My adolescent childhood was nearly destroyed by one television character: Steve Urkel. Isn't it funny how one pair of glasses and a set of braces can ruin your life when you're in school? Thankfully, I made it out alive with only a few emotional scars from all of the taunting and teasing. However, the show that spawned the Steve Urkel character was wildly successful.
From September of 1989, to May of 1997, Family Matters aired every Friday on the ABC network during a two hour block of family centered entertainment known as TGIF. For its last season, it aired on the CBS network. I was a huge fan of the Friday night ABC line up. Since I was young, nerdy, and had nothing really going on for me, I would stay home and just watch the programs. By 1998, however, I was in my second year of college and had lost the zeal to watch the shows. I didn't even know that Family Matters was still on the air, much less that it had been signed over to CBS.
Family Matters is not the only show that has switched television networks. Insanely funny hospital "dramady" Scrubs died off of the NBC network, only to be revived for another short season on the ABC network. Family Matters and its sister show, Step by Step was acquired by CBS in a deal worth $40 million. Tensions between Miller-Boyett Productions and The Walt Disney Company (parent company) erupted, causing Miller-Boyett to accept the deal with CBS to rival against the TGIF lineup. The effort was unsuccessful, and both Family Matters and Step by Step were cancelled the following season, dismantling CBS's efforts to steal the Friday night family market.
Television shows seem to exhibit the same characteristics of modern day sports figures. If there is a better deal (or only deal offered) executives seem to have no problem trading a show to another team. Maybe the idea is that the show will do better on a different network than what it did previously. I think sometimes writers and producers attempt to do the impossible with a group of characters and with a show. I believe that you have to know when it is the right time to end a show and put those characters to rest. It's hard to let go, but drawing out a show will only have terrible effects for the legacy of the program. It's no different than Michael Jordan retiring from basketball, only to revive his own career on a different team. I might have looked liked Urkel back in the day, but I never did the Urkel shuffle. Catch my drift?
