Kathy Bates re: NBC and "Harry's Law": "They treated us like shit, they ignored our audience and they got exactly what they deserved."
— TV Media Insights (@TVMediaInsights) August 2, 2013
Kathy Bates on Harry's Law Cancellation - They Treated us like Shit
Aug 2, 2013
Cancelled Shows
This is what Kathy Bates had to say at the FX TCA during her AHS session when asked about NBC.
LOL, Kathy.
ReplyDeleteGO KATHY BATES
ReplyDeleteLove Kathy Bates, telling it like it is.
ReplyDeleteNo. the A18-49 ignored her show. And Nowadays if you aren't bringing in that demo or through internet/ social media then you get cancelled.
ReplyDeleteThat show was doing neither but bringing in people 50 and older.
She has enough money to be able to fund the making of the show herself I don't see why NBC which is a business not a charity should have to fork out a lot of money for a product that wasn't making them a good return.
ReplyDeleteVote me down all you want but A18-49 is the demo you live and die by in network television.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't NBC. Blame the advertisers if you want to point fingers. They are the ones who were not paying for the demo that showed up for Harry's Law. My guess is that NBC would have loved for it to return if it made sense business-wise. Obviously it didn't.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. People continually forget that 1. TV is a business and 2. viewers are NOT their client. Their client is advertisers so people should stop blaming the networks and start blaming the advertisers who refuse to pay for anything but a very narrow focus of viewers. People continually talk about a show "deserving" to be renewed because they like it. Business doesn't work like that. If a product line doesn't make money, they go with something that will. It's certainly not a personal attack by the network.
ReplyDeleteWell... she's not wrong.
ReplyDeleteNBC has the right to cancel the show whenever they want if the ratings & demo aren't good. It's purely business.
ReplyDeleteThey should not however, treat the cast and crew badly. THAT is the problem. You can fire someone while trating them like shit or while treating them like human beings.
So? That is the lame ass excuse to treat like SHIT the people who made the show ?!? What kind of twisted mind thinks like that: MONEY MONEY MONEY above all - it is that kind of attitude that drives humanity to its worst.
ReplyDeleteYou can be civilized about dismissing a show that does not profit the way you expected.. not abhorrent and insensitively... And yes, I meant to be rude.
Either way, you should not generalize "rating sucks equals cancelled show" because, you see, Hannibal (an NBC's show) did not do really well and yet was renewed. So, bear in mind that rating is important, but it is not ALL that matters. Even less concerning how you treat the people who worked for you (it is really NOT the same thing; if you failed to see Kathy Bates' point, I feel sorry for you).
GO KATHY, Towanda will be forever inside you!!
ReplyDeleteYet she said: "They treated us like shit(...)".. You didn't see the main reason she got upset in the first place.. Of course she knows it is business. She's been out there for a long time and knows how it works. If she complained, well, of course it is because something stank... and that is the way the cast/crew/showrunners were treated: like shit..
ReplyDeleteOne word for you: Fringe.
ReplyDeleteEverything I have read from Kathy Bates was that she expected NBC to renew the show because of the viewers and was angry when they didn't. Her main points in every interview I saw was that she was upset that older viewers did not matter as much as viewers in the 18-49 age group. She railed at how unfair that was. (By the way, I agree.) I have never one seen anything ELSE written about why she was upset with NBC. From all accounts, she seemed pretty happy before the show was cancelled. Therefore based on this, it seems like her biggest issue is that NBC cancelled her show because there weren't enough of the right kind of viewers to make it profitable.
ReplyDeleteIf you have interviews and facts that show that NBC were being hostile to the cast and crew and treated them intolerably, then please post the links. I would be very interested to see them and it could change my views. However if there are no links, then my position remains. When she said they disrespected them, it is clear to me that the context was they disrespected them by cancelling the show. She said, “I think they treated us like shit. They kicked us to the curb. They disrespected us; they disrespected our 7-11 million viewers. I think they’re getting what they deserve this year, Thank you.” The disrespect is linked to kicking them to the curb, which is the cancellation even though they had great viewer numbers but lousy demos. No matter how unfair the situation seems that only certain viewers really count when it comes to renewing a show, Kathy Bates' problem is not with NBC but with the advertisers. They are the ones that pay premium dollars for younger viewers. Again it is a business, and one where NBC does not regulate how much people will pay them. It is the system that treated her shabbily not NBC personally based on these facts.
Where, besides this out of context quote, have you seen that NBC treated the cast and crew badly? I have only seen complaints that they canceled the show and by doing so disrespected the hard work the cast and crew put in and the viewers over 49 that didn't fit in the right demo.
ReplyDeleteRatings wise, Fringe should have been canceled after season 3. That is true. The fact that it wasn't meant that WB offered it to FOX for a steal for reasons only Warner Brothers know. It had to pay off somewhere for WB, because FOX sure wasn't paying for it to lose them money.
ReplyDeleteWell, coming from someone who has been in business so many years I can't see her reasoning, as solely as you seem so convicted to be, entirely based on this argument - there is more to it for her to state what and how she did it. (Shit that happens) behind the curtains or (shit hidden) under the tapestry, you can choose what kind of metaphor you'd rather use. That is why there is "no link" and "lack of facts".
ReplyDeleteBut that is the point, isn't it? Ratings wise...
ReplyDeleteYes, business is all about "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY," to quote you. NBC executives have to answer to their shareholders and board and the bottom line is money. Justin is simply stating a fact. There is no need to be rude to him. The fact that you felt you needed to makes me feel sorry for you.
