TV Miniseries: A Home For Canceled Shows?

Today’s television landscape is much different than it was in the 80′s and 90′s. Back then, three major networks ruled the airwaves. And as a display of self-promotion and excess, the big three (NBC, CBS, ABC) would regularly program miniseries events. These miniseries were typically 2-4 parts long, and usually aired on consecutive nights. Over the course of a year each network would program 1 or 2 miniseries events.

The goal of these miniseries was two-fold: to attract advertisers with their Superbowl-like pomp and spectacle, and to heavily promote the network’s upcoming slate of programming (sometimes for shows that wouldn’t air for another several months). For the most part, these series achieved both their objectives. Heavily promoted as big budget Hollywood-caliber films made for television, audiences would flock to these miniseries — they were can’t-miss events. There would be repeat ‘encore’ airings in subsequent months to milk the series’ profit potential too.

In my day, Stephen King was a regular miniseries attraction, with It, The Stand, and The Langoliers (to name a few) making the jump to television. Though many would cite landmark series like Roots (the first for this format) and North and South as their defining memory of miniseries (both ahead of my time - sorry).

The last hurrah for the network miniseries (in my opinion) was 1999′s Cleopatra on NBC. The two-parter cost $30M* ($40M today), which is insanely expensive for 3 hours of programming. Today that buys about two full weeks of network programming.

Over the past decade, the miniseries has become a mainstay on cable networks and premium channels, like HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The pay channels can afford the bigger budgets and attract better talent. Needless to say, the miniseries as a network TV event is all but dead.

But what about using the format to revisit a canceled show (and not in the reunion sense)? To me, this always seemed like the most logical solution for any hit show that finished its run. Buffy and Firefly immediately come to mind. The network wouldn’t have to commit to a full slate of episodes, instead it would be backing the cost of 2 - 4 episodes, a relative bargain. And for the dedicated fans it is a huge bonus, certainly leagues better than nothing.

Some candidates that I think would be ideal for the miniseries treatment is NBC’s Chuck (currently in its final season), CBS’s Jericho (been dead for a few years), and - I can’t believe I am saying this - WB’s Smallville. They all have built-in and dedicated audiences. The odd miniseries will satiate the fanbase and keep the property alive. For some shows, it could even become an annual event. I can see Smallville being a yearly miniseries.

One thing that is stopping this pipe-dream of mine from happening, is the bizarre thinking that miniseries in general need to cost more and have higher production values. I do not believe that is the case. You can deliver the same episodic quality the show has demonstrated before, and fans would be fine with that. As long as they get to revisit familiar characters and settings, and the series stays true to what has come before, the audience will be satisfied.

A miniseries might be a consolation to the fans of the show, but make no mistake there is money to be made here. New content would help invigorate syndication (much like Futurama’s DTV films post-cancellation served as ‘new’ episodes), keeps the brand alive, and in some ways is cheaper than developing all-new shows, because of the established cast and crew and production pipeline.

In my opinion the miniseries could be utilized as an inexpensive tool that would help create a wider variety in programming, which would increase the quality of each and every program. Because miniseries would cannibalize episodes of programming from other shows (only so many time slots to go around), the episode order for other shows would be decreased, giving those shows some breathing room and extra time for polish. Fewer episodes = better quality.

I’ll go a step further with this idea, and talk about the notion of not canceling shows, but compressing them to share a time slot. Imagine all the Law & Orders, CSI’s, NCIS’s, were given reduced episode orders (to nearly miniseries levels, say 4 - 6 per year), but were forced to share the same time slot, alternating each week. You tune in Thursday at 8PM and one week it’s CSI, next week it’s CSI: Miami, and so on. The quality for each show would go up significantly.

And that is the power of diverse programming. Miniseries (or compressed programming) can provide that. And the wealth of canceled shows can live on and thrive in this environment.

*I recall rumors being floated about back then that this was actually closer to $60-70M, but IMDB says $30, so I won’t dispute it.