Happy Hour: fox set the show up to fail

dragon22a
[1]Sep 28, 2006
member since: 04/23/05
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the network is notorious for setting up shows with relativly good premises to fail in the ratings. they do this so it at least it looks like they tried to give new series. they are particularly good at doing this to comedies and even some dramas.

i am a fan of firefly which for those who don't know was a science fiction western that was very well written. fox decided that rather then air the pilot for the episode which set up the characters they would not air it in order and have the audience try to figure things out. of course the show failed and was cancelled. but then it went to dvd and was a huge sell as well as gathered good ratings for sci-fi channel who aired the show in its entirety.

family guy was also cancelled as was futurama but thanks to fans and the cartoon network the shows have been brought back basically sending fox running and praying that another network does not pick it up.

other shows that have fallen under the fox ax are free ride, life on a stick, and others.

i fear that happy hour has or is about to fall to this as well. firstly fox put the show up against the office which is an emmy winner. that is just bad business. rather then set up dramas or reality more on thursday they try to go against the big banking comedies in a battle they will not win. instead they should have placed the show on sunday along with the simpsons and family guy. on that night fox is big with comedy and many shows could flurish when accompanied by the big bankers.

what do you guys think. are there any other shows you have seen this with

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danigro89
[2]Sep 28, 2006
member since: 01/09/06
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I agree with you. The show is new, no one knows about it, and theres other shows that people watch during that time (Survivor, The Office) which contribute to the shows failures. If Happy Hour was swithced with The War at Home it would probably do better and TWAH would do bad on thursdays.
My prediction is that FOX will cancel Happy Hour in November but hopefully they will air all 13 episodes. I also predict that Til Death will get 22 episodes and be renewed for another season. I don't know for sure, but all we can do now is wait.
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dragon22a
[3]Oct 1, 2006
member since: 04/23/05
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i actually find it wierd that til death is doing so well. it is going against my name is earl which is still is big banking series. i think that fox may have pushed that show so much as well as brad garrets star power that it may survive. another thing that fox has done to the show is that unlike til death which had commercials on every break. happy hour got little to no air time.
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Pbguncle
[4]Oct 1, 2006
member since: 09/18/06
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Great post Dragon22a, I totally agree with you. Shows like "The Office" or "Survivor" have ESTABLISHED audiences. "Happy Hour" has not been promoted nor does it have any hollywood "names" in its cast. From the reading I have done most critic's have based their opinions on the pilot which is a networks way of introducing the characters. How can you love a show until you get to know the characters? I watch "The Amazing Race" and usually do not pick my favorite team until the 3rd or 4th episode. I was LUCKY enough to get tickets to the taping of "Happy Hour" this past friday night and the show blew me away. It was GREAT. The episode was just TIGHT from the writing to the characters. I hope FOX gives this show a CHANCE and moves it to another time slot where it may have more of an opportunity to be noticed. The only attention its getting now is "Will it be cancelled?" which to me is sad. PLEASE FOX give this show a chance. Thanks for letting me vent!!!!!
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a845835
[5]Oct 4, 2006
member since: 11/09/05
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FOX didn't do anything bad to this show its writers did! FOX gave it a good lead in, which happens to be hurting in the ratings too and might not make it either. I watched this show and knew real fast that it was going to be canceled because it was very bad. It's real easy to tell that a comedy is not going to make it when you're not laughing at its jokes and if you did laugh during this show then you would laugh at anything they put on TV and slap the word comedy on it.
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dragon22a
[6]Oct 17, 2006
member since: 04/23/05
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no, the mullets was bad, the jenny mcarthy show and the pauly shore shows, now those were horrible in every part of their being.
compared to those happy hour is fraiser. is it rude and a little dirty and are they easy to digest not particularly insightful. yes but so was married with children.this show is what it is and that is a basic guys comedy with beer and fart jokes and it has never tried to be anything other then that. it is not endearing or sappy. there are no love triangles or anything. hell the women on the show are a take charge semi tramp who while having a heart drowns it by drinking more beer then anyone else while also coming up with more dirty jokes then anyone else, you have a bimbo trying to find herself but could not find her rear end with two hands and a map and you have a controling hag that who may come off as the picture of feminism also gets turned on by being controled. and it has been a long time since we have had a good show like that on television that was not animated.
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a845835
[7]Oct 18, 2006
member since: 11/09/05
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Saying this show is actually good because you're comparing it to horrendous comedies is not fair. How about comparing it to good comedies and seeing how it fairs in comparison. Being the better of the worst isn't the same as saying it's the worst of the best. When you do compare this to comedies like Friends, Fraiser, Cheers, Seinfeld, Spin City etc etc it looks like the garbage it is. So why should it stay if it only looks good when compared to cr@p comedies? I wouldn't even use this shows name within the same sentence as Married with Children. Just because the show uses low brow humor doesn't mean that it was funny because a show like Married with Children did too. Men Behaving Badly used lowbrow humor too so did that make it good? It's not funny and even when FOX brings it back with Till Death it's not going to do any better and in fact it's ratings are probably going to dip even further as people will be use to watching something else at that time and day.
Edited on 10/18/2006 11:29am
Edited 3 total times.
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dragon22a
[8]Oct 19, 2006
member since: 04/23/05
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yes but comedies and other shows are successful only when the time in which it is shown. in the era of married with children the airwaves were filled family sitcoms that were goody goody and people wanted something more dirty and face it more to reality and married with children fit that. seinfeld was a show about nothing and worked because people wanted it. many have tried to produce similar shows hoping to find the same viewers and many of those shows have failed because that time is over. very few shows today actually are that good and smart. the cbs monday line up with how i met your mother and two and a half men are good. scrubs and my name is earl. the office was transplanted from its UK counterpart which was one of the few times that has worked like the god awful coupling remake

