Dramatic Television Cancellations

Michael Hedges March 29, 2010 Follow on Twitter

Television series come and go with a predictable frequency. Viewers grow weary, ratings slip, actors call their agents, sponsors blink. Broadcasters wield the axe. All move on. Television loves winners and doesn’t tolerate the rest.

The axe fell last week (March 26) on ‘The Bill,’ UK commercial broadcaster ITV’s long-running police procedural drama.  The producer was “devastated.” Writers were “shocked.” Viewers had just the night before reward the show with season high ratings.

Produced by Talkback Thames, ‘The Bill’ has been a UK television staple since 1984, an astounding run for post-modern television. “We are devastated that after 26 successful years on ITV, The Bill will be coming to an end,” said Talkback Thames CEO Lorraine Heggessey in a statement. “One of the show’s strengths has been its ability to evolve over the years as can be seen with the latest challenge of transforming itself into a 9pm primetime show.”

‘The Bill’ debuted as the British answer to the ground-breaking US police procedural dramatic series ‘Hill Street Blues.’ Most recently, “evolving” meant bringing in a new producer with edgier ideas and shifting from twice weekly 30 minute slots before the ‘watershed’ to a full hour at 9pm Thursdays on ITV1. UK media watchers fault schedule and production changes for sliding audiences.

“Whilst 'The Bill' will come to an end in 2010,” announced ITV director of television Peter Fincham, “we will continue to invest more in drama programming than any commercial broadcaster in the UK. Times change and so do the tastes of our audience.”

A few hours after the ITV announcement and across the Atlantic, Fox confirmed that its US hit cop drama ‘24’ will end in May after eight seasons. While ‘The Bill’ and ‘24’ are different in almost every aspect, the broadcasters’ exits speak to the simple truth about television drama. No matter how much you change and spend, when the storyline runs out, it’s over.

Television viewers are loyal only to a point. Schedule changes can disturb viewers habits, which programmers realize can be tweaked only slightly. Even with the popularity of catch-up TV and other scheduling enhancements, most viewers head for the couch for their designated allotment of prime-time viewing knowing exactly what they’ll get.

What television viewers want is obvious: more. Producers, directors and writers are challenged to bring on more ‘grit’ to the limit of regulators’ patience. Keeping a half-step ahead of viewers also means – sometimes - moving on. 

‘24’ is the stereotypical ‘man of action’ drama. Marquee US actor Kiefer Sutherland plays the terrorist-chasing cop. There are elements of the police procedural genre; there’s detail, violence and torture. For American television ‘24’ had hit maturity. Audiences this year have averaged about 11 million.  In a statement (March 26), Sutherland said he’s looking forward to making the movie. ‘24’ concludes with a 2 hour episode May 24 – get it – 24.

The police procedural is a mainstay of television programming and has been, well, since before television. It was ‘Dragnet’ (“Just the facts, ma’am”) that, after decades on radio, glued American viewers to the tube. ‘Dragnet’ ended, replaced in popularity by soapier fare like ‘Dallas’. Zeitgist rules in the popular marketplace of television.

In America, the police procedural returned to favor in the 1980’s with ‘Hill Street Blues,’ then ‘Miami Vice,’ ‘Cagney & Lacey,’ and on to ‘Law & Order’. Television audiences – worldwide - have had one or more new police procedural each season. The average half-life – after which storylines or schedule placement changes – is about three years. An eight year lifespan is rare, more than 20 years unheard of.

Almost, but not quite. Germany’s cop drama ‘Tatort’ predates ‘The Bill’ and every other police procedural. First broadcast in 1970, the series benefits from round-robin production that spreads storylines across several locations. The nine German länder public television broadcasters contribute at least one episode per season. The largest, WDR, may produce three or four. Austrian public broadcaster ORF also participates. This autumn Swiss-German public broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen (SF) will return to the fold.

Over time ‘Tatort’ evolved from ‘man of action’, lone hero storylines to the universally popular ensemble cast with multiple storylines.  The distinctive program logo – important for a TV brand – has been used consistently. So consistently that graphic designer sued the program producers for authors credit. The Munich District Court ruled (March 25) that graphic artist Kristina Böttrich-Merdjanowa gets a credit line for the eye in the cross-hairs logo or ARD pays a €250,000 fine.

If production and plotline are the measure of TV drama success, the French police procedural ‘Engrenages’ is cutting edge. The acting, writing and production are exquisite, an example of the daring necessary to lock-in viewers. The series is in its third season, produced by Son et Lumière for Canal+. The second season was aired in the UK on BBC4, in Australia and Switzerland. Canal+ has commissioned three more seasons.

But in France – and over 50 countries – the police procedural drama series with clout is Jerry Bruckheimer’s CSI franchise. The original CSI: Las Vegas series is in its 10th season on US network CBS. Spin-offs CSI: Miami and CSI: NYC are equally successful and, not surprisingly, big hits around the globe. Channel Five in the UK rotates all three in prime-time, as does TF1 in France and RTL in Germany and beyond.

All television drama series are expensive. Only live sports and news demand more financial resources. Trimming those programming costs comes at a price. Neither viewers nor advertisers clamor for less drama, excitement and action.

Reporting a recent meeting between RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler and UK Channel Four executives about linkage with RTL-owned Channel Five, The Guardian (March 26) called Channel Five’s rights to the CSI franchise as “onerous.” Mr. Zeiler, arguably Europe’s most astute TV guy, has an interest in ‘The Bill’ finding a spot on another UK television channel. Talkback Thames, part of FremantleMedia, which is owned by RTL Group, sells on ‘The Bill’ to more than 20 broadcasters outside the UK. Shutting down production would not only mean losing an experienced production team but a fair amount of revenue from sindication rights. One question becomes whether or not ‘The Bill’ is worth more to RTL Group than the CSI rights.

That’s the reason television CEO’s are paid the big bucks.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Television in the UK

Viewers in the UK love their 'telly'. The BBC is under pressure, BSkyB expanding, ITV and Channel Five are under new management. Hardly a week goes by without a complaint, new rules or other change. 58 pages PDF (October 2010)

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