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!
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!
The network would rather put junk on them a good show, we all enjoyed this show. Bring it back
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
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 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 want you to bring it back it was very good please bring it back
I can’t believe MIT is off the air! What a great show! I wish there was a way for the fans to bring it back. Shame on you ABC finally something enjoyable and you cut it. They never had a chance after being shuffled around so much. No one knew when it was on!! So terribly, SAD:(
I am sooooo sick of all of these reality shows. Men in Trees was just a nice light-hearted show with a great, and realistic cast. I can’t beleive that it kept getting bounced around so much. No wonder it was hard to keep the ratings up, no one knew when it was going to be on! BRING IT BACK!
I kept looking for this series to come back… Why did it go off the air?? Several of my friends love the show and can not believe that it has been cancelled.
What can be done to bring it back?? Nicole
It want do any good to say this,but I have to vent. Bring back M I T every single one on the show were great actors.Who the heck desides this stuff? And it just goes to show you they have no taste themselves. Fire them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
abc sucks…quit cancelling good shows for crap like “Dancing with the Stars” and “Life on Mars”…bring Men in Trees back someone please!
This was a very heart-warming show. The eccentric characters were wonderful! I had really started to like Anne Heche again… And Jack… WOW! Please find another network for this great show!
The geniuses of ABC have done it again! Take a show with a plot and potential, bounce it all over the schedule, put it on the air, take it off, put it back on, keep moving it around and then cancel it saying there is not enough interest. Why not try doing the same thing with some of these lame reality shows for the mindless and see if their following can be maintained.
I can’t believe you canceled this show. I LOVED THIS SHOW. Every time I love a show any more on ABC it is taken off the air. Come on ABC get with it. We don’t need stupid shows like SCRUBS, THE BACHELOR, AND WIPE OUT, and all those stupid reality shows. We need good shows like Men In Trees, What About Brian, (another show I’m mad about that was taken off the air by the way), Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Desperate Housewives, and Dirty Sexy Money. Please what ever you do, DON’T TAKE THESE OFF THE AIR.
please give us Men in Trees back
This network cancels all good shows