Drive

Dear Fox,

Of course you cancelled Drive. Why should I have ever believed you would do otherwise?

But answer me this, if you cancel every single show that doesn't perform as well as you would have liked right out of the gate, why would anyone keep watching your shows? Wouldn't it be better for me to NOT check out that show that sounds interesting just in case it doesn't get as many viewers as you want and you prematurely cancel it? Why waste my time on something if you don't really care about it?

I get it. I get that television is a business. But not every show that is a hit now was a hit in its second week. Shows need a chance to grow. To spread by word of mouth. To let people catch up on episodes they miss when you broadcast three hours in the first week and people fall behind because they don't realize the scheduling or they came into the show late and need to figure out what's going on. Just because the audience isn't there in week 2 doesn't mean they're never going to show up.

Sure, people say you gave it a chance because you broadcast a lot of ads. But that doesn't change the fact that there were a lot of things you could have done if you really cared. You could have re-launched in the summer. You could have put on multiple encores each week to get people to watch instead of reruns of other shows that have already "made it." You could have put the first episode on after Idol instead of 2 hours all by itself with no lead-in and no lead-out, since we all know how much of a bump Idol can give a show - you would have at least had those people watching to see if they liked it. You could have started the show when other shows were starting and NOT when other shows were in the middle of their seasons and people were already committed (this is why I'm worried about Traveler, not that you would care). But generally a lead-in is key. Why start any new show on Fox without giving it a post-Idol berth for a premiere or even an encore? It just seems like an easy choice to me.

I made a list today of the shows that I am upset that the networks cancelled and you, Fox, had the longest list by far. I don't know what it is, whether you're trigger-happy or what. I'm surprised you stuck with Bones for so long - I was worried about that show constantly. And its numbers improved as more people started watching it based on word of mouth and its placement near Idol. (At least that's what I hear). Things don't take immediately - I told my parents about Bones for weeks but it still took them a few episodes before they had a chance to catch it and now they watch it every week. Real hit shows take TIME. And the impatience and cancelling of serials this season has really made people re-consider whether they want to invest the time in a new show when the likelihood of cancellation seems higher than ever. I know I'm going to think twice about whether I want to care next season.

I could fill in plenty of other names from this season (like Justice), but I'm going to concentrate on Drive for now. Sigh.

Signed,

Disappointed