4. Robot Wars (BBC2, 1998 2003/Channel 5, 2003 2004)
What Was The Show? Teams build robots and enter them into battles against each other.
What Was The Stupid Decision? Using It To Promote BBC Choice
How Did It Kill The Show? Before Series Five, Robot Wars was one of BBC2s big hitters and was a hugely popular mainstay of its evening line-up, usually airing just after The Simpsons and The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. But after a few years, some bright spark at the BBC thought that moving one of the channels most widely watched shows to BBC Choice, the BBCs new digital only channel, would help boost the channels popularity. This logic completely and utterly backfired and the ratings for Robot Wars started to slip since most people werent willing to shell out a load of cash for a digital TV receiver just to watch one show. And because Series 5 didnt get a BBC2 broadcast until right before the start of Series 6 the next year, interest in the show started to dwindle even further. After this, Series 7 aired on Channel 5, which was and still is the butt of almost every joke youll hear about crap TV. Add to this that Channel 5 moved it from Friday night (its timeslot since the first series) to Sunday night which is pretty much a TV death spot, and youve got an excellent guide on how to kill a popular show.