Despite bringing in roughly 2 million viewers an episode, MTV’s Buckwild will be forever memorialized by arrests, sex tapes, and the tragic death of cast member Shain Gandee. That’s a lot of drama related to only one season of television that, quite frankly, makes the Jersey Shore cast look like chumps. It’s no surprise MTV wanted to wash its hands of the series, cancelling it earlier this month. However, the network doesn’t want the series to continue elsewhere, either.
After Buckwild was cancelled, producer J.P. Williams got on his high horse, bluntly stating MTV’s decision “smell[ed] of shit.” At the time, Williams said he would like to continue with Buckwild on another network and potentially even make a movie out of the reality series. According to THR, MTV is nipping the plan in the bud and refusing to allow Buckwild to move forward on a different network or in a different format. Instead, the network will hold on to the property so that nothing can be done with it.
Obviously, this doesn’t sit well with Williams, who had some typically nasty things to say about MTV.
"MTV is the most hypocritical network out there. Van and Susanne can keep promoting pre-martial sex and promoting leaving the baby after you have it. I'm so glad they have found their moral bar."
I can see why Williams would be upset about losing out on a producing credit that could have been a goldmine, but there are better ways to make a point. It seems to me that MTV made a decent decision under tragic circumstances and even gave Williams a shot to negotiate for the property. As THR is noting, negotiations broke down on Friday, and it's easy to see why.
