History ScrewedByTheNetwork / LiveACtionTV

* The various ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series were also badly served by the BBC on broadcast in Britain. They were always shown in the early-evening slot on [=BBC2=] and seen as nothing more than expandable filler that could be dropped if any afternoon sports events, such as cricket or tennis or golf, overran. In the summer months, they could be dropped completely so that sports events taking advantage of the longer daylight hours could run on; Star Trek episodes were reinstated if rain stopped play, making them convenient filler, and often ran out of sequence. The British premiere of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' was allowed to run for its first thirteen episodes in an early evening slot -- and was dropped, at a crucial stage in the plot, to allow the World Snooker Championships to have the slot. When it returned eight weeks later, the BBC did not pick up where the series had left off: it went back to Episode One and started all over again. None of these things killed [=ST-V=] in Britain, but they did not help either.

* ''Series/AmericanDreams'': Performed fairly decently in its original Sunday-night timeslot, but it wasn't enough. NBC played a wise move and moved the show to Wednesdays at 10 in direct competition with CBS' ''Survivor: Palau'' and ABC's ''Series/{{Lost}}''. The show was canceled despite many fan campaigns, but the producers were able to film a brief finale to WrapItUp, but NBC ultimately decided not to broadcast the finale, leaving many viewers hanging.

* The first and most successful iteration of the [[SaturdayMorningKidsShow morning and afternoon kids]] {{puppet show|s}} ''Series/LesMinikeums'' ran from 1993 to 2000. France 3 youth programs manager Eve Baron then decided, despite great audience scores, to drastically change it in 2000, renaming it ''MNK'', reducing the lineup to 6 puppets, suppressing the comedic skits, and replacing the colorful sets with a grey futuristic city background in CGI. Audience dwindled and the show was terminated in 2002. It was {{reviv|al}}ed 15 years later in 2017, with a new lineup.

* ''Series/{{Crossroads}}'' was never a stellar piece of drama and in fact became a by-word for SoBadItsGood. But the death-knell of the show was spurred by the regionalisation of Creator/{{ITV}}. In TheSeventies this meant that [[OopNorth Northern]] regions such as Granada and Yorkshire were six months ahead of Southern English regions in screening the long-running soap opera. [=ITV=] management decreed that national coverage should be harmonized. Rather than giving the south [[CruelAndUnusualDeath double doses of the show]] till the region caught up, a solution was created where InUniverse, main character Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon) featured in a special episode. This began with Meg in her office talking to her son Sandy - then she looked right into the camera and started to address the viewers. Sandy looked 'startled' and said something like "[[BreakingThefourthWall you're not allowed to do that]]". The character then addressed the viewers directly, summing up what for many British viewers would be six months worth of missing, now never-to-be-seen, storylines, so as to bring viewers up to date. Viewers had been forewarned by the continuity announcer prior to the show that "Noel Gordon was to give a special announcement". But a bad, some might say deliberate, decision by TV execs broke the spell for viewers and the writing was on the wall for this show.

* ''Series/{{ALF}}'':
** As Season 4 came to an end, NBC wasn't guaranteeing another season but did promise at least one extra final episode to resolve the cliffhanger the season ended on. They ended up giving the show '''nothing''' in the end, and the series ended with [[spoiler:ALF becoming a military prisoner]].
** There was a follow-up TV movie a few years later called ''Project: ALF''. It featured ALF, still a prisoner but generally alright and still his old irreverent self, but the rest of the cast was written out with a one-line PutOnABus. Also, it didn't even air on NBC, but on ABC.
** There was also that talk show on TV Land, but let's not speak of that.

