History Main / ScrewedByTheNetwork

->''"Starting now on Creator/{{Channel 4}} is a brand new show that we paid a ridiculous amount of money for which we'll launch in a blaze of publicity, and after a few weeks, we'll get bored of it and move it around the schedule where no one can find it, then we'll brand it a flop, take it off the air for six months, then reluctantly put it back on at three in the morning."''
-->-- ''Series/DeadRingers''

* Jumbo Pictures, producer of many fine Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons and shows, can be said to have been screwed by both Disney ''and'' Nickelodeon. The company started out producing SliceOfLife puppet shows like ''Series/GullahGullahIsland'' and ''Series/AllegrasWindow'', and animated shows like ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' for Nickelodeon. However Nickelodeon started showing less interest in educational values and more towards generic slapstick as time went on, and Jumbo's terms with Nick started degrading. Disney then made them dump Nick and subsequently bought them over. So far so good, right? After Disney's version of Doug, ''WesternAnimation/JojosCircus'' and ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'', Disney went against their wishes and used some of their characters in a music video that aired on multiple children's channels entitled "We Are Family: A Musical Message for All". They've broke up with Disney and renamed themselves Cartoon Pizza, although their only success since then was ''WesternAnimation/PinkyDinkyDoo'', done in partnership with Creator/SesameWorkshop.

* Prior to changing their name to [=VeeStar=], Vee Entertainment had a tendency to do this to shows that aren't [[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street Live]]. [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney Live in Concert]] only toured in select parts of the United States (along with Toronto, Canada), while [[WesternAnimation/CuriousGeorge Curious George Live!]] and [[Music/KidzBop Kidz Bop Live!]] had their tours cancelled without notice. A touring Hello Kitty convention produced by the company was also cancelled after only three stops. The only aversions that VEE has done were ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 My Little Pony: The World's Biggest Tea Party!]]'' and ''[[Series/TheMuppetShow The Muppet Show Live!]]'', where both tours' last stop was Madison Square Garden, as well as producing DVD releases of the ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' and ''My Little Pony'' shows.

* It's been alleged by insiders that Disney purposely allowed the condition of ''Ride/TheGreatMovieRide'' to deteriorate over the years so that the attraction would receive terrible guest satisfaction scores, thus giving them a reason to shutter it, as they didn't want to continue paying to keep the ride open.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork/DisneyNetworks (including ABC, Freeform, ESPN, and A&E Networks)

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Stinky Pete claims the ''Woody's Roundup'' TV show was cancelled ''in the middle of a cliffhanger'' when space toys surged (and, consequently, ''Woody's Roundup'' toys declined) in popularity following the launch of ''Sputnik''. [[spoiler: He lied. Eagle-eyed viewers might be able to spot the conclusion to said cliffhanger playing in the background in one scene. Perhaps not coincidentally, it's the same scene where Pete reveals he's a villain.]]

* Polygram Home Video did this to two of their kids' properties: ''The Crayon Box'' and ''Series/TheNoddyShop''. Both were supposed to be released on home video. ''The Crayon Box'''s releases were cancelled for unexplained reasons, but the PublicServiceAnnouncement based on the poem still appeared on other Polygram releases. ''The Noddy Shop'', however, only had the ''WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures'' segments released.

* Polygram Home Video did this to two of their kids' properties: ''The Crayon Box'' and ''Series/TheNoddyShop''. Both were supposed to be released on home video. ''The Crayon Box'''s releases were cancelled for unexplained reasons, but the PublicServiceAnnouncement based on the poem still appeared on other Polygram releases. ''The Noddy Shop'', however, only had the ''WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures'' segments released, which hurt the sales of the videos and may have played a role in the show not being renewed for a third season, as the live-action segments in ''The Noddy Shop'' were the most popular among the target audience.

* The COVID-19 pandemic caused this to happen to several Broadway productions:
** The ''Theatre/{{Frozen}}'' musical, despite doing well before the state of emergency, was closed after 825 performances, with Disney specifically stating the pandemic actually caused the show to lose the most money out of the three productions running at the time.
** ''Hangmen'' closed after 13 performances, all of them previews.
** The revival of ''Theatre/WhosAfraidOfVirginiaWoolf'' got hit with the worst case of this, closing after just nine previews.
* In a similar vein to the above example, the 2001 revival of ''Theatre/TheRockyHorrorShow'' closed after a year because of declining tourism following the September 11th attacks.

