TV Shows cancelled by network because of an act commited by the lead actor

[roadman65]

Over the course of time with television many shows come and go, but some go not because of poor ratings, but because the lead actor did a natural or unnatural act in his personal life that the network cancelled the whole program's production to be aired.

Lou Grant starring Ed Asner was cancelled in 1982 because of Asner's political involvement at the time with a foreign nation.

Evening Shade starring Burt Reynolds was pulled by CBS because of a domestic scandal in Burt Reynold's family life at the time of airing.

The Ted Knight Show ( the new name for the sixth season of Too Close For Comfort)was cancelled due to lead actor Ted Knight's death in 1986.  Although Knight himself did not do anything wrong, the show was indeed cancelled because of him as the supporting cast was not strong enough to make the show without him.

Highway to Heaven starring Michael Landon was cancelled because of the death of Victor French, who was Landon's co star of the series in which Landon also produced.  Michael did not want to continue as he felt that the show would not be the same without his close friend supporting his lead role of that particular show.

Any other shows that got the ax from the network because of scandal, personal, or other reasons like a key star's death that you can think of.

[Jardine]

They tried valiantly with June Lockhart as Dr. Craig in Petticoat Junction to replace Kate Bradley, but the series was never the same without her and was eventually canceled. 

Not quite what the OP asked, but the first that sprang to mind.

IIRC, The Farmer's Daughter was canceled after a death of a cast member.

[rawmustard]

8 Simple Rules aired for a third season following John Ritter's death after he had completed three episodes of season two. The ratings slide was attributed both to his death and the show being placed in the Friday night "death slot" for that final season.

[BamaZeus]

The most infamous example of this is probably Pee Wee's Playhouse. 

ABC also never showed the final 2 episodes of the improv show "Trust Us With Your Life" after Fred Willard's similar arrest.

[ZLoth]

Over the course of time with television many shows come and go, but some go not because of poor ratings, but because the lead actor did a natural or unnatural act in his personal life that the network cancelled the whole program's production to be aired.

Highway to Heaven starring Michael Landon was cancelled because of the death of Victor French, who was Landon's co star of the series in which Landon also produced.  Michael did not want to continue as he felt that the show would not be the same without his close friend supporting his lead role of that particular show.

Any other shows that got the ax from the network because of scandal, personal, or other reasons like a key star's death that you can think of.

IMDB and Wikipedia disagrees with you. Highway to Heaven was removed from the 1988 Fall schedule, and used as a mid-season replacement. The reason for cancellation was due to declining ratings.

How about 1991's The Royal Family where the series lead, Redd Foxx, died of a heart attack during the filming of an episode? It was a running gag on Sanford and Son, so noone realized that it was damn series and took action much too late.

[Alps]

How about 1991's The Royal Family where the series lead, Redd Foxx, died of a heart attack during the filming of an episode? It was a running gag on Sanford and Son, so noone realized that it was damn series and took action much too late.

Citation needed. My sources say people only very briefly thought he was joking.

[ZLoth]

How about 1991's The Royal Family where the series lead, Redd Foxx, died of a heart attack during the filming of an episode? It was a running gag on Sanford and Son, so noone realized that it was damn series and took action much too late.

Citation needed. My sources say people only very briefly thought he was joking.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101187/trivia

[Stephane Dumas]

Bonanza tried to continue despite the death of Dan Blocker during Summer 1972 who performed the role of Hoss, the show was never the same and it was cancelled at the end of the 1972-73 season.

The staff of CBS did what was called "The rural purge" with shows like Beverly Hillbilllies, Green Acres, CBS wanted to be associated with young and urban folks instead of rural people.

Also, Harvey Sheppard who was head of CBS in the early 1980s decided to cancel the Incredible Hulk and some said he didn't like WKRP either (and WKRP got a wider popularity thanks to syndicated reruns).

The 1974-75 season got lots of series cancelled like Mannix, Ironside, Adam-12 and the oldest series at the time Gunsmoke.

[US81]

How about the Smothers Brothers? As I understood it, their comedy became more and more staunchly anti-Vietnam war, such that network execs were censoring and eventually cancelling the show.

[roadman65]

From what I have heard that The Streets of San Francisco was cancelled because Richard Hatch, who replaced Michael Douglas who left television for the big screen, did not sit well with the fans.

