFifties and TheSixties when variety programs were at their most popular, a television was an expensive investment and there would typically be only one TV per household, if the household had a TV to begin with. When televisions became much less expensive, the need for specialized programming to appeal to the various members of a household became much more apparent. Then cable television took off in [[TheSeventies The '70s]] and [[TheEighties The '80s]] and put the final nail in variety's coffin.
* Between TheSixties and TheEighties, Creator/TheBBC's Saturday evening programming was headed by variety shows such as ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' and ''The Morecambe & Wise Show''; a blend of sketches, stand-up comedy[[note]]In the case of Creator/RonnieCorbett, more "sitting-down" comedy[[/note]] and musical interludes by safe [=MoR=] artistes. Most commentators would agree there was nothing wrong with this and it had some superlatively funny moments. Then the satirical sketch show ''Series/NotTheNineOClockNews'' came along and skewered the format with a parody called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oVG4_k7Hbc The Two Ninnies]]'', which pointed out that Barker and Corbett's brand of humour (largely based on the music hall staples of double entendres, dressing up as women and performing silly songs) wasn't too amusing anymore in an age of alternative comedy.[[note]]This was apparently not the intention of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News''[='=]s writers, who were reacting to what they thought were hypocritical comments Ronnie Barker had made expressing distaste for the (in his view) ribald content of the programme by observing that his own act had relied on innuendo for decades by 1981.[[/note]]. As a result of this (and the expensive failure of ''Bruce Forsyth's Big Night'', broadcast by rival network Creator/{{ITV}} in 1978), the variety show format was pretty much done for in the UK, with the Rons retiring in 1987 (Morecambe and Wise had retired in 1984 with the former's death). By the 2000s however, light entertainment saw a revival in Britain.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' and, to an initially lesser extent ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', killed off the functional family sitcom boom of the late '80s heralded by ''Series/TheCosbyShow''. Even shows inspired by Cosby, like ''Series/HomeImprovement'' or ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'' are more cynical than ''The Cosby Show''. Averted however for many black family sitcoms of the '90s which came about because of Cosby such as ''Series/FamilyMatters'' and ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' (see MinorityShowGhetto).
** The latter's chaotic [[TheOtherDarrin re-casting]] of Aunt Viv, with Janet Hubert-Whitten being replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid and Hubert-Witten being visibly pissed off over this eventually killed the "gentle family sitcom", as other stories of [[HostilityOnTheSet hellish backstage tensions]] in those shows featuring near-perfect families began to spring up, making audiences very cynical about such scenarios (tellingly, ''Fresh Prince'' is nowadays remembered for its [[CerebusSyndrome melodramatic later seasons]] instead of the goofy tone of its early episodes). Creator/BillCosby's own [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor sexual assault scandal that ultimately sent him behind bars]] merely [[CondemnedByHistory pounded more nails into the coffin]].

* ''Series/TheOfficeUK'', ''Series/{{Extras}}'' and ''Series/TheThickOfIt'', while not outright killing the classic BritCom format, made them seem like quaint relics of the 1960s and '70s, and resulted in critics generally losing respect for the classic style. Fewer and fewer of them have been produced as the 2000s and 2010s have progressed, and some are predicting that the horribly-received ''The Wright Way'', made by Brit Com mainstay Creator/BenElton, may prove to be the final nail in the coffin for it as an art form, with the few holdouts (most notably ''Mrs. Brown's Boys'') being critical failures, regardless of how popular they can be. Beyond the U.K. they're even deader: Cable networks/blocks like [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]], Creator/ComedyCentral, and Creator/AdultSwim used to import/rerun popular British sitcoms and sketch comedy shows regularly, but completely gave up on them in TheNewTens. BBC America hasn't had any comedies on their schedule in years, preferring to focus on ''Series/TopGearUK'', ''Series/DoctorWho'', dramatic series/miniseries, documentary shows, and ''The Graham Norton Show''. (The last time they aired a British comedy series in any capacity was an after-hours run of the final season of ''Series/TheThickOfIt'' in 2015 -- and only because [[Creator/PeterCapaldi the lead actor]] went on to topline ''Doctor Who''.) Creator/{{PBS}} still imports a few comedies, such as ''Moone Boy'' and ''Vicious'', but none have received substantial critical attention or ratings.

* After ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' became popular in 1999, dinosaur documentaries were a regular feature on networks such as Creator/DiscoveryChannel and Creator/AnimalPlanet. Even Creator/TheHistoryChannel got in on the action with ''Series/JurassicFightClub''. By the late 2000s, however, they were beginning to decrease in number, and by 2013 there were none being produced. The "extinction" of the dinosaur documentary was a one-two punch. The first blow was probably the [[QuoteMine quote-mining]] controversy that surrounded ''Series/ClashOfTheDinosaurs'', in which paleontologist Matt Wedel asserted that the writers had taken his statements out of context to suggest the opposite of what he actually said. ''Clash of the Dinosaurs'' ended up being the last dinosaur documentary produced by Discovery (although NetworkDecay also played a part with that). The genre as a whole was killed a few years later, by the box-office and critical failure of the ''WesternAnimation/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' movie, which not only served as the FranchiseKiller for the ''Walking With...'' series, but also ensured that no major studio or TV network would ever produce another dinosaur documentary.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' was such a success that no other American tokusatsu adaptation has been able to get too far off the ground. Usually they just end up viewed as rip-offs.

* Creator/VH1 released a host of popular "celebreality" dating shows in the mid- to late 2000s, starting with ''Series/FlavorOfLove'' (itself a spin-off of a spin-off), which ran for several seasons, and the next most popular series, ''Series/RockOfLove'', where contestants would compete to date celebrities Flavor Flav and Bret Michaels, respectively. Popular losing bachelorettes from those shows ended up getting their own dating shows such as ''Series/ILoveNewYork'', ''Daisy of Love'', and ''Megan Wants a Millionaire,'' and losers from ''those'' shows even got their own spinoffs (''Real Chance of Love''). Popular contestants from ''Flavor of Love'' and eventually ''Rock of Love'' would end up on ''Series/CharmSchool'', while all contestants were eligible to compete for money on ''Series/ILoveMoney''. Though spin-offs kept multiplying, the genre itself was already suffering -- not only were ratings dipping lower as viewers started losing interest in Z-listers whose only claim to fame was being in a genre perceived as seedy and trashy, but many felt the channel was oversaturated with spin-offs, as well as the fact that the scripted nature of the apparent "reality" series, though always apparent, was getting more and more obvious. The death blow to the "celebreality" genre came at the close of the decade with a contestant named Ryan Jenkins, who was a competitor in ''Megan Wants a Millionaire'' and won the third season of ''I Love Money''. Jenkins' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jasmine_Fiore wife Jasmine was found dead]] with Jenkins the only suspected killer; he committed suicide while attempting to flee. [=VH1=] quickly pulled the plug on the remaining episodes of ''Megan'' and cancelled ''I Love Money'' without showing Jenkins's winning season, broadcasting only the already-filmed fourth season after a year. All future celebreality projects were shelved, including the third season of ''New York'' and future seasons of ''Flavor'' slated for the following year. The passing of time and the shock of the violent incident chilled most interest in the genre, and [=VH1=] has toned down reality programming in general to this day, with most of the celebreality contestants, the majority of whom failed to achieve fame outside of [=VH1=], fading into obscurity.