After being ping-ponged around the ABC schedule for two years, the network has cancelled the series about Marin (Anne Heche) and the residents of Elmo, Alaska. In retrospect, the writing’s been on the wall for awhile.
When Men in Trees premiered in the fall of 2006, it attracted a respectable number of viewers. Unfortunately, the show never seemed to be a priority for the network – possibly because it’s not produced by ABC’s in-house production company. Though its viewership was slowly growing, the TV show’s first season was cut short due to ABC’s scheduling of October Road (which is produced by ABC Studios). Instead of airing all 22 episodes, the network opted to air just 17 and added the remaining five episodes to the series’ season two order, in preparation for a possible writers strike.
When the writers strike hit in November 2007, it was expected that Men in Trees would benefit from the lack of original scripted programming on network television. That never seemed to happen and the series was put on hiatus in December. It returned once the strike was over in February and ABC cut Men in Trees’ second season order to 19 episodes, including the five from season one.
There series is on hiatus once again and isn’t scheduled to return until after the May sweeps period is finished – a sure sign that a network has lost faith in a series. ABC sent tapes of both Men in Trees and October Road to Lifetime to see if they’d be interested in taking on either series. They weren’t.
To little surprise, series creator Jenny Bicks was informed of the Men in Trees cancellation last week. She lamented to TV Guide, “I wish the show had not been moved six times and put onto two long hiatuses. No show could survive that.”
She says, “I am really proud of the work we did on MIT… A huge thank you to our supportive fans.”
On the positive side, Bicks realized that the series might not be back for season three and the cast and crew did some extra filming. As a result, an alternative ending for this season’s finale was filmed to serve as a series finale.
Men in Trees is scheduled to return to ABC on May 28th. If the network lets it remain in that Wednesday night timeslot for three episodes, the series finale should air on June 11, 2008. Based on the network’s track record with this show, it’s hard to say if that will actually happen. Stay tuned! 
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Men in Trees
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i want you to bring it back it was very good please bring it back
I AM SOOO DISSAPPOINTED!!! I TRULY LOVED MEN IN TREES , I AM SO MAD AT ABC I MAY NOT WATCH THERE CHANNEL ANYMORE!! THAT WAS ONE OF ITS BEST SHOWS !! PLEASE FIND A WAY TO BRING THE GANG FROM ELMO BACK !!! I MISS THEM !!!
I loved Men in Trees. How sad it’s over. I wish it could return!! There are few show on television that are that good in my estimation.
i am so very disappointed in the cancellation of “men in trees”…..i LOVED that show!
i looked forward to watching it…..ALWAYS! ABC is getting pretty ridiculous with
cancelling some of the best tv programs. recently “boston legal” was cancelled…..
& that show was soooooo intellegent, funny & informative, these shows are geared more
for the intellegent audience & now ABC is just dumbing down it’s viewers with their
negative & simple minded programs.
shame on them……bring “men in trees” ….and “boston legal” back!
janice
The network would rather put junk on them a good show, we all enjoyed this show. Bring it back
We kept waiting for Men in Trees to return. For awhile you had to search for the time slot the network was moving it to–that week. It was fun to watch with a little different characters. Everyone at work loved it! Your right, too many reality shows!
I agree with much of the comments that I have been reading. ABC along with many of the other stations run more blood and gut shows now its hard to find something respectful to watch with your kids. My daughter and I never missed a show. Men in trees was enjoyable to watch and I think your companies need to take a better look at some of the shows you due run versus the ones they dump.
BRING IT BACK BRING BACK MEN IN TREES
Who knows if you guys dont repsond and BRING MEN IN TREES BACK maybe Halmark or another digital station will.
BRING BACK MEN IN TREES I THINK ABC IS MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE THIS WAS AN AWESOME SHOW AND I WANT TO CONTINUE WATCHING THE SHOWS THEY HAD MADE
THINK OF THE ACTORS AS WELL ALL THE HARD WORK THEY PUT INTO MAKING THE EPISODES THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS SHARE THEM WITH EVERYONE…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I have been waiting and waiting for Men in Trees to return. I loved all the actors and thought they each brought something to the series. I am so disappointed that it has been cancelled. I hope you bring it back. Why did you change it so many times? Bad judgment! Now all we have is garbage that someone thinks interests us viewers. We look at the History channel more now than ever. You can take all your reality shows and put them where the sun don’t shine.
Even in Germany MiT got many fans.
We’re kind of fed up too with all those “reality shows” and prefer some series who make at least some sense.
MiT was one of those. Money isn’t everything. And not all TV-watchers are stupid.
P.S. I know it’s a old post – but still…
abc cancels all the good shows and quite frankly i am a little sick of it not all people want to sit around and watch ridiculous reality shows about everything right down to the life of a horse jockey who cares. some people would prefer to watch a good light hearted program such as men in trees with a talented cast and good story line. i would also like to state that if abc continues to cancel good shows it would be nice if they at least sent the show off instead of the abrupt end leaving all of its viewers with no closure
AS EVERYONE HERE HAS STATED,MEN IN TREES WAS A VERY ENJOYABLE SHOW TO WATCH,MY WIFE AND I LOOKED FORWARD TO WATCHING IT EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT AND WE WERE ALWAYS DISAPPOINTED WHEN IT WASN’T ON.YOU NETWORK EXECUTIVES REALLY HAVE NO CLUE! THE LOCATION FOR FILMING LEAVES YOU WANTING TO ESCAPE LIFES REALITIES AND ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL BACKDROP NATURE PROVIDED EVEN IF ONLY FOR AN HOUR AT A TIME………BRING BACK THE SHOW AND ALL THOSE WONDERFUL PEOPLE ON IT ,SUCH A PLEASURE TO WATCH.
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