* In 2000, Nippon TV joined the list of people screwing ''Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling'' — they canned the weekly TV show, which they had aired for nearly 30 years, and signed a deal with former ''AJPW'' president Wrestling/Mitsuharu Misawa (now head of Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH). However, Nippon kept their 15% share of the company and made it so they couldn't get a TV deal with another network, taking the once-large company off the air. Keep in mind that this was about a week after Misawa announced he was leaving the company and taking almost all of its employees to NOAH, and at the time ''AJPW'' owner Giant Baba only had three people under contract (two wrestlers and a referee) with free agents and independent wrestlers rounding out the rest of their cards.

** Creator/PeterCapaldi's tenure is mistreated by BBC America in repeats. Of his 40 episodes and specials, eight of them -- a fifth of his tenure! -- are not regularly rerun simply because they're extra-length (i.e. longer than 42 minutes) and too difficult to edit down without losing coherency. Unfortunately, this results in gigantic {{Plot Hole}}s and {{Time Skip}}s since these stories include his introductory adventure, multi-part GrandFinale, and many game-changing plot points in-between. How did he and Clara reunite after "Death in Heaven"? How did SantaClaus end up in the TARDIS? What happened after Mayor Me teleported the Doctor away in the wake of [[spoiler: Clara's death]]? Did he ever [[spoiler: find Gallifrey]] as his previous self hoped to? Why does River Song's memory mean so much to him in Series 10, and what's Nardole's connection to both of them? Did Bill Potts have to [[spoiler: remain a Cyberman]]? Viewers who want answers to these and other questions will have to get the DVD sets, Amazon Prime, or on-demand cable, or wait for MarathonRunning...
** ''Series/Class2016'', a spinoff that launched on the BBC Three online channel and later had a turn on BBC One, was given ludicrously odd timeslots for a young adult show -- by some accounts, this was due to the fact that there were precisely [[WhiteMaleLead zero straight white men]] in the regular cast, although there are more convincing reports that BBC executives weren't comfortable with the show's graphic violence and casually positive attitude to teenage sex. (BBC America treated it better by giving it the ''Series/DoctorWho'' Series 10 lead-out spot the following year.)

* ''Series/BloodTies'' was originally supposed to be one 22 episode season. However, Lifetime split it in half, advertising, and marketing, it as two seasons. They also never actually aired the last two episodes on television during the original run, instead choosing to make them viewable only on their website. Despite fan requests to Lifetime and other stations, including the station then known as Space, the show was not picked up.

* ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'', despite being one of the biggest shows in the world, got screwed by MTV when it did a ChannelHop by cutting 30 minutes from its runtime to make room for its new show ''The Real Friends of [=WeHo=]''. In an ironic twist however, it was ''[=WeHo=]'' that got screwed over thanks to a number of unpopular network decisions, which included the controversial casting of Todrick Hall, preempting the beloved ''Untucked'' series so that it goes on after ''Drag Race'' instead, and airing near the beginning of the season when there are the most queens thus ensuring some barely get any screentime. All of this caused ''[=WeHo=]'' to tank in ratings mainly thanks to boycotts from the ''Drag Race'' fandom they were ironically trying to attract.

* ''Series/CoppersEnd'''s unpopularity led to the final episode, "Caught Him - For a While!", not being broadcast in London, saved only for the regions.