* Jumbo Pictures, producer of many fine Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons and shows, can be said to have been screwed by both Disney ''and'' Nickelodeon. The company started out producing SliceOfLife puppet shows like ''Series/GullahGullahIsland'' and ''Series/AllegrasWindow'', and animated shows like ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' for Nickelodeon. However Nickelodeon started showing less interest in educational values and more towards generic slapstick as time went on, and Jumbo's terms with Nick started degrading. Disney then made them dump Nick and subsequently bought them over. So far so good, right? After Disney's version of Doug, ''WesternAnimation/JojosCircus'' and ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'', Disney went against their wishes and used some of their characters in a music video that aired on multiple children's channels entitled "We Are Family: A Musical Message for All". They've broke up with Disney and renamed themselves Cartoon Pizza, although their only success since then was ''WesternAnimation/PinkyDinkyDoo'', done in partnership with SesameWorkshop.

* The same thing Vee did happened to a few other companies' shows. [[Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks Alvin And The Chipmunks and the Amazing Computer]] only stopped in a handful of cities including Chicago, while some of the IceCapades shows have never come to any of the Mexican or Canadian border states, mainly the ones featuring [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin Teddy Ruxpin]] and Franchise/{{Barbie}}.

* Prior to changing their name to [=VeeStar=], Vee Entertainment has a tendency to do this to shows that aren't [[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street Live]]. [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney Live in Concert]] only toured in select parts of the United States (along with Toronto, Canada), while [[WesternAnimation/CuriousGeorge Curious George Live!]] and [[KidzBop Kidz Bop Live!]] had their tours cancelled without notice. A touring Hello Kitty convention produced by the company was also cancelled after only three stops. The only aversions that VEE has done were ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 My Little Pony: The World's Biggest Tea Party!]]'' and ''[[Series/TheMuppetShow The Muppet Show Live!]]'', where both tours' last stop was Madison Square Garden, as well as producing DVD releases of the ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' and ''My Little Pony'' shows.

* Vee Entertainment has a tendency to do this to shows that aren't [[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street Live]]. [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney Live in Concert]] only toured in select parts of the United States (along with Toronto, Canada), while [[WesternAnimation/CuriousGeorge Curious George Live!]] and [[KidzBop Kidz Bop Live!]] had their tours cancelled without notice. A touring Hello Kitty convention produced by the company was also cancelled after only three stops. The only aversions that VEE has done were ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 My Little Pony: The World's Biggest Tea Party!]]'' and ''[[Series/TheMuppetShow The Muppet Show Live!]]'', where both tours' last stop was Madison Square Garden, as well as producing DVD releases of the ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' and ''My Little Pony'' shows.

* Vee Entertainment has a tendency to do this to shows that aren't [[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street Live]]. [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney Live in Concert]] only toured in select parts of the United States (along with Toronto, Canada), while [[WesternAnimation/CuriousGeorge Curious George Live!]] and [[KidsBop Kids Bop Live!]] had their tours cancelled without notice. A touring Hello Kitty convention produced by the company was also cancelled after only three stops. The only aversions that VEE has done were ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 My Little Pony: The World's Biggest Tea Party!]]'' and ''[[Series/TheMuppetShow The Muppet Show Live!]]'', where both tours' last stop was Madison Square Garden, as well as producing DVD releases of the ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' and ''My Little Pony'' shows.

* This trope is the reason Apple created its own retail stores. One of the problems compounding the company's DorkAge in UsefulNotes/TheNineties was a lack of attractive displays in stores. Retailers devoted floor space to more popular ([[MoneyDearBoy and profitable]]) [=PCs=] instead of Macs, usually relegating them to a corner of the store, if they sold them at all. They also often left the machines turned off, crashed, or set them up without a mouse, leading to an unfavorable first impression with potential buyers. The fluorescent lighting also didn't help, helping show off the various PC beige boxes, but doing no favors for Apple's machines. Apple stores were created to give Macs and other Apple products an aesthetically pleasing showcase. Apple has since gone back to selling their products in major retailers, though they insist on its products on being presented on specialized displays.

* Played with by AMC regarding Knoxville-based Windsor Square 7, a Cinemark acquisition inherited from Carmike. The cinema has not once been renovated since the Cinemark days, meaning the very '80s color scheme of the interiors remains to this day, but, proving Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, the now-dated, tacky, and shabby interior look has been taking on a [[NarmCharm "vintage" appeal]] for having had to be put up with by more modern moviegoers for a long while.

The answer to both of these problems, of course, is to screw the show over completely. Put it in a different time slot each episode, show it [[OutOfOrder in the wrong order]], bury it at midnight or in the FridayNightDeathSlot, put it up against the other networks' strongest shows... do everything you can for it to build up a regular viewing audience that's not quite big enough to warrant the budget, but just big enough to cause some trouble when you cancel it for not "attracting the right audience."

