Why was this show cancelled?
Does anybody know why this show was cancelled so quickly? It was such a great show and I wish they would have made more episodes :(
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MovieChat Forums > Freaks and Geeks (1999) Discussion > Why was this show cancelled?
Also, Freaks & Geeks was preempted a few times. It was almost as if NBC was purposely trying to sabotage the show. I recall looking around the TV Guide each week trying to figure out if it will be on, and when it will be one.
shareI didn't even know about it at all until it went into Syndication on Fox Family, now ABC.
shareI agree with the comments above. In addition, I think even if it had been properly marketed it did not seem to have a "target audience". It was a unique type of show..one of the initial dramadies, it didn't fit comfortably into a niche'. Quirky, intimate fare like this sometimes does not appeal to the masses who are used to simple, dumbed down stereotypical television. This is my favorite show of all time. I remember watching it with one of my daughters. Occasionally, while watching an episode, we would look at each other in amazement, at how special certain moments of episodes touched us.
If you ever use the app Quizup, I wrote the F&G quiz....
Here is a complete breakdown and analysis of the ratings for Freaks and Geeks, comparing it to the other shows it was up against in its time slot:
Saturday 9/25/99 8pm
6.6 Early Edition (CBS)
5.8 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) “Pilot”
5.3 Cops-repeat (8:30) (Fox)
5.2 “Selena” Movie of the Week (ABC)
4.6 Cops (Fox)
Notes: In the DVD commentary for the Pilot, Paul Feig notes that the ratings for the episode took a sharp dive at the commercial break right after Eli breaks his arm, and didn't recover for the rest of the series. --- NBC follows F&G with the crime dramas The Pretender (6.2) at 9 pm and Profiler (6.5) at 10 pm.
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Saturday 10/02/99 8pm
6.2 Early Edition (CBS)
5.4 Cops-repeat (8:30) (Fox)
5.0 Cops (8:00) (Fox)
4.0 "12 Monkeys" Movie of the Week (ABC)
3.8 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Beers and Weirs"
Notes: F&G takes a dramatic plunge in the ratings from the previous week and is whipped by a rerun of Cops. NBC follows F&G with The Pretender (5.7) and Profiler (5.6), which both suffer a minor ratings dip.
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Saturday 10/09/99 8pm
NBC pre-empts F&G to broadcast the Major League Baseball playoffs. The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 3-0, earning a 6.2 rating. NBC is beaten in the ratings by Early Edition (6.4) and "Executive Decision" Movie of the Week (6.4). Walker, Texas Ranger (8.5) is the top rated show for the night, airing at 10 pm.
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Saturday 10/16/99 8pm
NBC pre-empts F&G to broadcast the Major League Baseball playoffs. The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2, earning a rating of 8.4 and tying Walker, Texas Ranger as the top rated show of the night.
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Saturday 10/23/99 8pm
NBC pre-empts F&G to broadcast the Major League Baseball World Series. The New York Yankees vs Atlanta Braves is the top show of the night, earning a 14.2 rating. Other shows airing at 8pm are unaffected by baseball. Early Edition (5.8), ABC Movie of the Week (5.1) and Cops (4.6, 5.3) all post ratings that are near where they were before the playoffs started.
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Friday 10/29/99 9 pm
7.0 Sabrina, The Teenage Witch (ABC)
6.5 Kids Say the Darndest Things (CBS)
6.3 Candid Camera (CBS)
5.6 World's Scariest Police Chases (Fox)
5.4 Odd Man Out (ABC)
3.5 FREAKS AND GEEKS -repeat (NBC) "The Pilot"
Note: NBC tries to reintroduce Freaks and Geeks by airing a repeat of the pilot on Friday night at 9 pm (F&G's regular time slot is Saturday at 8 pm). The most popular show of the night is NBC's doctor drama Providence (10.4), which airs at 8 pm, right before F&G. The majority of its audience tunes out when F&G comes on. Cold Feet (3.4) follows F&G at 10 pm, barely nudging it out for the worst network rated show of the night.
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Saturday 10/30/99 8pm
7.1 "A Time to Kill" Movie of the Week-repeat (ABC)
6.2 Early Edition (CBS)
5.4 Cops-repeat (8:30) (Fox)
4.9 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Tricks and Treats"
4.8 Cops (8:00) (Fox)
Notes: Since the last broadcast four weeks ago, F&G improves from 3.8 to 4.9, but is still beat in its time slot by 2 repeats, Cops and the movie A Time To Kill. The Pretender (4.9) and Profiler (5.0) take a big hit, and Walker, Texas Ranger again wins the night at 10 pm with an 8.2.