so it may or may not be the writing i will say that is true. but remember a lot of the shows in the past that have worked were not big ratings grabbers during the first seasons. it was because they were placed on the schedule in a spot where things that did not work could be worked on and a fan base could be created. that is all that is asked for this show. that it be put in a spot where it can be viewed and not over shadowed by larger shows like the office. then a fan base for people who want the show to work can grow and the show can work.
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seinfeld111690
[9]Oct 25, 2006
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I dont thnk they set it up to fail.
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aldogg22

[10]Nov 2, 2006

member since: 11/03/06
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a845835 wrote:

FOX didn't do anything bad to this show its writers did! FOX gave it a good lead in, which happens to be hurting in the ratings too and might not make it either. I watched this show and knew real fast that it was going to be canceled because it was very bad. It's real easy to tell that a comedy is not going to make it when you're not laughing at its jokes and if you did laugh during this show then you would laugh at anything they put on TV and slap the word comedy on it.

I disagree. This a very funny show!

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dmarsom

[11]Nov 10, 2006

member since: 12/20/05
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aldogg22 wrote:

a845835 wrote:

I disagree. This a very funny show!

I agree with aldogg22 This show was hillarious. the first show to make me laugh out loud in quite a while. Let me ask you a question a845835 how many episodes of this show did you watch before you decided it sucked, let me guess 1. I'm so sick of people thinking they no everything about a show when they didnt even give it a chance.

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thatNYkid
[12]Nov 11, 2006
member since: 01/14/06
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im so fed up with FOX,every good show they get they cancel and only a select few make it through and im talking about comedies because fox is so short of them unless its animated. it seems every show i watch from the first episode and keep heavy tabs on gets cancelled, the shows i dont pay attention to for 2-3 seasons end up running for 7 years. cant believe they cancelled this show it was the only thing i enjoyed watching on thursdays!, they need to run the rest of the episodes an or release a dvd down the line to see how it does. it really seems like fox does this type of thing on purpose as you see Til Death runs up against My Name Is Earl and Happy Hour had to try and top The Office which is utter crap. also dont argue with the man who thinks he's the authority of sitcoms its not worth it, spin city,fraiser,seinfeld are all OFF THE AIR so they hold no weight against a new comedy that was airing around a bunch of new comedies. dont compare this show to any show, i enjoyed it and was really hoping to spend season after season with these characters but sadly fox has ruined that for me once more.
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a845835
[13]Nov 12, 2006
member since: 11/09/05
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If you thought this show was funny you have no clue. This show deserved the death it received so don't try blaming others for why this show sucked when it was the writers fault. It wasn’t a conspiracy that it’s ratings sucked it was the lame jokes. Just because you're not smart enough to have realized how bad it was doesn't mean that others should have continued to watch it too. I only wished that I stopped watching after the 1st episode but unfortunately I couldn't turn away because it was like staring at a car accident. You know it's wrong but watching a wreck unfold is fascinating sometimes. It was so bad that I came back each week just to see if it could get any worst and just when I thought that it hit rock bottom the writers proved me wrong and showed that with a lot of work they could go even deeper. Now instead of walking away after the 1st episode like a smart person did I stayed around and now I'm never going to get that hour and a half back. Police Squad in the 80's was a comedy that was canceled but shouldn't have. Canceling Happy Hour was a smart decision and Til Death will be next and rightfully so.
Edited on 11/13/2006 1:18am
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maxpower144
[14]Nov 13, 2006
member since: 03/27/06
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a845835 wrote:

