Last week, after the poor debut of FOX’s Lone Star, TV show creator Kyle Killen asked people to give the series a chance and hoped for a “stunning upset” in the ratings.
Sadly, that didn’t happen and the ratings for episode two dropped even lower. It was no surprise when FOX pulled Lone Star from the schedule and cancelled production.
Killen has had some time to reflect on the events of the past couple weeks and has written another post about Lone Star. He expresses gratitude for the chance to make the show and to the many viewers for their support. He also talks about the possibility of Lone Star moving to another channel but understands the chances are remote at best.
Here are some excerpts. You can read the whole post here.
So here’s the thing. We made a good show. Not Shakespeare. Not MASH. But something I was proud of. I can’t really speak to anyone else’s reaction, I can only be honest about my own. We assembled a staff, a cast, and a crew that I think was committed to telling interesting and thought provoking stories and who were excited about where we’d planned to head. And now it’s over. The part of me that feels awful that these people are now out of work wishes they’d done anything other than join this show. The part of me that’s so excited about what we did can’t thank them enough for signing on and making it happen.
As for the show’s future, if you read the news you know what I know. We’re actively looking at other homes for it, but those situations are rare. Imagine trying to just jam the engine from a Toyota in a Chevy and you get some idea how hard it is to take a show from one network to another. These things are custom jobs and what looks simple on the surface requires an incredible amount of engineering underneath. Whether we’ll pull something like that off is anyone’s guess. But we’re certainly trying.
Lastly, I literally don’t have the words to thank those of you who participated here and on twitter and facebook and, you know, the real world, in supporting the show. I’ve been in the habit of writing incredibly inane things in this space for some time and have to say that I was blindsided by the scale of the reaction to my last post. Of all the incredible and unexpected things to come out of this entire process, those last few days were perhaps the most incredible and certainly the least expected. I feel like we tried to get a write in candidate elected president together, and while we were completely and utterly destroyed when the votes were tallied, I’ve never felt such an odd and full connection to a group of people I’ve never met and likely never will. Given all that, ‘Thank you’ seems woefully insufficient to convey my gratitude. Perhaps I can just mow all your lawns for the hell of it.
What do you think? Do you agree with Killen? If you had your way, which channel would pick it up?
Image courtesy FOX.
We loved it. Please give it a shot. We promise we will watch!
I really liked the show. This is just another example of the idiot network execs doing their thing. They cancel shows like Life On Mars, Southland, (at least that got picked up on the cable side), and so on, but continue giving us dancing with the stars, big brother, etc. Inane sitcoms, reality, thats it. Don’t try anything new, don’t give shows a chance. Don’t update your “rating system” into the 21st century. This is why, as I have posted many times, very few people that have acess to cable even watch broadcast networks anymore. Instead of putting up with… Read more »
I agree with Kim – it was starting to get really interesting I thought…
I obviously don’t understand the ratings system, but I think it is a shame to create a story line on a new show and not give the show a chance to develop the story. A minimum number of shows like 4-6 should be allowed. I don’t think 2 shows is enough. Personally, I like the show and I live in Texas.
My husband was right! In this climate, where there are dishonest people in all businesses, watching little older people and others get bilked out of thousands or more was just too sad to watch. If he had decided to work hard to return the money to all of those he cheated, it might have been a good story, even if his dad was still a crook. I was intrigued, but my husband understood perfectly why it was cancelled.
Loved the show…sell it to FX
Loved the show. Hell, it didn’t stand a chance against Dancing With the Stars. Maybe HBO will pick it up
Why is it that any show that makes you think gets cancelled!!! I loved the show and the plot. I was trying to figure out how he was going to get out of this one. AAGGHHH!
Smith was spot on with that post. Instead of marketing the show with the protagonist’s boyish charm and how conflicted he was, the FOX publicity machine showed him as a smirking womanizer who bilks to innocent women. James Wolk’s face was so distorted by Photoshop that I barely recognized it. I liked the pilot though female characters were cookie-cutter sweet in it; however, the second episode rocked. Lone Star is the type of show that in the best of times would need time to grow an audience; instead FOX put it opposite one of the biggest hits on television. Shame… Read more »
send it to FX and up the wow factor a little.
Bring it back! It had such an awesome premiere! Sell it to HBO and you could do even more with it. Not likely for HBO, but maybe get NBC to pick it up on a different night. FOX jumped the gun, they should have been willing to try a different night.
Loved the show! I felt very involved with the characters and really wanted to see what would happen next. I’m so tired of sitcoms, reality TV and cop/CSI dramas that it was great to watch a show with an original story line. I’d watch it on any channel that was smart enough to pick it up!
The pilot was provocative and we were interested to see where it would go. It’s typical of Fox though; never give a show a chance to build momentum. Cable should pick it up and run with it!
The stupid marketing made it DOA. What girlfriend or wife was going to let THAT show–the one on the poster featuring the guy with two naked women–be watched without making it a cause for total grief? What man wants to watch some other guy cheating on two hot women when he can barely get one? With the utmost respect this was the WORST idea ever, followed by the worst marketing.
The pilot was decent, I DVRed the second episode, after I found out they canceled it, I didn’t even bother watching the second one. I don’t know about what channel I would like to pick it up, but that’s just wishful thinking anyway. No one is gonna pick the show up. I mean how rare is it a show gets picked up by another network period? This show was only on for 2 episodes, that’s it. Sorry to state the obvious, but good luck with that.