* Played with by AMC regarding Knoxville-based Windsor Square 7, a Cinemark acquisition inherited from Carmike. The cinema has not once been renovated since the Cinemark days, meaning the very '80s color scheme of the interiors remains to this day, but, proving TropesAreNotBad, the now-dated, tacky, and shabby interior look has been taking on a [[NarmCharm "vintage" appeal]] for having had to be put up with by more modern moviegoers for a long while.

[[folder:Other]]
* Played with by AMC regarding Knoxville-based Windsor Square 7, a Cinemark acquisition inherited from Carmike. The cinema has not once been renovated since the Cinemark days, meaning the very '80s color scheme of the interiors remains to this day, but, proving TropesAreNotBad, the now-dated, tacky, and shabby interior look has been taking on a [[NarmCharm "vintage" appeal]] for having had to be put up with by more modern moviegoers for a long while.
* This trope is the reason Apple created its own retail stores. One of the problems compounding the company's DorkAge in UsefulNotes/TheNineties was a lack of attractive displays in stores. Retailers devoted floor space to more popular ([[MoneyDearBoy and profitable]]) [=PCs=] instead of Macs, usually relegating them to a corner of the store, if they sold them at all. They also often left the machines turned off, crashed, or set them up without a mouse, leading to an unfavorable first impression with potential buyers. The fluorescent lighting also didn't help, helping show off the various PC beige boxes, but doing no favors for Apple's machines. Apple stores were created to give Macs and other Apple products an aesthetically pleasing showcase. Apple has since gone back to selling their products in major retailers, though they insist on its products on being presented on specialized displays.
* Jumbo Pictures, producer of many fine Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons and shows, can be said to have been screwed by both Disney ''and'' Nickelodeon. The company started out producing SliceOfLife puppet shows like ''Series/GullahGullahIsland'' and ''Series/AllegrasWindow'', and animated shows like ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' for Nickelodeon. However Nickelodeon started showing less interest in educational values and more towards generic slapstick as time went on, and Jumbo's terms with Nick started degrading. Disney then made them dump Nick and subsequently bought them over. So far so good, right? After Disney's version of Doug, ''WesternAnimation/JojosCircus'' and ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'', Disney went against their wishes and used some of their characters in a music video that aired on multiple children's channels entitled "We Are Family: A Musical Message for All". They've broke up with Disney and renamed themselves Cartoon Pizza, although their only success since then was ''WesternAnimation/PinkyDinkyDoo'', done in partnership with SesameWorkshop.
* Polygram Home Video did this to two of their kids' properties: ''The Crayon Box'' and ''Series/TheNoddyShop''. Both were supposed to be released on home video. ''The Crayon Box'''s releases were cancelled for unexplained reasons, but the PublicServiceAnnouncement based on the poem still appeared on other Polygram releases. ''The Noddy Shop'', however, only had the ''WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures'' segments released, which hurt the sales of the videos and may have played a role in the show not being renewed for a third season, as the live-action segments in ''The Noddy Shop'' were the most popular among the target audience.
* Regal Entertainment Group is doing this to Downtown West 8 in Knoxville, Tennessee, where it is headquartered. When one moviegoer complained about having to go all the way to Asheville, North Carolina, just to see ''Film/{{Pina}}'' in 3D, Regal's official excuse was that 3D was too expensive to install in Downtown West 8.
* This seems to have happened to ''WebVideo/ThugNotes''. When Wisecrack took over the channel and switched to being slightly more entertainment based over educational, viewers would often be left unaware of new episodes, as the other content would overshadow the show. Apparently, Wisecrack aren't putting new episodes out on Website/YouTube, anymore, and have switched over to a podcast format.

* ''Journey Into Imagination'' was closed in 1998 despite it being the park's most popular attraction due to sponsorship issues. A year before the closing, Fujifilm, the rival of the ride's original sponsor, Kodak, wanted to turn the ride into a rollercoaster unrelated to the original concept. Kodak did not want to lose their sponsorship, so they wanted to make a cheaper version of the ride focused more on the science behind imagination. Disney accepted the latter company's idea and reopened the ride in 1999. Visitors did not like how the ride removed Dreamfinder and Figment (though he did have cameos during the constellation scene and at the end of the ride) and felt it was nothing but a tie-in to ''Honey, I Shrunk The Audience'' by theming it around the Imagination Institute. They also felt that the new [=ImageWorks=] after the ride was nothing but an ad for Kodak's products. After Disney heard all these complaints, they shut down the ride and revamped it again to be about Figment ruining an open house tour of the Imagination Institute, which received mixed reception and is viewed nowadays as a ride that you either like or a ride that you don't like at all. The revamp was eventually made pointless in 2010, when Kodak decided to drop sponsorship of the ride anyway despite spending all the years prior trying to keep it.

