Rescue: HI-Surf cancellation: Fox exec explains reason
Just about every year there are a handful of cancellations that people are unhappy about this; does Rescue: HI-Surf lead the list this time?
Well, we understand why there is so much anger and disappointment out there about its end right now. First and foremost, remember that the series had a solid episode order for a freshman series, and that meant more time to build investment. Also, remember that Hawaii-set dramas are almost always popular when it comes to creating escapism and transporting people other places. The flip side? They do often cost a good bit to put together. We do think that Rescue tried to offset that by having a cast lacking any expensive big names, but did that serve as a detriment here?
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Speaking (per TVLine) about the fall schedule and then the cancellation of this show, Michael Thorn, President of Fox Television Network and Fox Entertainment, noted that it had little to do with the budget. Instead, it was just due to the fact that series did not perform as expected:
“We love our partnership with John Wells and Warner Brothers [Television], and hope to do more with John and are doing more with Warner Brothers, but [Rescue HI-Surf] just didn’t resonate with our audience the way we needed to be able to return it.”
Ultimately, ratings do still matter the most, and this is a series that failed to find much of a mainstream audience at all. It is somewhat surprising given the fact that dramas in this ilk are often successful — take the entire 9-1-1 franchise as a good example of that. We certainly recognize why Fox gave it the commitment that they did. We would love to see another network or streaming service jump in at this point, but we’re not sure that the ratings themselves did enough to create much enthusiasm around that.
What do you think about Rescue: HI-Surf being canceled at Fox?
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