When series are canceled in the current TV era, it is usually due to low streaming viewing figures. Or even for ominous reasons visible only to the management of the responsible portal. The fact that series do not continue because they lose out in direct competition with other formats is (largely) something from the time of purely linear TV consumption.
But at the same time, a long line of series emerged that had absolutely nothing to do with each other and yet had a drastic influence on each other. One of the most prominent examples: The unfortunate interaction between the popular sitcom “Friends“ and the cult format of the crime thriller “Murder is her hobby“. Because it was Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross who stole Jessica Fletcher’s job as a regular homicide detective!
The newcomers harm the great lady of the crime story
When the sitcom sensation “Friends” began its triumphant run in September 1994, “Murder is Her Hobby” was already in its eleventh season. But The series about young adults who prefer to meet in a New York cafe immediately overtook the crime thriller cult: in the list of most watched formats during the 94/95 TV season, the disparate series took eighth place.
Theoretically, this could make no difference to those responsible; after all, the formats stayed out of each other’s way. The regular program for “Friends” was on Thursday evenings, while “Murder is your hobby” was on Sunday evenings. However, the management of the CBS broadcaster responsible for ‘Murder is your hobby’ came up with a daring plan:
Because the channel as a whole was outclassed by competitor NBC, which broadcast ‘Friends’, CBS decided to go on the attack. Season twelve of “Murder is your hobby” would move to the Thursday evenings of the 95/96 TV season – as a direct counter-program to “Friends”!
The intention was to torpedo the second season of the surprising success with the long-standing series classic. This arrogance came before the fall: “Friends” continued to expand its audience, “Murder is Her Hobby” collapsed.
In the previous TV season, both series reached an average of more than 15 million viewers per episode, now ‘Friends’ climbed to 18.7 million, while ‘Murder is their hobby’ remained below the average of ten million fans per episode.
Due to this massive loss of popularity, CBS took a drastic step and canceled “Murder is Her Hobby.” So it was the popularity of the Central Perk gang that brought acting legend Angela Lansbury’s parade format to a halt. Or, if you want to put it more favorably compared to ‘Friends’: the fact that Lansbury as crime writer Jessica Fletcher did not regularly continue to solve murder cases was due to the aggressiveness of the CBS bosses.
Jessica Fletcher isn’t just retiring
During the twelfth season, the crew of ‘Murder is her hobby’ responded to the ratings battle with ‘Friends’: they produced an episode in which Jessica Fletcher investigates on the set of a series that bears striking similarities to ‘Friends’. . And to make the parallels even clearer, the episode was originally called “Murder Among Friends.”
The episode includes a few swipes at “Friends.” Jessica Fletcher is surprised that a series about twentysomethings who gossip about their sex lives can be so popular. Additionally, the characters in the series-within-the-series called “Buds” are exaggerated, slightly more annoying versions of the main “Friends” characters.
However, that of Vincent McEveety The staged episode “Murder is Their Hobby” is not an insulted attack on “Friends.” There is also a self-deprecating admission that ‘Murder is your hobby’ is an old format and that audiences are looking for fresh ideas.
And Fletcher is ultimately showered with love and respect from the cast of “Buds,” which visibly flatters her. It’s therefore easy to interpret the episode as a subtle pushback against CBS for starting the ratings war in the first place. And There was at least some consolation for all fans of Angela Lansbury’s starring role:
After the series was canceled, the character returned to the screen for four television films. Yet ‘Friends’ did not last: the TV films appeared in 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2003 – ‘Friends’ in turn only ended in 2004.