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Saturday 11/06/99 8pm
5.9 Early Edition (CBS)
5.6 "Dante's Peak" Movie of the Week (ABC)
5.6 Cops-repeat (8:30) (Fox)
5.1 Cops (8:00) (Fox)
4.4 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Tests and Breasts"
Notes: NBC decides not to air the fourth episode, Kim Kelly is My Friend, skipping over it in favor of Tests and Breasts. While F&G's ratings remain flat, The Pretender (6.2) and Profiler (5.9) rebound in NBC's 9 pm and 10 pm slots, which proves that people are watching NBC on Saturday night, but they are not watching F&G. Walker, Texas Ranger (7.8) is again the highest rated show of the night at 10 pm.
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Saturday 11/13/99 8pm
11.5 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (ABC)
6.3 Early Edition (CBS)
5.2 Cops-repeat (8:30) (Fox)
4.8 Cops (8:00) (Fox)
3.6 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "I'm With the Band"
Notes: The storyline starts to become a little confusing as a result of Kim Kelly is My Friend not being aired. Two weeks ago, Kim was antagonistic towards Lindsay, and in this episode she is inexplicably friendly. The story of how they become friends is missing.
ABC moves it's Movie of the Week to 9 pm to make room at 8 pm for ratings juggernaut Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Millionaire will go on to be the top rated show of the season. It is the seventh night of the week where the show airs in primetime and America apparently can't get enough of it. It is the top rated show every night it airs.
Sunday 11/7 - 14.9 rating
Monday 11/08 - 14.6
Tuesday 11/09 - 13.5
Wednesday 11/10 - 12.7
Thursday 11/11 - 14.3
Friday 11/12 - 11.6
Saturday 11/13 - 11.5
F&G's decline doesn't appear to have an affect on the NBC shows that follow it. The Pretender (6.4) and Profiler (6.0) remain consistent and attract much larger audiences than F&G. But at 3.6, F&G is the lowest rated network show of the night, also getting beaten by Walker, Texas Ranger (7.7), The Partridge Family Story (7.1), Martial Law (6.1) and America's Most Wanted (5.8).
F&G's 3.6 rating is slightly better than the 3.5 rating of Dawson's Creek, another teen-oriented show that airs on Wednesdays at 8 pm. The day after "I'm With the Band" airs, NBC informs F&G executive producer Judd Apatow that they are taking the show off the air during the November sweeps, and will relaunch it in 8 weeks in January 2000.
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Saturday 11/20/99 8pm
NBC replaces F&G with Movie of the Week. A repeat of the James Bond movie "Goldeneye" gets a 6.9 rating, almost double what F&G pulled in the week before. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire takes the 8 pm time slot with a staggering 12.8.
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Saturday 11/27/99 8 pm
The NBC Movie of the Week repeat of "Home Alone" takes the 8 pm slot with 8.1, far higher than F&G ever received in this time slot. It beats out Notre Dame vs Stanford football on ABC (4.3), Ice Skating on CBS (7.4) and Cops (5.4, 6.1).
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Saturday 12/04/99 8 pm
NBC moves The Pretender from 9 pm to F&G's old spot at 8 pm. It's 6.3 rating beats Cops and the Amy Grant Christmas Special, but falls short of the SEC Championship football game on ABC (7.0).
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Saturday 12/11/99 8 pm
The Pretender (5.7) again finishes second in this slot that once belonged to F&G. It is beaten by ABC Movie of the Week "Mr Holland's Opus" (6.0)
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Many end of the year lists name Freaks and Geeks as one of the top shows of 1999.
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THE SECOND LAUNCH
Monday, 1/10/2000 8 pm
16.3 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (ABC)
9.1 King of Queens (CBS)
8.3 Ladies Man (CBS)
5.2 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Carded and Discarded"
3.8 Time of Your Life (FOX)
3.2 7th Heaven (repeat) (WB)
2.4 The Parkers (UPN)
2.3 Moesha (repeat) (UPN)
Notes: Freaks and Geeks returns after an 8 week break. Carded and Discarded is the 6th episode to air. The 5.2 rating is the second highest rating F&G as earned, and considerably higher than the 3.6 of its last broadcast on November 13. NBC cautiously orders 4 more episodes to be produced. NBC's audience jumps dramatically (8.0) at 9 pm when F&G ends and Dateline begins.
