Eureka's Final Season - It Will Be A Sad Time For Sure

Back in August of 2011, the oddest of odd took place, with the end result being that Eureka was announced as being cancelled.

First, on August 4th, the news came out of the Syfy channel that Eureka was renewed for a fifth season, with a thirteen-episode order.  Eureka stars Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield & Neil Grayson and is a fun and witty comedic sci-fi take on a town full of geniuses who all work for the government making all kinds of cool, scientific contraptions.  Cool that is, until something goes wrong. 

But the series takes a light-hearted approach at their stories and it is a quirky fun show to watch.

During the announcement of the fifth season renewal, it was also announced that Syfy was ordering at least six more episodes, taking them into a sixth season of the show.  Needless to say, fans were elated.  Though the six additional episode order was tainted with an odd quote from Mark Stern, saying,

"Although we do not have a commitment beyond six episodes for the sixth season, we are hopeful that this will not be the end of the franchise."

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Why would he say that?

Ah, maybe he knew something.

Five days later, on August 9th, 2011, it was announced that there will be no sixth season and the upcoming fifth season will be the last season of Eureka.  In other words, Eureka was cancelled.

Back when I first wrote about this, I received an email from a fan, making the following points:

{Syfy channel has slowly been chipping away at each good, quirky or entertaining sci-fi television series from a few years ago and replacing them with reality TV or ghost story shows.

It seems that the cadre of core Syfy fans from yesteryear that were left had all their favorite series stuffed into one of the worse ratings nights of the week.}

They went on to note how they're only biding their time until the few shows they still do like go away also.

It was definitely odd that we got two distinctly different messages within a week of each other.

At one point, executive producer Amy Berg took to Twitter to remind us that ratings and money run the game we call TV...

{  

“Everyone is asking why. It’s simple, really.”

    “We are the network’s golden child in every way, except profit margins. Fact is, #Eureka is an expensive show to make.”

    “And we could not maintain the quality of our show with the cuts it would take to make us profitable for Syfy’s new parent company.”

    “Our creative execs at Syfy fought hard to keep us. Trust me, they LOVE us. We just couldn’t make the numbers work.”

}

Then I conjectured that Comcast could be the reason for pulling the purse strings of Eureka.  If you recall, Comcast bought controlling shares into NBC, which is the parent network of Syfy.  And Berg made note of Syfy's new parent company wanting them to be profitable.

And I'm not surprised.  Comcast runs a lean, profit making machine.  It's only about the money.  Which for them, is a great approach considering how many billions they were still making in a down economy.  ($55B in 2011!)

I had hoped that for a show like Eureka, pulling on average, 2 million viewers per episode, it could hang around.  I think this because Syfy's Original Saturday night movies pull in on average the same numbers.

Plus, in a survey run by Syfy's Facebook page, Eureka had pulled 47% of the vote for favorite show on the network.  A huge margin of votes.

I swear, if I were to emotionally react, I'd think they were out to take down all the faves of the genre fan... but bottom line is what a show costs.

New shows are usually cheaper than older shows and reality TV shows are even cheaper.  In addition, in older shows, everyone involved gets their pay raise with each new season and this inevitably drags a popular show towards its own demise.

Here's the cream on the top of this entire mucky sundae...

One of my readers from the Brusimm days had badgered Comcast with email inquiries about the cancellation and he finally got a reply.

Take note that they claim to resolve the issue, and it's all form letter, with three lines addressing the actual subject.  Oh, and don't miss the classic snafu of the Comcast correspondent misspelling Syfy:

{

     Dear xxxxxxxx,

    I would like to thank you for contacting us here at Comcast, where our customers come first. Mr. xxxxxxx, we want you to know that we are committed to providing you with excellent customer service. I am genuinely sorry for the loss of EUREKA on the SCI-FI Channel, I would be upset too if I had lost a program that I really liked. You have reached the right person and I can definitely help you resolve your issue today.

    The SCI-FI Channel determines the programming that airs on their network. You can contact the SCI-FI Channel via email to express your concerns over the loss of Eureka. Mr. xxxxxxx our Comcast Customer Guarantee is our promise that we will deliver a superior customer experience everyday. It reflects the confidence we have in our products and service, our network and especially our employees. I truly apologize for the SCI-FI Channel’s decision to remove the Eureka program. I hope the information I have provided in this email meets with your satisfaction.

    I want to thank you for the opportunity to assist you today. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to call us back at xxx, or by contacting us again via email or live chat at xxx. Mr. xxxxxxx we know your time is important, so I want to thank you again for contacting us here at Comcast and allowing me to resolve your issue. We are grateful to have you as a Comcast customer, because your satisfaction is one of our primary concerns.

    Thank you for choosing Comcast.

    Sincerely,

    Susan

    Comcast Customer Care Specialist

}

And that's how the end of an era comes about, with a form letter and a misspelled network name.

Here's hoping the final season of Eureka kicks butt!

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THR: Eureka Renewed

Inside TV:  Eureka cancelled

Syfy on Facebook

Exec Prod Eureka Tweet

Wall ST. Cheat Sheet:  Comcast earnings