MovieChat Forums > My So-Called Life (1994) Discussion > Why was such a high-rated tv series canc...

Why was such a high-rated tv series cancelled just after 1 season?

posted 9 years ago by sarkaprokopova
3 replies | jump to latest

I am just wondeing why on earth would such a highly-rates TV Show be cancelled after a couple of episodes?

I am about to binge-watch it as I have never heard of it before...I was a huge fan of Felicity back in the day when it originally aired so I am pretty excited to see this one.

[–] welsh_blue_blood 9 years ago

The reasons behind it was quite ambiguous for a long time. But a few years back the shows creator said that she was talking to Claire Danes about doing season two and Claire suddenly told her that she wanted to try new things and go in to movies. In fairness Claire also said that she was perfectly willing to stay and do season two if it would cause too much upset. But the shows creator said that she didn't want to hold Claire back because it could have made her unhappy in the future. She didn't say anything about this to anyone for a long time because she didn't want the fans to aim their anger over the show ending at Claire.

[–] sarkaprokopova 9 years ago

@weish_blue_blood

The reasons behind it was quite ambiguous for a long time. But a few years back the shows creator said that she was talking to Claire Danes about doing season two and Claire suddenly told her that she wanted to try new things and go in to movies. In fairness Claire also said that she was perfectly willing to stay and do season two if it would cause too much upset. But the shows creator said that she didn't want to hold Claire back because it could have made her unhappy in the future. She didn't say anything about this to anyone for a long time because she didn't want the fans to aim their anger over the show ending at Claire.

Great - thanks for the in-depth response. Thats a pity it seems as it is a seriously well-rated TV Show, which does not come along too often.
Anyway I am on the start of the 3rd episode and Claire is brilliant in it so far - her emotions and acting is great. I am loving everything about the dialogues, production aspect and the build-up of the characters.

[–] Stuck_On_U 9 years ago

In fairness Claire also said that she was perfectly willing to stay and do season two if it would cause too much upset. But the shows creator said that she didn't want to hold Claire back because it could have made her unhappy in the future.

That's not quite what happened. She actually told them she didn't want to be involved with the show if it was renewed for a second season.

"She came to us with her parents, and said, "you know, I really don't want to come back if the show is picked up". And we were very upset at the time, even though we completely understood what her motivation was."

Also, the show was well received by critics but it didn't have great ratings. The show runners weren't even sure if it was going to get renewed for a second season, so when ABC found out Claire Danes didn't want to return they used that as an excuse to cancel the show rather.

"ABC, you know, did not want to get into any kind of a public dispute with a fifteen year old actress about whether she should come back or not, so I know that that influenced their thinking. But they had never supported the show anyway...so I think they used that a little bit. They were... at least, it was convenient."

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