* The network's "[[https://deadline.com/2022/05/julie-plec-cancelations-legacies-roswell-new-mexico-the-endgame-axed-1235022916/ Red Wedding]]" of 2022 saw the cancellations of ten series (comprising half of the scripted series that were on its 2021-22 schedule), many of which had devoted fan followings regardless of their overall ratings performance. While ratings played a major factor for the ending of some series (like ''Series/Dynasty2017'', which managed to run for five seasons ''despite'' being the lowest-rated scripted series on broadcast TV for most of its run), others (namely ''Series/{{Batwoman|2019}}'' and ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', which were axed strictly because Warner Bros. chose not to continue leases on their respective soundstages, and ''Series/{{Legacies}}'', which is thought to have been canned because of high production costs) were dropped because they became more costly to produce. The spate of cancellations was the result of three factors: 1) CW parents Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery and Creator/ParamountGlobal exploring the sale of (at least) a majority share of the network to Nexstar Media Group[[note]]The network's largest affiliate group, which acquired several major-market CW stations (including KTLA[=/=]UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, KDAF/[[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas-Fort Worth]], KIAH[=/=]UsefulNotes/{{Houston}}, KWGN-TV[=/=]UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} and WDCW[=/=]UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC) through its 2019 purchase of Tribune Broadcasting, while adding another Tribune-owned CW affiliate (WPIX[=/=]UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity) two years later from the E.W. Scripps Company, via its affiliated licensee company Mission Broadcasting.[[/note]] 2) the 2019 termination of a streaming deal with Netflix (which had acted as an additional revenue stream that helped keep many of the shows, like ''Dynasty'', on the air longer),[[note]]Contrary to reports, Netflix bound [=WarnerMedia=]/WBD and [=ViacomCBS=]/Paramount to their existing licensing agreements for individual shows covered by the deal after the broader deal ended, limiting their ability to make them exclusive to their respective streaming services, Creator/HBOMax and [[Creator/ParamountPlus CBS All Access/Paramount+]]. Indeed, many of the affected pre-2019 shows were still available on Netflix at the time of their cancellations, with other series (including most of the scripted shows that debuted after the deal’s conclusion, save for ''Series/{{Stargirl}}'', which was first available on Creator/DCUniverse before moving to HBO Max after the former’s shutdown) being exclusively available on The CW’s proprietary streaming platforms.[[/note]] and 3) the companies' growing difficulties continuing to profit from international syndication sales of CW shows.

* The network's "[[https://deadline.com/2022/05/julie-plec-cancelations-legacies-roswell-new-mexico-the-endgame-axed-1235022916/ Red Wedding]]" of 2022 saw the cancellations of ten series (comprising half of the scripted series that were on its 2021-22 schedule), many of which had devoted fan followings regardless of their overall ratings performance. While ratings played a major factor for the ending of some series (like ''Series/Dynasty2017'', which managed to run for five seasons ''despite'' being the lowest-rated scripted series on broadcast TV for most of its run), others (namely ''Series/{{Batwoman}}'' and ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', which were axed strictly because Warner Bros. chose not to continue leases on their respective soundstages, and ''Series/{{Legacies}}'', which is thought to have been canned because of high production costs) were dropped because they became more costly to produce. The spate of cancellations was the result of three factors: 1) CW parents Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery and Creator/ParamountGlobal exploring the sale of (at least) a majority share of the network to Nexstar Media Group[[note]]The network's largest affiliate group, which acquired several major-market CW stations (including KTLA[=/=]UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, KDAF/[[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas-Fort Worth]], KIAH[=/=]UsefulNotes/{{Houston}}, KWGN-TV[=/=]UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} and WDCW[=/=]UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC) through its 2019 purchase of Tribune Broadcasting, while adding another Tribune-owned CW affiliate (WPIX[=/=]UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity) two years later from the E.W. Scripps Company, via its affiliated licensee company Mission Broadcasting.[[/note]] 2) the 2019 termination of a streaming deal with Netflix (which had acted as an additional revenue stream that helped keep many of the shows, like ''Dynasty'', on the air longer),[[note]]Contrary to reports, Netflix bound [=WarnerMedia=]/WBD and [=ViacomCBS=]/Paramount to their existing licensing agreements for individual shows covered by the deal after the broader deal ended, limiting their ability to make them exclusive to their respective streaming services, Creator/HBOMax and [[Creator/ParamountPlus CBS All Access/Paramount+]]. Indeed, many of the affected pre-2019 shows were still available on Netflix at the time of their cancellations, with other series (including most of the scripted shows that debuted after the deal’s conclusion, save for ''Series/{{Stargirl}}'', which was first available on Creator/DCUniverse before moving to HBO Max after the former’s shutdown) being exclusively available on The CW’s proprietary streaming platforms.[[/note]] and 3) the companies' growing difficulties continuing to profit from international syndication sales of CW shows.

