Television is a volatile business where everything can change in an instant. But the core tenet of television production is making wise decisions. At the heart of everything you'll ever see on television is a single decision. Sometimes theyre good ones like Lets give The Black Adder another try, sometimes theyre terrible ones like Lets make a sitcom about Hitler, and sometimes theyre stupid ones that kill great programmes before their time. Here are ten of those decisions...
10. Batman (ABC, 1966 1968)
What Was The Show? A deliberately camp adaptation of the Batman comics.
What Was The Stupid Decision? Destroying the sets a week after cancelling the show.
How Did It Kill The Show? At this point, Batman had already been cancelled but there was a light at the end of the tunnel when NBC offered to pick up the series a fortnight after its cancellation. NBC were happy to buy the rights to the show and fund new episodes as well as return the series to airing twice a week, and had no intention of carrying out ABCs plan to write out the characters of Robin and Chief OHara as a cost-cutting measure. Their only proviso was that they would be given use of the original sets. But the problem was that 20th Century Fox had destroyed them a week before and that rebuilding them would cost NBC $800,000, the equivalent of $5.3 million today. Although striking the sets of a show after cancelling it tends to be common practice, 20th Century Foxs haste to destroy the Batman sets cost them the chance of making money by selling the show to NBC and prevented them being reused for other shows. They acted too quickly and not only lost a money making opportunity but also cost Batmans fans the chance of seeing a fourth season. As that old saying goes: act in haste, repent at leisure.