If you thought this show was funny you have no clue.
Everybody is allowed to have an opinion, even you... but do you have to be so insulting? Just make your point, you don't have to be insulting.
Edited on 11/13/2006 8:22am
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dmarsom

[15]Nov 13, 2006

member since: 12/20/05
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a845835 wrote:

If you thought this show was funny you have no clue. This show deserved the death it received so don't try blaming others for why this show sucked when it was the writers fault. It wasn’t a conspiracy that it’s ratings sucked it was the lame jokes. Just because you're not smart enough to have realized how bad it was doesn't mean that others should have continued to watch it too. I only wished that I stopped watching after the 1st episode but unfortunately I couldn't turn away because it was like staring at a car accident. You know it's wrong but watching a wreck unfold is fascinating sometimes. It was so bad that I came back each week just to see if it could get any worst and just when I thought that it hit rock bottom the writers proved me wrong and showed that with a lot of work they could go even deeper. Now instead of walking away after the 1st episode like a smart person did I stayed around and now I'm never going to get that hour and a half back. Police Squad in the 80's was a comedy that was canceled but shouldn't have. Canceling Happy Hour was a smart decision and Til Death will be next and rightfully so.

Only a huge loser comes on a forum for people who liked a show and gives us his stupid opinions on it. if you didn't like the show then you should have stopped watching. By the way the writting was great on this show, it was the low rating that brought it down. Take the new adventures of old christine for example, terrible writting+huge actress = Success. Anything can suceed with the right name on it. Happy Hour just wasnt drawing in the crowd.

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a845835
[16]Nov 14, 2006
member since: 11/09/05
level: 4
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Contrary to popular opinion forums do not exist solely to praise shows or to create lame game threads. Posting a dislike of a show is just as legit as heaping praise even if it's on a show that was as poor as this one. Arrested Development was a good show with bad ratings. Happy Hour was a bad show with bad ratings.
Edited on 11/14/2006 6:52am
Edited 2 total times.
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maxpower144
[17]Nov 14, 2006
member since: 03/27/06
level: 60
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You may post your dislike, that is okay. As moderator, I can tell that what I am looking for is people that enter forums and deliberately try to be rude and inflame the other users. (Trolling or flaming) This would consist of someone saying something like "Anyone who likes show X is an idiot".
You can dislike a show. If you don't like a show say why, and cause a discussion. Just don't insult those that like the show, because they have an opinion too.
Honestly, I think you should apologize for saying "If you thought this show was funny you have no clue". Frankly, I liked this show and you are insulting me by saying that.
Edited on 11/14/2006 8:49am
Edited 2 total times.
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a845835
[18]Nov 14, 2006
member since: 11/09/05
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Here's what I replied to.
"Let me ask you a question a845835 how many episodes of this show did you watch before you decided it sucked, let me guess 1. I'm so sick of people thinking they no everything about a show when they didnt even give it a chance."
This was not as much a discussion as it was an attack. To assume as to how many episodes I have seen and to state that people like me makes someone sick is not a discussion, IT'S INSULTING. The truth is that 99% of the time the mud slinging starts from those that like a show attacking those who dislike a show.
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maxpower144
[19]Nov 14, 2006
member since: 03/27/06
level: 60
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Thread is now closed
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