MovieChat Forums > Philly (2001) Discussion > Why Was This Show Cancelled?

Why Was This Show Cancelled?


Has anybody heard why this show was cancelled after only one season? It's ratings, while not outstanding, were certainly good enough to warrant a second season. Anyone heard anything as to ABC's thinking, or lack thereof?

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Apparently, ABC cares more about numbers than quality. I'm still kinda mystified by the decision myself...

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Philly was a great show that deserved better treatment than it got from ABC. (And as for numbers, I'm sure it would've done better if they hadn't continually pre-empted it and taken it off the schedule for weeks at a time!)

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Personally, I wonder if this wasn't some form of payback towards Steven Bochco. Apparently, he made quite a fuss about how ABC was giving preference to "Once and Again" over "Blue" because "Once and Again" was a Disney-produced show, while "Blue" was produced by 20th Century Fox. It seems that his beef goes all the way back to "Murder One," and it might explain why he signed his CBS deal.

It's not entirely unheard of for ABC to do that; in fact, they seem to be doing it again this season, only this time their target seems to be Warner Bros. Three Warner shows--"Men In Trees," "The Nine," and "The Knights of Prosperity"--have either been cancelled or face uncertain futures because they keep getting shuffled around, thus making it very hard if not impossible to find their niche. None of their Disney-produced shows seem to be getting that kind of treatment.

All in all, "Philly" deserved way better, and hopefully Paramount will put the entire run out on DVD.

"I've been kidnapped by K-Mart!"
--Barbara Stone (Bette Midler), "Ruthless People"

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ABC should just change their name to " Amazingly Bad Crap " since they don't seem to give a fark about quality programming any more. They're too busy putting out steaming piles of garbage like Master of Champions to give a show like " Philly " a fighting chance. It's cheaper than paying real actors and actual writers, I guess.

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I never seen this show but it sounded good. I wish it wasn't cancelled.

"Self Defense is not murder"-Enough

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from what i've read, the show started really slow but picked up momentum. most tv critics thought it deserved a second season. ABC said it was a tough decision but decided against it.....although, they claimed it was the last show (at the time) they decided to cancel.

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^^^I can see that being the case because I recently tried to watch the pilot and couldn't get into it. But I watched the finale to see an actor I like (Jamil Walker Smith) and was actually disappointed that I couldn't see the conclusion to the case. I guess it was supposed to be a two parter that continued in season 2.

Fast forward 10 years later and ABC is still cancelling law shows. Well at least this show got 20+ episodes.

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>> blondiesapphire
>>I never seen this show but it sounded good. I wish it wasn't cancelled.

You and a lot of people!

I, too, enjoyed this show a lot. For me, the strongest point of the show was the cast -- Deleney in the lead was great but secondary characters were excellent, too.

I suspect it was canceled because there was kind of a glut of procedural legal drams but did we really need another Law and Order? Yet, those survived and this, somewhat more original show, was cut.

I honestly think this was cut because TV executives don't know what they are doing but have a lot of money anyway.

Seriously, how else do you explain their actions?


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You're the person who is always talking about 'da ghetto' (wherever that is). Bigots like you crack me up! Let me change Vince Lombardis words around and say
"The internet makes tough guys out of us all".

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[deleted]

[deleted]

To make room for "Dancing with the Stars" or some such nonsense.

 Some movies are released; others sneak out. 

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