Though Eureka remains one of Syfy’s most popular TV series, the cable channel cancelled it earlier this week. What’s even more perplexing is that Syfy announced that Eureka had been renewed for an abbreviated sixth season last week. They even issued a statement to assure viewers that they hoped to continue the show beyond that. Why was it cancelled?
Eureka executive producer Amy Berg shed some light on the move via Twitter, indicating that Syfy didn’t want to cancel the show but financially, Comcast mandated it. She said, “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.”
The cast and crew were in the midst of filming the end of season five when the cancellation news came down. With such short notice, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to bring the show to a satisfying conclusion with such short notice.
Thankfully, Syfy has now ordered one additional episode so that, as Berg puts it, “we can end the series on our terms.” She indicated that she’s working on the series finale and it will be shot the week of the 21st.
For those keeping count, this means that there are 19 episodes of Eureka left; five more for this season and 14 for season five.
What do you think? Are you glad to hear there will be a true series finale? How would you like to see the show end?
Image courtesy Syfy.
This is why I don’t like to get involved with a series on the syfy channel. Every time they have a show that I like they cancel it. I still haven’t forgiven then them for canceling Farscape.
I’d like to see a true Eureka finale: Global Dynamics is able to neutralize Comcast, saving the town of Eureka and assigning Comcast to a black hole.
I’m a die hard science fiction fan, but SYFY continues to cancal good programs, and offers up stupid shows in return. I hate reality TV. I want to be transported to other worlds and live through the characters that I invest my time in. StarGate, StarGate Atlantis, Battlestar, and others. The old shows were great and provided hours of entertainment. I love Eureka. Its quirky and guaranteed to entertain. I think this is the end.
It’s a shame that a quality series has been cancelled. A multi-racial, multi-generational thinking persons show is gone. So is my watching the network once Eureka is gone.
I think this is a bone-headed move by Comcast. Eureka is a great show; well-writte, well-acted, and entertaining. They’ve made a choice solely based on short term profits, and have given me yet another reason toward canceling my Comcast service.
I may drop my Comcast service if Eureka goes. My wife who is 51, and
Myself-50- love the show and watch it together. If Comcast can’t afford
Eureka, I can’t afford Comcast.
I suggest somehow getting Comcast and all cable companies destroyed. Perhaps inventing a very cheap way to broadcast Satellite TV to everyone profitably at $5 a month!
But this is what happens when one lets cable companies own the media. Sigh.
At least now I can mark my calendar for the exact day I remove SyFy from my channel line-up. Tuning in to watch Eureka also got me watching Warehouse 13, Alphas and several other shows preceding/following Eureka. None of these shows are worth watching without Eureka accompaniment. Sorry SyFy, you just lost a single, professional, male age 25-35 with disposable income to spend on DvDs, merchandise and the non-essentials your advertisers pitch. I’m sure advertisers will flock to your network now that you have turned your attention to the already over saturated ghost show and wrestling markets. Perhaps you should… Read more »
No!!! Can’t some other network take it over? Eeeeee….
Stupid decision Syfy! Spend the money! Cancel some other canned show you buy and show Eureka twice!! I knew we’d all suffer when Comcast got into the content business.
Hey, since DirecTV already has a feud with Comcast, maybe they’ll pick up the show and offer new seasons on their Audience Channel like they did when FX decided to cancel “Damages”. Gotta hope! Anyone know anyone at DirecTV programming?
Just remember, Syfy isn’t the only channel acquired by Comcast through the NBC purchase. NBC owns other channels, like USA, as well. I hate to see the scope of the damage Comcast’s bean counters are going to do to favorite shows when they have so many to choose from.
It is a shame that all across the board, TV is ditching quality programming for Cheep Programming. Everyone loses. Starting with loss of viewers… advertisers reach smaller audiences… ratings drop. This down hill spiral has been happening for several years.
I guess it is the way of all things. It grows, it blossoms, it withers, and dies.
May quality programming RIP……
Geez…please don’t do this!! Eureka is wonderful. Why not cancel Haven…it just drags on and on and it just plain pointless…bring back Eureka!!!
@Doug ties the issues together nicely. I’ve been ranting on FB and Twitter about SyFy dropping its shows from Hulu, but hadn’t realized that the reason was because they’d been bought by Comcast. Makes perfect sense (if you’re an MBA with blinders on). And to @JTL – the problem isn’t a corporation trying to make money; the problem is short-term bean-counters winning out over reason and long-term interests. Maybe Eureka is expensive to produce. Maybe it even loses money. But it’s quality, and it has high viewership – both of which allow SyFy to increase ad revenue, leverage their base… Read more »