Generation Exed: ABC cancels 'My Generation'
Ensemble drama joins FOX's 'Lone Star' in the Two-and-Done Club
Kelli Garner in a scene from next week's episode of "My Generation." Ooops.
Credit: ABC
The documentary filmmaker on ABC's "My Generation" waited 10 years to find out what happened to a group of Texas high school grads. It took viewers far less time to decide they didn't care.
ABC has cancelled "My Generation" after only two low-rated episodes. The first airing was already a disaster for the poorly reviewed series, which then fell more than 30 percent on Thursday (Sept. 30), averaging only 3.9 million viewers and a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49, unacceptable numbers even in a time slot that has recently claimed the life of "FlashForward" and "The Deep End."
The writing was on the wall after "My Generation" got clobbered by The CW's "The Vampire Diaries" in the young adult demo, but at least ABC didn't waste any time.
ABC has yet to announce a temporary replacement for "My Generation."
"My Generation" became the second casualty of the week, following FOX's equally expected decision to cancel "Lone Star" on Tuesday following a similarly disastrous second airing. While "Lone Star" will still hold the title of the fall's first cancelled series, "My Generation" remains its equal in total episodes.
Looking for the next show to fall? NBC's "Outlaw" gets its third airing on Friday and ABC's "The Whole Truth" is expected to get a third airing next Wednesday, but both shows are in some ratings jeopardy. We'll let you know!
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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October 1, 2010 at 7:56PM EST Reply to CommentGood, replace it with flashfoward
dan I believe ABC is looking for a show that WON'T lose to "Vampire Diaries" in the 18-49 demographic. That rules out "My Generation," "FlashForward" and "The Deep End," at the very least...
October 1, 2010 at 8:04PM EST-Daniel
xStine @dan weird. I watched Vampire Diaries on Thurs 8pm because the CW takes forever to upload full episodes and their server is awful. whereas the ABC shows are uploaded quicker and on more efficient servers, so I prefer to watch them online after original air.
October 10, 2010 at 11:15PM ESTCameron
October 1, 2010 at 9:12PM EST Reply to CommentWas actally a really good show! I am very dissaponted :(
October 1, 2010 at 10:54PM ESTMe Completely agree... I liked it too, but they often decide it's over for a show before I'm ready...Mercy was another one. Bummer.
October 3, 2010 at 11:07AM ESTTerry Mitoraj I agree! I couldn't wait for the next episode, and now we'll never know what was going to happen with all those quality characters. ABC didn't even give it a chance (2 episodes!!!) I am usually a very loyal ABC fan, but this decision might change that.
October 14, 2010 at 10:53AM ESTNot Paul Lee
October 1, 2010 at 11:34PM EST Reply to CommentABC should move Castle to Thursdays at 8:00 (it's an established hit and should hopefully still survive in a tougher timeslot), move The Whole Truth to Mondays at 10 (where it'll at least have a fighting chance with the DWTS lead-in), bring back V Wednesdays at 10 (it shouldn't have much audience overlap with the other 2 shows on in that timeslot), and save the new Dana Delany show for midseason and air it after Desperate Housewives on Sundays (since Brothers & Sisters has a reduced episode order this year anyway.)
Networks Are for Nitwits
October 2, 2010 at 6:33AM EST Reply to CommentHopefully ABC will follow through by cancelling itself.
Jessica
October 2, 2010 at 4:01PM EST Reply to Commentit's abc who decided THEY didn't care. the fans didn't get a chance to find this gem through all the new shows.
abc is to blame here not the viewers and certainly not the show
dan Jessica - ABC spent a ridiculous amount of money on promoting this show. Nobody came for the first week. ABC continued to promote it and ratings shrunk dramatically in the second airing. If ratings had stayed flat or gone up, ABC could have pretended that word of mouth was bringing people to the show.
October 2, 2010 at 7:27PM ESTIt's hard to blame FOX for canceling "Lone Star" or ABC for canceling "My Generation." There's a threshold and both shows were well beneath it.
-Daniel
Halie dan, its really hard for some viewers to start watching that show on the actual tv when they have shows they have been watching for years that are on at the exact same time. I was wanting to watch it and have a new show but knowing my dvr already recorded 2 shows at that time then i was going to have to watch it online on abcs website. they didnt seem to take that into account though, because im sure thats the same for alot of other people to. im very dissapointed that they are canceling the show, it was pretty good and i would have liked to continue to see where it would have gone. they should have either tried to stick it in a different time slot or something like on a friday since their isnt anything really on, on fridays. come on abc give these shows a chance.