* ''Series/BoomTown'': This show was an interesting experiment. It featured numerous characters, overlapping storylines, out-of-order timelines, and unusual visual techniques. It could conceivably have caught on as a cult show but unfortunately it didn't find an audience. NBC deserves credit for trying something different and for bringing the low-rated show back for a second season. However, the show was given a [=retool=] by NBC in season 2, removing most of the unique elements in an attempt to make the show more like ''Series/LawAndOrder'' in hopes of getting similar ratings, but they canceled it anyways and refused to air the remaining season 2 episodes.

** ''Series/{{Northwood}}'': was a Vancouver-produced teen drama/soap opera that aired on the CBC from 1991 to 1994, that was intended to be a sort of Canadian answer to shows such as ''Series/EastEnders'', and perhaps most notably starred Creator/LochlynMunro (''Series/{{Riverdale}}''). It inherited the time slot held by the highly popular ''Series/DegrassiHigh'' (which Munro actually denounced in the press in favour of ''Northwood''), and arguably suffered big time for it; while it did gain somewhat of a fanbase, its replacement of ''Degrassi'' triggered a great deal of pushback from fans of that show, and critics weren't too pleased with it either. As the series progressed, the CBC kept changing the show's timeslot, and in January 1994, announced its cancellation, claiming the series had reached its logical conclusion, but creator Nick Orchard maintained the show was purposefully done away with by the CBC.

** ''Series/Northwood'': was a Vancouver-produced teen drama/soap opera that aired on the CBC from 1991 to 1994, that was intended to be a sort of Canadian answer to shows such as ''Series/EastEnders'', and perhaps most notably starred Creator/LochlynMunro (''Series/Riverdale''). It inherited the time slot held by the highly popular ''Series/DegrassiHigh'' (which Munro actually denounced in the press in favour of ''Northwood''), and arguably suffered big time for it; while it did gain somewhat of a fanbase, its replacement of ''Degrassi'' triggered a great deal of pushback from fans of that show, and critics weren't too pleased with it either. As the series progressed, the CBC kept changing the show's timeslot, and in January 1994, announced its cancellation, claiming the series had reached its logical conclusion, but creator Nick Orchard maintained the show was purposefully done away with by the CBC.

* Comcast became involved in a slight controversy in which they were accused of screwing over a channel. In 2008, at the height of the presidential race, Comcast decided to move MSNBC (which had just begun seeing ratings successes by airing progressive-leaning primetime hosts as opposed to Creator/FoxNewsChannel's right-leaning ones, thereby tapping into a yet untapped demographic) to a digital tier that had a higher asking price in many markets. Some thought the move was to push the right-wing agenda more (as Fox News was never moved from its expanded basic lineup), and the move came at an odd time: when then-candidate Barack Obama was gaining popularity. However, this was quelled immediately due to Comcast also moving G4 (a channel it owns) to the same tier.

* ''Series/NoahsArc'' (essentially ''Series/QueerAsFolk'' with blacks and Latinos) was canceled by Creator/{{Logo}} after Season 2 despite being the highest-rated and most critically-acclaimed show on the channel along with bringing some much-needed representation to gay media. Network execs were shocked by the outcry from fans and said they'd bring it back if TheMovie was a success. It was, but Logo didn't keep their word.

