Home TV News What Got ‘Dark Matter’ Cancelled, And What You Can Do To Help

What Got ‘Dark Matter’ Cancelled, And What You Can Do To Help

by Dave Elliott
What Got 'Dark Matter' Cancelled, And What You Can Do To Help

What Got ‘Dark Matter’ Cancelled, And What You Can Do To Help

A few days ago, we heard that US network SYFY had dropped the sci-fi show Dark Matter after 3 seasons. Now, show creator Joseph Mallozzi has created a blog post explaining a bit more about what happened and suggests a few things you can do to help, potentially, save it.

Whilst the show had seen a small dip in ratings (around 10%), that’s not uncommon for a show in its 3rd season, and it was better than the reported industry average of 25%. Plus it was doing well on DVR in key demographics, leaving Mallozzi “cautiously optimistic about a renewal.” The big hurdle is something we’ve talked about on the site before – They are an ‘acquisition’ by SYFY, not an original series, so it’s a show made by an outside studio, not made internally by SYFY. That means it’s cheaper for the network upfront, as they don’t have the expense of producing the series and are just buying the end product. However, that also means when it comes to selling the show on to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon or Hulu – or to us internationally – SYFY doesn’t get any money.

Historically, acquisition vs. network owned, original content has been a smaller issue, as the majority of money the network made came from advertising. A show is popular, the more people watch, the more you charge for advertising. But that’s shifting… and shifting quickly.

We saw the start of this change after the usual May bloodbath of renewals and cancellations. A number of shows which had higher ratings on a network, but were acquisitions, were dropped in favour of network owned, original content. For example, during CBS’s Upfront presentation of renewals in May, CBS Chairman Les Moonves commented that “for the first time, less than 50% of the company’s revenue comes from advertising vs more than 70% several years ago.” He continues to say that most of the other 50% is “coming from CBS-owned programming that airs elsewhere. There have been more changes over the last year than there have been in a decade.” And that’s the issue. It all comes down to what makes the network more money. Much as I would love to think tv networks are purely driven by their creative output, at the end of the day, they are businesses.

After having been told by SYFY that ‘Dark Matter’ was still considered an “on the bubble” show despite their solid ratings, Mallozzi offered to fly from Canada (where the show is made) down to LA and pitch them his ideas for season 4. They said not to bother as “the decision would not be based on the show’s creative, so there was no point in going down to pitch.” If it’s not a creative decision, it’s a financial one, and there’s only so much he can do to help with that. As he says, they ran “a very tight ship – producing on the page and running a highly efficient production. This way, we made sure that as much of the money we had ended up onscreen.” When you’re creating a sci-fi show, there’s only so much trimming you can do to push down production costs. He even offered to create a shortened 6 episode final season to close of the story (as best as possible) for fans. Harshly, SYFY said no.

Unfortunately, ‘Dark Matter’ appears to have got caught in this wave sweeping through US network tv, which is that they are now making more money from shows which they own than advertising on shows which they buy in. So where does that leave fans?

Well, there are a few things fans can do to help keep ‘Dark Matter’ on the air. Whilst Mallozzi does say it’s technically possible to sell the show to another network or streaming service, he comments “finding someone to step in and take SYFY’s place is easier said than done.” One of the advantages of streaming services like Netflix and Amazon is that they are less concerned about ratings, and more about coverage online. If you’re tweeting and Facebooking about how great a show is, and it’s on Netflix, it’s free PR showing how great their service is, which leads to more people signing up.

One thing you can do is follow this link, and suggest to Netflix that they pick up the show. The other thing you can do is make some noise! Tweet at SYFY’s Twitter account and Facebook page. Tweet at Netflix and Amazon to pick up the show. “Do your part by keeping Dark Matter alive,” says Mallozzi “Tweet, retweet, post and respond! Let ’em know what they’re missing!”

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