ReplyDeleteHannibal is a critically acclaimed show that can be used as schedule spackle in a network that needs to fill holes. It also does not have to pay the salary of a huge star. Quite frankly, I expect that Kathy Bates' salary was more expensive than anyone on Hannibal by a lot. Additionally, Hannibal has done well with social media buzz and debuted in April after almost all shows slump in ratings. If it gets such poor ratings within the actual TV season, then I would expect to see it cancelled as well.
Jesus Dahne, Kathy is no little girl; if she expressed that NBC deserved to fail it means that the way they treated the show did not go smoothly nor in a respectful way.
ReplyDeleteYou missed entirely the point of my statement. Pay attention before posting and quoting me in a way that makes me sound stupid. I did not say that money is not important, I said and I quote myself:
ReplyDelete"You can be civilized about dismissing a show that does not profit the way you expected.. not abhorrent and insensitively."
I have no doubt she feels misused. She has stated that time and again but always in the context of her show being cancelled. I also think that she felt embarrassed when they canceled Harry's Law because she publicly called out a ratings site that predicted they would. She was also upset because she felt people were saying older TV viewers were not important but younger viewers were. That is a valid point but NBC has nothing to do with this.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem if you chose to think that this has comment has more to do with other things than ratings. The point is that we do NOT know anything to the contrary and for you to judge people commenting on the facts here, saying "that kind of attitude drives...humanity to its worst" and admitting to being rude to others is inappropriate. Furthermore it does nothing to help your argument.
The point is that WB offered it at a price that made it profitable to the network that aired it. If Harry's Law had been profitable to NBC, it would definitely been renewed.
ReplyDeleteReally? Feel free to think like that, and I am free to think like I do. It is not about "helping my argument". I just can't see Kathy Bates being so naïve to the point of stating in the way she did solely based on the facts available to the general public.
ReplyDeleteShe is making the point that NBC would have done better this season if they had renewed Harry's Law and she's right. NBC probably would have had better ratings and viewer numbers if they had kept Harry's Law as schedule spackle.
ReplyDeleteYou missed my point, which was you were rude to Justin for absolutely no reason.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Dahne, one day a reality shock will knock on your house.
ReplyDeleteI was rude to him because he was blunt about it.. just like a machine. And You and I pointed out that Rating is not ALL that matters...
ReplyDeletenbc has a tendency to cancel shows without giving too much time .i dont recall nbc has done a sucesfull drama or sitcom after friends.in tca nbc told to audience that "flat is the new up".:(
ReplyDeletei would say sony studios r the best in business they fight for their shows like hell eg drop dead diva came up from the cancellation,happy endings they almost pulled off that too.
ReplyDeleteThis is going off-track but I found "Hannibal" really boring too with the first half of the season... but give it a second look. The later episodes are really compelling stuff.
ReplyDeleteSo being rude to someone who is blunt and straightforward about their opinion is fine?
ReplyDeleteShe's so candid.... Love her!
ReplyDeleteGood to know. Thanks. I will check it out again.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Sony does have a reputation of doing whatever it takes to get their shows to syndication levels. It makes for happy fans and of course syndication dollars are where the real money is at for the studio.
ReplyDeleteLOL @ Kathy Bates laying down the law. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe way he said what he said was rude too and seems like you failed to realize it.
ReplyDeleteAbout your question: no, it is not fine. However, sometimes you need to polarize to make your point.
I stand by my remark: there are ways and ways of firing people. I doubt that an experienced actress such as Kathy Bates would be saying that they trated them like shit if they had shut down the show in a respectful way. Many times we hear that TV execs do treat cast and crew like crap when a show is not soaring in the ratings. I get it that it is a business, but tv execs souldn't go all Merc Lapidus* on their employees.
ReplyDelete* Episodes reference.
I love Kathy Bates as an actress, but the comments she made about the business side of TV sounded a bit naive in overestimating the importance of viewers compared to the demo. I think it came as a shock to her that she could have one of the most viewed shows on the network and still not be renewed because the demos weren't there.
ReplyDeleteEven if the poster was rude - they weren't rude about you personally. You're the one who did that and your failure to realise that is telling.
ReplyDeletei see these kinda problems only in nbc ,why is that ???is it because of n/w doesnt have faith on their show?
ReplyDeletethis kinda pblm happened to 90210 actors where they learned the show was cancelled from twitter.i just think there should be a priority for them to know first.they put a lot of work for every show.this goes to every n/w
ReplyDeleteShame on me for not being so nice, but my definition of rudeness is way different from yours. I was incisive, I'll give you that.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bit retarded I have to say. How can't she understand that the show was not being profitable hence it had to be canceled? It is not that hard. Whatevs.
ReplyDeleteI turned to NBC because of thier comedy & drama after CBS dicked the fans & cancelled CSI Miami. I was hurt when NBC cancelled so many shows all at once. Harry's Law is one of the shows I enjoyed on NBC. Not only did they dick Harry's Law, but there was some great comedy shows (In My Entitled Opinion- IMEO)that were dicked by NBC. FOr the mto join the reality world is just a waste of local television
ReplyDeleteWell they left some broken-hearted fans in their wake. My husband and I LOVED that show and Kathy is a real gem.
ReplyDeleteThe 18-49 group have enough crap on TV to keep them entertained. Stuff I wouldn't waste my time on. My age group has money too and we like good television. Sadly there isn't enough of THAT around any more...