Hey TV Networks: Shows Get Canceled for a Reason!

As the old saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And if there’s been a prevailing sentiment throughout upfront week—y’know beside that most of the new shows planned for fall look kinda stinky—it’s that the networks have truly taken cliché to heart. We’re not talking about recycling stars and ideas (though, hello Kesley Grammer and Patricia Heaton!), but instead about the preponderance of network hopping we’ve seen over the last year. A word to television executives: some shows get canceled for a reason!

Of course, this is nothing new: Last spring, ABC picked up Scrubs from the NBC scrapheap and also threatened to add The New Adventures of Old Christine if CBS went through with their cancellation plans (ABC was waiting there again this year, but it appears that Old Christine will once again air on CBS this fall). But this week, things have gotten a bit ridiculous: CBS grabbed the canceled Medium from NBC and Greg Garcia, the producer of the now-canceled My Name is Earl, is in talks with both ABC and Fox to find a home for his banished series. And again, we have to wonder: why would a network bother with this?

To be fair, Medium is the one show that might benefit from a network change. The CBS-produced series was never really treated that well by NBC and would have actually been picked up this year had the producers acquiesced to the network’s demand that only 13 episodes be produced. But My Name is Earl? Does anyone think that series will do well if Fox adds it to their lineup, when it has been trending down for the past three seasons? Apparently so!

Just based on what we've been given, it seems clear that television executives are officially out of ideas. Because there is really no other explanation for why such lazy programming is being forced upon the viewing audience--the viewing audience, mind you, that already rejected these shows once before. We understand the value of a known commodity, but when that commodity is known for being a ratings pariah, perhaps its best to leave it in the garbage. And besides, if you're going to recycle a show, there's always Arrested Development...