Then Chico And The Man, got cancelled because of the death of actor Freddie Prinze, as the show could not carry on with the rest of the cast and a new addition of a young 12 year old boy that Ed Brown adopted.  If memory serves me, I think many episodes never got aired in first run that got aired in syndication because I do not remember Charo replacing Della Reese in the original run on NBC as I saw briefly later on TV Land who ran its show once.

[kurumi]

The 1969 program "Turn-on" was canceled after the first showing; but some stations didn't come back after commercial break, and some of the later timezone stations declined to air it at all. More shows killed quickly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_series_canceled_after_one_episode

[jakeroot]

If Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear keeps on keepin' on, Top Gear UK is as good as dead. Not that Hammond and May aren't fantastic (they are in fact splendid to watch for an hour), the show would not be the same without Clarkson and would almost certainly drop off the end of BBC's top earners, ergo it would be cancelled.

Clarkson, if we could go ahead and not say "ni**er", that would be great.

[english si]

If Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear keeps on keepin' on, Top Gear UK is as good as dead.

Bollocks - Clarkson going on is one of its major selling points. Sometimes they cross the line and have to apologise, but I'm sure that it is a deliberate part of building brand-Clarkson. As one of the Chipping Norton set, he needs to show he's not part of the PC Metropolitan Elite but one of the lads to appeal in the way he has for over a decade.

Of course, there's a backlash from the media that despises the kind of person who Clarkson wants to be - especially as his persona has worked and he's a roaring success off the back of his acting boorish.

Clarkson, if we could go ahead and not say "ni**er", that would be great.

He mumbled something that sounded like it in an outtake filmed a couple of years ago while reciting a nursery rhyme. The whole thing was stirred up by a rival paper to the one he writes a column for. That its taken a good long while to come to light that it was a dub is interesting too - did they go on a Clarkson gaff hunt as they wanted to take him down a notch before the next season?

Plus "hep cat" doesn't carry the same connotations in the UK, especially outside the Metropolitan Elite that Clarkson is trying to show he isn't part of. Yes, it's still a racist term here, but it is a good notch or two down (in swearword equivalence it is the s-word, not the c-word) to most people. Though we still have the issues of African-American comedian uses the word in an anti-racism joke and provokes an outrage from the elites that the joke was inappropriate - not the word, but the whole anti-racism message of the joke was inappropriate because it used the word </rolls eyes>.

The rhyme that Clarkson was saying - a playground rhyme (sinced changed to 'tiger' from 'tigger' from 'hep cat' during the 80s)* - which was innocuous when he was growing up, is surely an unracist context. He mumbled the line that was offensive now, in his embarrassed voice (also used when explaining that in Albanian 'car' was a rude word). Then they over-dubbed it when they realised that they wouldn't get even the mumbling through the PC net.

You could read his whole mumbling as a comment on old times and how once-innocent rhymes are now the height of offensiveness. You can read it as a way to not say the n-word but sound as if you did. Both of which fit in with Clarkson being someone who is a self-hating Elite selling himself on not being so. I really struggle, even given his previous record, to read racism into the original.

[size=85]*I remember getting a group of us getting told off for using it (with 'tiger') in the early 90s. We didn't know why "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by his toe, If he runs, let him go, Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." was winding up the dinnerlady more than "Ip dip dog shit, you are not it", but we then loved using it for being naughty for reasons unknown. We still liked the one with shit in it though![/size]

[roadman]

How about the Smothers Brothers? As I understood it, their comedy became more and more staunchly anti-Vietnam war, such that network execs were censoring and eventually cancelling the show.

As I understand it, what ultimately did in the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was when they crossed the line by making some not-so polite remarks about CBS on the air.

[SidS1045]

If Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear keeps on keepin' on, Top Gear UK is as good as dead.

Absolutely incorrect.  With 350 million viewers worldwide. TopGear is worth *billions* of pounds to the BBC.  They are not going to throw over a winning formula just because one of its hosts has an occasionally uncontrolled tongue.

There was a 60 Minutes piece on TopGear which aired in 2010.  (It's on YouTube:  "TopGear's Wild Ride.")  Part of the piece was interviews with all three hosts, and Clarkson mentioned that not a week goes by without someone complaining about something, usually something one of the hosts has said.  But he also mentioned that the BBC essentially shrugs it off.  They know a good thing when they see it, especially after decades of being broadcasting's original collection of stuffed shirts, and are not about to kill a bonafide hit.

