Image from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com
Even shows with large fan bases, great ratings and hashtags trending over Twitter are eventually crossed of from FOX’s production schedule. Around fall last year, FOX premiered what quickly became one of those shows that I grew to appreciate thanks to good writing, characters that aren’t perfect and humorous dialogues. Red Band Society, despite having an 8.1 rating on IMDb, was one of the dramas produced by FOX that was added to its list of ‘first season cancelled shows.’
When it was first announced that the show only had 13 planned episodes, I was one of the persons that hoped it would stay in production for a new season after growing rather fond of the teenagers living in a hospital. However, much to my disappointment, FOX pulled yet another show plug, releasing that production for the show had been put on “pause.” What followed this release of information was a series of tantrums about the cancellation, complaints aimed at FOX and attempts to renew the show by the fans and followers using hashtags such #RenewRedBandSociety on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr.
Suspicions started to brew when this tweet was seen surfacing the net:
We are back! Saturday January 31 at 9/8c. Ditch whatever plans you may have and huddle up for #redbandsociety. pic.twitter.com/CUk9lgqKi3
— Red Band Society (@RedBandSociety) January 26, 2015
This caused a friend of mine to mention me in the tweet and my hopes were risen in anticipation for the return of the series. It was a short-lived moment of excitement. After some scrolling through the tags on my dashboard, I realized that Red Band Society had not been renewed, it was just making its last appearance by airing the remaining episodes. Although I am happy that FOX has given us the opportunity to see the epilogue of this story, I still feel quite betrayed. Last year’s advertisement of many shows, such as RBS and others that have been cancelled after just one season or even less, led me to believe that FOX was really starting to catch up to other channels that have highly recommended and watched shows.
The problem: I strongly believe that the “unsuccessful rating/viewing results” of RBS was due to two main things. I saw lots of trailers and advertisement prior to the show’s premier but once the run actually began, I hardly ever saw it being mentioned on FOX or any other channels; it was super rare to see a clip of the next episode in between other shows or on media. Also, the time episodes aired; I live in the Caribbean so I’m a few hours back. For me, RBS would be airing at 11pm, something my parents aren’t so okay with due to the volume of the tv and my ‘not so soft’ excitement and commentary when it comes to my favorite shows, so most of the time, I’d have to watch it the next day once it was online. Maybe this was the case with lots of other fans of the show and this led to the low number of views that they seemed to complain so much about. Maybe, maybe not.
Although this is about profits and rating and views are vital, I will still be a bit disappointed that more effort wasn’t put into this show to try and keep it going. It’s one of those shows that really sticks to you once you start watching it. It is also the only show I’ve seen that knows how to properly address an eating disorder, life and death circumstances and most of all, the persons dealing with them and those around them helping them to do so. Not everything is curable, there isn’t always hope but there will always be people who can try to understand and support you and that’s something that this show really tried to enhance through a group of rebellious teenagers.
I, among many other fans, am happy to get the ending of this story and apart from my conflicted feelings towards its cancellation, I appreciate that FOX gave us this one-series hit wonder.
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