!!!Ride/DisneyThemeParks
* In 2005, Disney, Creator/JKRowling and Creator/WarnerBros were in negotiations to create a ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' theme park in Singapore. Around that time, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who was the main architect of the negotiations, was fired and replaced with Bob Iger, who had little care for ''Harry Potter'' and significantly downsized the project to just a single ride, where guests could shoot at screens with interactive wands. [[AdaptationDistillation Naturally]], Rowling rejected Disney's plans and the negotiations broke down. Warner and Rowling eventually got better treatment when they went to Ride/UniversalStudios, who proceeded to create ''The Wizarding World of Harry Potter'', which [[LaserGuidedKarma became a major threat for Disney's place in the Orlando theme park market in the years that followed]].
* The closure of Disneyland's iconic ''[=PeopleMover=]'' in 1995 was part of an attempt to revamp Tomorrowland (which, in reality, was more or less a replication of their Paris park's "Discoveryland"), the attraction's residing area. Its replacement, ''Rocket Rods'', was marred with mechanical issues, and park-goers ravaged the ride for its constant breakdowns and potential damage to the [=PeopleMover=] structure it utilized. The ride closed just two years in operation, from 1998 to 2000. It is today regarded as one of Disney's biggest failures in amusement park history, and it's telling by Disney's [[UnPerson refusal to acknowledge its existence]].

!!!Ride/UniversalStudios
* The ''Creature of the Black Lagoon'' stage show in Universal Studios Hollywood had its run cut short when the theater it was housed in caught fire and was forced to close. An investigation revealed Universal rarely cared about the theater's condition and ignored multiple safety violations. As a result, Universal was forced to revamp the theater, and a year worth of millions of dollars later, the refreshed and much-more successful ''Special Effects Stages'' opened in the theater.
* Despite its popularity, the Hollywood and Florida versions of ''Ride/Terminator23DBattleAcrossTime'' were shuttered so that Universal could make a clone of Florida's ''Ride/DespicableMeMinionMayhem'' for the Hollywood park and build ''The Bourne Stuntacular'' for the Florida park. It's possible Universal wanted to cut licensing fees for the ''Terminator'' franchise (which is not owned by Universal) while [[MoneyDearBoy increasing the value of their own IP]], so while the Japan version (their biggest market) remained, the American counterparts wasn't very lucky.
* Universal Studios Florida closed ''Ride/TheFuntasticWorldOfHannaBarbera'' and ''Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies'' in 2002 and 2003 respectively, citing lower attendance for both attractions despite being the most popular with Universal enthusiasts. Their respective replacements? ''Ride/JimmyNeutronsNicktoonBlast'' and ''WesternAnimation/ShrekFourD'', two of the most polarizing rides the park had ever opened (not helped by the fact that Universal had little to no involvement in either ride's development), and ended up laying the groundwork for the park's drive toward intellectual property-driven attractions. While ''Neutron'' was eventually shuttered to make way for ''Ride/DespicableMeMinionMayhem'' in 2012, the ''Shrek 4-D'' ride remains to this day.
* The ''WesternAnimation/ShrekFourD'' attraction at the Hollywood park got its queue and pre-show screwed in 2015 when Universal decided to add a real-time Donkey animatronic interact with the guests in the queue. Many complained over how annoying it was, and were caught off by the truncated pre-show with no backstory whatsoever.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': This happens to Haggis McHaggis's ''[[ShowWithinAShow The Scotsman Show]]'' in the episode "Hard Times for Haggis."

* Universal Studios Florida closed ''Ride/TheFuntasticWorldOfHannaBarbera'' and ''Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies'' in 2002 and 2003 respectively, citing lower attendance for both attractions despite being the most popular with Universal enthusiasts. Their respective replacements? ''Ride/JimmyNeutronsNicktoonBlast'' and ''WesternAnimation/ShrekFourD'', two of the most polarizing rides the park had ever opened (not helped by the fact that Universal had little to no involvement in either ride's development), and ended up laying the groundwork for the park's drive toward intellectual property-driven attractions. While ''Neutron'' was eventually shuttered to make way for ''Ride/DespicableMeMinionMayhem'' in 2012, the ''Shrek 4-D'' ride remains to this day. Many of said Universal enthusiasts felt that these attractions served as examples of everything wrong with the park during its decade-long DorkAge.