October 3, 2010 at 4:11PM ESTdan Halie - But networks can't program around hypotheticals and they certainly can't program around the "I have other shows I've watched for years in that timeslot." The point of any ABC programming in that hour is ENTIRELY to make viewers tune away from whatever they've watched previously and to watch ABC in that period. ABC figures that if you didn't stop watching one of the two shows you were watching previously in favor of "My Generation," the show didn't do its job.
October 3, 2010 at 4:45PM ESTRegardless, right or wrong, it's a business driven by Nielsen ratings. You may think that Nielsen ratings are utterly ridiculous and a meaningless way of determining success or failure. And you'd be ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. However, that's the system as it is now and every show on TV is subject to the exact same stupid system. And within the confines of that system, the ratings for "My Generation" were too low to justify any alternate plans, just as the ratings for "Lone Star" were too low to justify alternate time periods or scheduling options.
I know it's sad to hear if you're a fan of "My Generation," but all "My Generation" had to do to survive as long as even "The Deep End" was to get ratings as high as "The Deep End" did. "The Deep End" was a failure, but it premiered higher than "My Generation" and stayed higher.
Several people have mentioned the quick cancellations for "Trauma" and "Mercy," but both shows got full-ish seasons. And both shows had better ratings than "My Generation."
In any case, I know that every show has passionate fans and that it hurts when a show you love gets canceled...
-Daniel
Kim They could have tried it in a different timeslot against some crappy show instead of Vampire Diaries which is a big hit instead of just totally cancelling it right off the bat.
October 10, 2010 at 11:13PM EST
October 7, 2010 at 12:03AM EST Reply to CommentThat sucks. I thought the show had potential.
October 7, 2010 at 9:24PM EST Reply to CommentI'm pissed! This was my favorite show. I want to know what happenes with everyone. I can't believe they cancelled My Generation. If someone from the show or producers wants to tell me what was suppose to happen my email is ashleymarie818@gmail.com. This is a big disappointment!! - ashley
meghan
October 7, 2010 at 10:45PM EST Reply to Commenti liked this show!!!
fuck you abc, fuck you.
October 7, 2010 at 11:12PM EST
October 8, 2010 at 8:01PM EST Reply to CommentI am so disgusted with this decision! I actually really liked this show and was greatly able to relate to it. I was the class of 2001, I served in Iraq, I have friends like the ones in the show. I wish they would bring it back, I watched it live and recorded The Vampire Diaries. Do DVR'd shows not count in ratings? Thanks a lot ABC, for ruining my Thursday nights...you had a lot going with My Generation airing before my 2 favorite shows. I was watching ABC for 3 hours on Thursday nights for the last 2 weeks, now I will go back to only 2 hours. You can suck it ABC.
xStine
October 10, 2010 at 11:12PM EST Reply to CommentI'm curious - are the networks taking into account ratings from hulu and their own sites' web views? Or DVRs that record multiple shows? As somebody who recently switched from using DVR back to internet viewing (I absolutely cannot stand watching television with the typical 20minutes of commercials), I wonder if they have done any solid research about how new technology is affecting their traditionally driven numbers...
Jane I wonder that also. I only watched the show on hulu because I couldn't watch it during the regular time.
October 16, 2010 at 2:12PM ESTJoanna
October 14, 2010 at 1:41AM EST Reply to CommentI am so upset!! I really liked this show because it was different than the same old same doctor shows or csi type things...and come on, Vampire Diaries?? WTF is that?? But i guess THIS generation of tv shows is horrible anyways. People would rather watch jersey shore than something with an actual plot. I'm disappointed in abc.
Katie
October 14, 2010 at 10:18AM EST Reply to CommentMan, it was actually a really good show. I was kinda excited to see where it was all going to go and get everybody else's background story.
N.Baker
October 16, 2010 at 1:47AM EST Reply to CommentI can't believe this show was cancelled so quickly. I was really starting to become attached. Even my mom enjoyed watching and it is rare that she and I agree on our TV viewing choices. This show had such potential. What a shame!
Jane
October 16, 2010 at 2:10PM EST Reply to CommentI wish they would at least put the entire season on hulu or something. This is where I watched the show in the first place. I'm a busy college student and don't have time to watch it during the original time slot but I really thought it was a good show and me and several friends who had started watching it were bummed to see it cancelled.
October 19, 2010 at 2:19PM EST Reply to Commentso this is why i cant find the 3rd episode on my abc ipad player. i think it's a good show... i hope they would release a dvd instead.
October 19, 2010 at 10:17PM EST Reply to CommentI told you it was a mistake to cancel flashfoward
Jessie Doyle
November 4, 2010 at 4:02AM EST Reply to CommentI really liked the show. I think they should have given it another couple of weeks. I have class Thursday nights but I still would watch the show on abc.go.com.