‘The Dead Zone’ Joins ‘The 4400′ in Cancellation
USA Boots Two Long-Running Sci-Fi Series
I was so miffed by Tuesday’s news that USA Network has canceled one of its best series, The 4400, I forgot to even think about The Dead Zone, the science-fiction show that followed it every Sunday night. If I had, I would have guessed the other half of the news, namely that the basic-cable network has elected to end both series.
The development was not unforeseen, since the futures of the summer-season shows had been increasingly in question the longer USA waited to announce their status. Equally predictable is the culprit, USA’s preference to nurture shows with higher ratings rather than spend time, effort, and money on those with enormously loyal audiences yet less impressive Nielsen numbers.
In a way, the stunning success of series like Burn Notice, Psych, and Monk is a double-edged sword, especially if, along with me, you enjoy the crime dramedies and the sci-fi shows. I’m not as big a fan of The Dead Zone as The 4400, but I definitely believe that USA was a stronger, more diverse network with both staples on its schedule.
According to Broadcasting & Cable, USA’s executive vice president of original programming Jeff Wachtel provided the following comment as explanation for the cancellations, not that it will make 4400 and Dead Zone devotees feel any better.
We wish we could keep all of our great shows alive forever. But we feel that we need to give some of our new shows a platform to grow, and it’s with great sadness that we say goodbye to two shows that had a great run and helped to create the resurgence of original programming on our network and on all of cable.
Related Post: The 4400: Another Sci-Fi Series Bites the Dust
The Dead Zone photo courtesy of USA