The loudest and most concentrated effort to have TopGear cancelled had nothing to do with Clarkson.  It was when Richard Hammond crashed a jet-powered drag racer doing an estimated 300mph.  It blew a tire and rolled over, putting Hammond into a coma and keeping him off the show for four months.  The incident was investigated by the UK's Health and Safety ministry and concluded that Hammond handled himself like an expert driver would be expected to, and nothing else could have been done to prevent the crash.

OTOH, TopGear US is the best sleep aid out there.

[jakeroot]

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/05/05/jeremy-clarkson-bbc-warning-nword/

Not my words. BBC will fire him if he slips again. And unlike America where said actor would probably fight the TV Channel in court, I don't think Clarkson would fight the BBC.

[Brian556]

in the 80''s- Pee-Wee Herman. Lead actor on a children's show, fired for committing a lewd act in public.

Recently, the Nickelodeon show Zoey 101 was cancelled because the lead actress, Jamie Lynn Spears (Britney's Sister) got pregnant while still a teenager.

Also, I can thing of two instances where a main character was replaced mid-show due to a personal issue.
1. Charlie Sheen was replaced on Two-and-a Half Men; I forgot why. (Probably alcohol or drug related)
2. Mitchell Musso was replaced by Adam Hicks on Disney's Pair Of Kings due to a DUI conviction.

[roadman65]

I forgot about Bill Maher who lost out on ABC.  However I am sure he is not sad about it being he is now on HBO where he can call Sarah Palin the "C" word and not get fined by the FCC for doing it.

Also, he loves to rub it in Rush's face that, unlike Mr. Limbaugh who has to answer to sponsor's, that he himself does not have them at all!    He once said on his show while poking fun at his nemesis, I can get away with more than you can, because I do not have to worry about losing sponsorship like you do.  He. obviously, cannot be pissed that he lost his ABC show do to those two factors.

[Stephane Dumas]

Laverne and Shirley continuing one more season without Cindy Williams. It was the last straw for them althought others put the decision to moving them from Milwaukee to California.

SNL(Saturday Night Live) was almost cancelled thanks to Jean Doumanian's direction and the original cast "not ready for prime time players" who left and Lorne Michaels bring it back to its rails (however the way SNL goes today...)

[Thing 342]

SNL(Saturday Night Live) was almost cancelled thanks to Jean Doumanian's direction and the original cast "not ready for prime time players" who left and Lorne Michaels bring it back to its rails (however the way SNL goes today...)

IMO, Dick Ebersol did it, as Michaels's first season back ('85) was a disaster and nearly got the show cancelled. The quality of the rest of his second tenure has mostly been dependent on the talent of the cast members.

[Big John]

Eight Simple Rules tried to continue after John Ritter's death, but was cancelled after that season.

[Takumi]

[jakeroot]

Just so you all know, I'm not fighting against Jeremy Clarkson. He is my favorite TV host by a mile. Nothing compares to him, except the other Top Gear hosts. And even then, they aren't much without the others. Top Gear is by far my favorite TV show ever -- its replay value is the best of any TV show I have ever watched. If Top Gear got cancelled...frankly I try not to think about it. It would be terrible. Top Gear is what helps my get through my boring school days.

I just don't want to be known by AARoads' forum users as a Clarkson-hater. He is brilliant. I just wish he was slightly less opinionated. Although sometimes, that's what makes him as interesting as he is.

But don't forget, someone in his position under an American network would have been fired long ago, and as such, I am extremelly proud of the BBC for always fighting for him. Of course, growing up in America (especially during the post 9/11 years) has exposed me to a great amount of censorship you all might not be used to. Given that, Clarkson is even by my standards hanging by a thread. It does scare me.

Sorry everything I've just said is so disorganised. Not a very good writer. 

[SteveG1988]

Over the course of time with television many shows come and go, but some go not because of poor ratings, but

in the 80''s- Pee-Wee Herman. Lead actor on a children's show, fired for committing a lewd act in public.

Not True, the show ran between Sept 13 1986 and Nov 10 1990, CBS and Paul Reubens both agreed in early 1991 to end the show after 5 seasons and 45 episodes. The incident occured in July 1991. What was canceled were repeats of the show.

[DandyDan]

Cover Up was a 1 year show (1984-85) which only lasted one year after lead actor Jon-Erik Hexum accidentally shot himself to death with a prop gun on set.  I remember this one happening, because my cousins were crying about it when it happened.