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Monday, 1/17/2000 8 pm
10.4 American Music Awards (ABC)
10.0 King of Queens (CBS)
5.4 Ally McBeal -repeat (Fox)
5.1 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Girlfriends and Boyfriends"
3.5 7th Heaven (WB)
2.3 The Parkers (UPN)
2.1 Moesha (UPN)
Notes: For the entire night, F&G is the lowest rated primetime show on the four major networks. NBC follows it with Dateline (6.8) and Third Watch (8.4). Fox takes off the Jennifer Love Hewitt show Time of Your Life for a week, to make room for a repeat hour of Ally McBeal, which nudges ahead of F&G.
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Monday, 1/24/2000 8 pm
10.5 King of Queens (CBS)
7.8 "Jack" Movie of the Week" (ABC)
5.2 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "We've Got Spirit"
4.8 7th Heaven (WB)
3.9 Time of Your Life (Fox)
Notes: Fox returns Hewitt's Time of Your Life to the schedule, and it takes last during the night among primetime shows on the 4 major networks. F&G has aired for 3 consecutive weeks and is maintaining a consistent rating of 5.1-5.2. NBC follows F&G with the game show Twenty-One (7.4) and Third Watch (7.9) and again NBC's ratings jump as soon as F&G ends and its other shows start. Other shows on this night include Everybody Loves Raymond (11.7), Becker (10.9), Ladies Man (9.3), Family Law (8.8), Ally McBeal (7.7), Once and Again (7.6).
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Monday, 1/31/2000 8 pm
9.1 "Volcano" Movie of the Week (ABC)
8.5 The King of Queens - repeat (CBS)
8.1 Ladies Man (CBS)
5.9 7th Heaven
5.8 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "The Diary"
5.1 Ally McBeal -repeat (Fox)
Notes: F&G has aired for 4 consecutive weeks and appears to be picking up some viewers. No primetime network shows are broadcast on the west coast because of the crash of an Alaskan Airlines jet off the coast of Los Angeles.
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Monday, 2/7/2000 8 pm
13.3 "Mary and Rhoda" Movie of the Week (ABC)
7.9 The King of Queens (CBS)
7.2 Ladies Man (CBS)
6.0 That 70's Show (Fox)
6.0 That 70's Show - repeat (Fox)
4.8 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Looks and Books"
4.8 7th Heaven (WB)
Notes: The 10th episode of Freaks and Geeks airs and it is the lowest rated network show of the night. F&G executive producer Judd Apatow on the Mary Tyler Moore movie: "Mary held us down while Rhoda kneed us in the face. America loves reunions." Apatow tells series creator Paul Feig they should assume there won't be a second season. NBC informs them the show will be taken off the air during February sweeps, then launched yet again in four weeks.
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March 12, 2000
On the eve of the 3rd launch of the series, Freaks and Geeks is one of 3 series honored at the Museum of Television and Radio as part of their William Paley Festival.
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THE THIRD LAUNCH
Monday, 3/13/2000 8 pm
9.3 The King of Queens (CBS)
7.7 "Satan's School for Girls" Movie of the Week (ABC)
7.3 Grapevine (CBS)
6.2 Malcolm in the Middle - repeat (Fox)
6.0 That 70's Show - repeat (Fox)
4.6 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "The Garage Door"
Notes: F&G gets beaten by a Shannen Doherty TV movie about witchcraft at an all-girls college, and reruns of That 70's Show and Malcolm in the Middle on Fox. Judd Apatow: "We only received 2 minutes and 10 seconds of prime-time promo this past week. God, The Devil and Bob received over 11 minutes."
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Monday, 3/20/2000 8 pm
8.8 The King of Queens - repeat (CBS)
8.6 Titus (Fox)
7.1 That 70's Show (Fox)
6.8 "A Tale of Two Bunnies" Movie of the Week (ABC)
6.5 Grapevine (CBS)
4.4 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Chokin' and Tokin'"
4.1 7th Heaven - repeat (WB)
Notes: In the 26 weeks since it premiered, only 12 episodes have aired. NBC cancels Freaks and Geeks the day after Chokin and Tokin airs. 6 episodes remain unaired.
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Monday, 3/27/2000 8 pm
10.3 "The Audrey Hepburn Story" Movie of the Week (ABC)
7.9 Titus (Fox)
7.7 The King of Queens - repeat (CBS)
7.1 Dateline (NBC)
7.0 That 70's Show (Fox)
5.6 Grapevine (CBS)
3.5 7th Heaven - repeat (WB)
Note: NBC replaces F&G with Dateline and gets a large ratings bump in the time slot. Last week, F&G brought in a weak 4.4 rating in this time slot. It's replacement, Dateline, brings in a 7.1.