** Both KPRC and WDIV had long held firm in not carrying the Kathie Lee & Hoda hour of ''Today'' in any capacity, either in its morning run or in its late-night repeat airing (along with the former overnight repeat of Creator/{{CNBC}}’s ''Mad Money''). The two stations saw fit to keep the fourth hour off the airwaves of southeast Texas and southeastern Michigan, airing news or one of those deadly dull 'local lifestyle shows' which are pretty much long infomercials for siding contractors or roofers, along with insulting 'women's talk' even a Victorian lady would find offensive in place of either run of ''Today''[=‘=]s fourth hour. Eventually WDIV began to carry the fourth hour at 2:00 p.m. By 2019, KPRC began to carry it at its intended 10:00 a.m. timeslot, while WDIV moved it to 11:00 a.m. (one hour later than NBC recommends, but at least it’s a reasonable time slot) before finally moving it to NBC's recommended 10:00 a.m. timeslot in 2022.

* For [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks some reason]], E! decided to [[{{Retool}} convert]] its main news show, ''E! News'' from a traditional UsefulNotes/LosAngeles-based evening entertainment newscast to a morning show at the start of 2020, where E! had absolutely no presence over the years outside of sitcom [[{{Rerun}} reruns]] and [[{{Infomercial}} infomercials]]. It moved to [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity New York]] with completely [[ReplacementScrappy new hosts]] (and a [[HorribleHousing cramped studio]] whose previous purpose was a place to put Creator/{{MSNBC}} [[TalkingHeads talking heads]] behind a New York background), and was now inexplicably [[DuelingWorks forced to compete]] with the 20+ other New York morning and talk shows for celebrity appearances, and what celebrities they could get were [[CListFodder rejects]] from in-house competitor (literally several floors down) ''Series/{{Today}}''. The low-viewed [[GoneHorriblyWrong experiment]] would have just been [[AllForNothing futile in the end]], but [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]] [[RealLifeWritesThePlot shut down]] the show in March 2020 [[FranchiseKiller permanently]] after [[ShortRunners only two months]] in New York, along with E!'s entire 2020 live programming strategy (which also did in a reboot of ''Series/TheSoup''), likely putting the entire network [[NetworkDecay in danger]] of [[NetworkDeath shutting down]] after the [[Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians Kardashians]] move to Creator/{{Hulu}}. The only live hosted programming [[LastOfHisKind left]] on the network (''Daily Pop'' & ''Nightly Pop'') is likely only on the air due to [[DealWithTheDevil long-term deals]] and those hosts' willingness to do the shows from home. The news operation [[AndTheAdventureContinues does continue]] [[EverythingIsOnline online]], but it has [[TheBandMinusTheFace no public face]] or show on E! to drive viewership.

** As a small consolation, Bentine did later (and presumably under different management) remake most of his best sketches for BBC radio, [[TalkingToHimself playing all the parts himself]], and the radio shows have survived.

