Dear Network Executives,

I write to you today asking you to please stop canceling shows before they ever have the chance to hit their stride.  It seems to me that in the last eight years, networks have been quite hasty in canceling shows that they have built up a fair amount of hype for.  They seem to forget that it took some of the best and most loved shows a season or two to really perfect what they were attempting to do.  Also, the networks have seemed to have forgotten that it takes a while for most shows to build up a true core audience.  Let’s take a look at a show like Family Guy, a show which was prematurely canceled.  Over a year after it was canceled, DVD sales were incredibly strong, in fact they were strong enough to bring the show back from the netherworld of cancellation.  If the network had decided to wait one more half season, they would have seen the core group of fans that were following the show.

By contrast, take a show like the X-files, a show that did not perform particularly well during its initial season, but Fox stuck with it, and by the time that mid-season came in its second year the show had fixed all of its flaws and had a loyal following that followed it for more than seven seasons, even when the show lost its way in its later seasons.  Network execs, take a lesson from this popular and profitable show.  Let shows attempt to find their way before you ax them!

When you cancel shows like Flash Forward or The Event before they even really get the chance to get rolling, you are essentially shooting yourselves in the foot.  Why would people bother to begin to watch these shows, when they know that if they are cancelled, they will never find out the answers to the shows greater mysteries?  Think of how upset people would have been if Lost had been cancelled after the first season, and think of how would have been robbed of the shows greater moments.   The same could be said about the X-Files, or any other long running show that had a central mystery at its heart.  Why would you tease viewers by giving them the first chapter of a novel and then taking the book away from them… forever.  Eventually, viewers will give up trying to watch new shows because honestly, why would we watch a show only to be disappointed?  I mean, at least have the writers write a book or something to tell us how the show was supposed to end.  Maybe then, people would at least give the show a chance.  Otherwise we have to wonder the rest of our lives what was supposed to happen in Daybreak, Life on Mars, Flash Forward, and The Event. 

So please, give the fans a little while to get to know and discover new shows.  Two seasons should be enough, if the show cannot perform at that time, then I understand axing it, but for the love of everything holy, stop axing these shows so soon,

Sincerely,

Your loyal viewer