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Saturday, July 8, 2000
8 pm
5.3 "Ground Control" Movie of the Week (ABC)
4.5 Big Brother (CBS)
4,5 Cops - repeat (Fox)
4.2 Cops - repeat (Fox
3.9 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Smooching and Mooching"
9 pm
5.3 "Ground Control" Movie of the Week (ABC)
5.0 America's Most Wanted (Fox)
3.3 Falcone - repeat (CBS)
3.0 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "The Little Things"
10 pm
4.5 NYPD Blue - repeat (ABC)
3.6 Walker, Texas Ranger - repeat (CBS)
2.5 FREAKS AND GEEKS (NBC) "Discos and Dragons"
Notes: Of the 6 remaining episodes, NBC decided to burn off 3 in a summer 'mini-marathon'. "Smooching", "Little Things" and "Dragons" are the last 3 episodes of the series, with Dragons serving as the finale. NBC had decided in October 1999 that they didn't want to air the fourth episode, Kim Kelly is My Friend. The last episode to be broadcast before cancellation was Chokin' and Tokin' on March 20, 2000. It was to be followed by Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers, as well as Noshing and Moshing. "Kim Kelly", "Dead Dogs" and "Noshing" would make their debut on cable in fall.
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August 29, 2000
Reruns of Freaks and Geeks debut on Fox Family
September 5, 2000
Kim Kelly is My Friend airs on the cable channel, Fox Family. (No ratings available)
October 10, 2000
Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers airs on the cable channel, Fox Family. (No ratings available)
October 17, 2000
Noshing and Moshing airs on the cable channel, Fox Family. (No ratings available)
It makes me a little sad to relive the untimely death of this beloved quirky series...however thanks for your research and analysis...that was a tremendous amount of effort!
shareThanks for all the amount of effort you went thru to compile and post this info.
They say hindsight is 20/20 and in regards to this show, hindsight shows that the show should not have been launched until after the Baseball playoffs and it should have been paired with at least one family type show and not two police-type procedurals.
Then putting it on Monday nights against sitcoms on CBS in the Spring did not help any either.
Redhooks
"You don't get something for nothing, you don't get freedom for free." Neil Peart
Great post...was hoping someone would break down the show's broadcast history! Excellent job, thanks for posting!
shareI recently watched the pilot online and liked it quite a bit, but I was surprised that it was an hour long (well, 44 minutes without commercials). I think it would have been more successful as a half-hour show, ala The Wonder Years. Its quirkiness would have played better in that format. Viewers are typically expecting something more dramatic in the hourlong format. And, frankly, that's a lot of time for "grownups" to spend watching teenagers.
shareI think the main lesson here is that NOTHING matters except what time slot you get.
I doubt any show airing that inconsistently at its launch could do well, and if it consistently failed against the same competition, that's a clue.
It's easy to dismiss a show's viability based on these kinds of numbers, but only if you ignore the possibility that in another slot it might dominate.
Interesting post . The comment about a big chunk of the audience tuning out in the pilot after Eli breaks his arm. I wonder if it was just a case of the audience losing interest with it being on a Saturday night, or if that was maybe too much of a potentially upsetting thing to include in the pilot episode of a show that people expected to be a comedy.
shareThat was a really well researched and thoughtful overview. Thanks.
shareNBC did the same thing to "Freaks and Geeks" that FOX did to "Firefly". Little promotion, episodes shown out of sequence, pre-empted for every little thing...
...but I'm not bitter.
Dang, Chuck!!
😎
"I Am the FBI."
Shocked it still hasn't had a UK release. Was it even broadcast here? I only just finished the last episode tonight. It's sad that the final episode suggested what they might've done with the characters for Season 2. I guess it might've worked in favour for some of the actors God knows where they might've been if they were obligated to this show instead.
shareYes, it was broadcast in the UK at the time. I remember watching. I think scheduling might have been erratic here too, though, as I didn't see all the episodes originally.
sharebecause the people in power at NBC were idiots!! if the same show were on tv today and cancelled it would be picked up in a heartbeat by a cable channel. they replaced it with the andy richter train-wreck of a show.
shareLow ratings coupled with high production cost will kill any show. The quality of Freaks and Geeks is irrelevant. Any network would have pulled the plug.
I find it interesting to look at a kind of "special" show like this one being led on for an entire season which turned out to be quite good and very forward looking, reminds me of The Simpsons. Except The Simpsons are on the opposite end of the network BF scale.
shareAnd one of the main reasons was that is when all the networks went to reality shows, (which I hate) and cheaper to produce.
shareI don't think it was a major factor. If it got numbers it would have celebrated. The Haverchuk post above really details the major reasons this brilliant series failed to attract an audience.
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