6. Decreasing Importance Of Ratings
NBCSince the inception of television, ratings have always been the be all and end all of determining the success of a television show to executives of the 'big four' American networks. A countless array of beloved programmes have been unceremoniously dumped well before their time as a result, solely because they are perceived as being unsuccessful at attracting viewers to the products and services advertised during commercial breaks. Though there are exceptions to the rule (NBC's Chuck was saved on several occasions by fan campaigns, for instance), the 'big four' continue to drop widely appreciated shows left, right and centre. There now exists several streaming services, however, which have sought to pick up a number of shows with dedicated followings and give them a new lease of life - Arrested Development, cancelled in 2006, was revived by Netflix in 2013, whilst Community, recently axed by NBC, has been picked up by Yahoo TV. Though such services arrived on the scene far too late to save Firefly, which was criminally brought to an end by Fox after just 14 episodes in 2003, its reassuring to know that there is hope for future cult programming to live on after it is deemed lifeless by executives determined to fill their schedules with the same repetitive show formats (here's looking at you, medical dramas). In contrast, many cable networks rarely (and thankfully) let poor ratings get in the way of a show's development - would Breaking Bad have been allowed to continue its run anywhere else after achieving under a million viewers in its first season? It's doubtful.