[[folder:Epix]]
* The highly-publicized case involving [=DirecTV=] and Viacom-owned channels is unique in which one side kept claiming it was the other's fault for pulling the channels. [=DirecTV=] said Viacom forced them to remove the channels despite DTV not wanting to remove them, while Viacom kept harking that it was DTV's sole decision. Nonetheless, the dispute was mainly over a series of movie channels called Creator/{{Epix}} that Viacom wanted [=DirecTV=] to add as an "all or nothing" endeavor. However, even that's disputable depending on which side you ask (Viacom said it wasn't forcing Epix on DTV, while DTV says otherwise). Even then, the issue was soon resolved, with a deal in which DTV has the option to add Epix.
** The channels still remain in limbo for [=DirecTV=], and it doesn't seem as though DTV is in any hurry to add the channels since they claim that the channels were the reason for why rates for customers would've gone up if Viacom had their way to begin with. More to the point, DTV didn't even mention the Epix channels at first, only being forced to when Viacom claimed that talks "broke down", making DTV counter with the reason being the dispute over Epix.
* It's a bit more complicated than that; the movie rights Epix had used to be with {{Creator/Showtime}} when Viacom and CBS were merged together, but after CBS took Showtime in the 2005 split between the two companies, Paramount decided to raise the price for their films (which around that time, and still are outside a few titles, weren't grossing very well), and CBS wasn't willing to pay it. So Viacom decided to keep those movie rights in-house and poached some other rights for other studios like the budding Lionsgate and the flailing MGM from Showtime and created a pay package around it. Most of the major cable companies held out as long as they could since they considered Viacom's creation of Epix to be useless and a blatant consumer cash-grab outside of a few highlight films; even in 2014 its film inventory more resembled the free This TV with a few more modern movies than HBO, it has no original series outside of stand-up specials, and features only D-list boxing and MMA promotions of interest only to the families of the fighters. Those major providers eventually relented when it was packaged in with MTV and Nickelodeon carriage agreements that they pretty much had to keep on Viacom's terms, though Comcast, Cablevision, and U-Verse, along with many smaller providers have held out from carrying the channel; it was one of the factors which caused Suddenlink and Cable One to just throw the Viacom networks off the air entirely. Basically, the channels really have no reason to exist outside of a TantrumThrowing excuse by Viacom that Showtime didn't want to pay more for films that flopped to add to their schedule, and besides creative cable providers who spread the cost out creatively by bundling it into regular channel packages, has not really made any dent in the market at all, while Showtime has thrived with an expansion of their original series and grabbing film rights from smaller studios to make up for their losses in library content.
* As of 2019 though, the situation has gotten a little better. Lionsgate bought Starz in 2017, and due to antitrust concerns, decided to sell their stake in the network. A few months later, Viacom decided to also sell, with MGM buying both stakes, and now owning the network in full. In the meantime, competent executives and creatives were hired for the network and it was decided to veer towards much more original content. The network, also knowing that the price under the three-company ownership was unjustifiable, reduced their carriage price, and also began to offer it in an online form for a very reasonable $5/month. There is a possibility it may re-lose the Paramount library to Showtime with the 2019 re-merger of Viacom and CBS, but at this point without Viacom's management meddling, it looks to be recovering.
[[/folder]]

* British fans of ''Series/TheLyingGame'' could be forgiven for thinking Creator/ChannelFive was trying to dump it from the word go: beginning on [[Creator/ChannelFive Five*]][[labelnote:*]]pronounced Five Star[[/labelnote]] at the end of January 2012 and airing on Mondays, it had a mid-season break at the same point in the story as ABC Family ("East Of Emma"), following which there was a ''four-month'' break (twice as long as ABC Family) before the series returned and picked up in September...for two episodes, before another brief break while the series moved to [[Creator/ChannelFive FiveUSA]] on Saturdays and in a mid-afternoon slot [[note]] (compare to ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'', which went through a similar situation on Creator/{{MTV}} and Viva but was handled far better - MTV had the sense to start over and give viewers a chance for a refresher course... until they dropped it after two seasons due, apparently, to viewer apathy; too bad it didn't apply to ''Series/JerseyShore'').[[/note]] And ''then'' it got moved ''again'' to Sundays!

** Subverted for most of Series 10. BBC Controller Charlotte Moore [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/entries/55e94ef2-0282-494f-a62c-82bd514f02fe announced]] in early 2016 that Series 10 would air in Spring 2017, meaning the only new episode airing during 2016 was the annual ChristmasEpisode for 2016 -- the first time a ''whole year'' passed with no new ''Who'' episodes or specials since the show's revival. The subversion is that this was to prevent the show being upstaged by national events like the Olympics and UEFA European Championship and allow it to return to the springtime airings, avoiding the main problems Series 9 faced as outlined above. It also allowed showrunner Creator/StevenMoffat (who wasn't too bothered) to work on the fourth season of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' and the new ''Who'' spinoff ''Series/{{Class}}'', which he also was executive-producing, without becoming overworked; the TroubledProduction of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler Let's Kill Hitler]]" in Series 6 explains why this is a good thing. Sadly, despite excellent reviews, the ratings still wound up hitting series lows by the end of the run, and finally the BBC again blew major spoilers for the SeasonFinale -- this time ''months'' in advance.