7 Greatest TV Shows Killed Off By The Friday Night Death Slot
Ben is a Senior Writer on the New TV team at Screen Rant. He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class B.A. Degree in English Literature and History.
Born and raised in Ireland, Ben has always had a love for storytelling in all forms of media and operates multiple projects under the name Benjamin Blogs. Ben is a comic book writer and podcast host, in addition to his work as an entertainment journalist. He has worked as both a writer and editor for Screen Rant, Collider, and other media outlets across various departments, including features, news, reviews, and interviews.
Long before streamers were canceling audience-favorite shows ahead of their time, networks had a subtle method of killing off shows: the Friday night death slot. Sometimes referred to as the graveyard slot, this refers to some time between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm on Friday nights, which was a slot that typically saw a drop in viewership as younger demographics would spend that time out of the house, with friends, or simply socializing.
Regardless of the validity of whether this slot was genuinely weaponized to get rid of shows that networks were tired of producing, either because of the costs involved or some other issue, this slot was responsible for many incredible shows seeing a drop in viewership and eventually being canceled as a result.
Now, there are a handful of shows that beat the Friday night death slot, such as Supernatural, which was moved into that period for seasons 6 and 7, Blue Bloods, which spent much of its run in the graveyard slot, and a handful of others. Today, streaming has almost entirely eradicated the Friday night death slot thanks to on-demand viewing, but we lost some serious gems before streaming took over.
Firefly
First on the chopping block, Fox had no idea what to do with Joss Whedon's complex sci-fi Western series, and in an effort to avoid spending more time on the show, the network placed Firefly in the Friday 8:00 pm slot. Building on this, they also aired the episodes out of order, with the second episode of the series premiering before the pilot, alienating the potential audience from the jump.
The series struggled to survive in this slot and with the lack of care around its release, which led to the show being unceremoniously canceled partway through the season, with only 11 of the 14 episodes being aired. Despite this, the show gained a massive cult following in the wake of the cancelation, eventually leading to the final three episodes being aired a year later, and the series got a sequel movie, Serenity.
Evidently, Firefly could have had a much larger impact if it wasn't hidden away, but despite the hurdles, the show still found its audience, proving that this is absolutely one of the best shows to become a victim of the graveyard slot and lose.
Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is a spectacularly apt exploration of teen dramedy from Paul Feig and Judd Apatow, which made it the perfect show for older teenagers and young adults to tune into. Unfortunately, with NBC scheduling the series initially on Saturday at 8:00 pm, a lot just as challenging for shows intended for younger audiences, it struggled in terms of viewership.
The network did make a few attempts to change the schedule, with one such stint seeing the show airing on Fridays at 8:00 pm, but ultimately, it felt like the executives had no clue how to get this series in front of the right demographic.
Today, Freaks and Geeks stands out as a seriously underrated show featuring some of the biggest names in modern comedy, which managed to slip under the radar upon its release. But the truth is, the show was doomed from the start thanks to poor scheduling.
Pushing Daisies
Bryan Fuller is a gifted writer who has contributed to incredible shows like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Discovery, and the sensational first season of Heroes that was widely acclaimed. However, when Fuller has been given the reins of his own shows, it seems as though the odds have been stacked against him on more than one occasion.
While Fuller's Pushing Daisies enjoyed critical success for part of the first season, the 2007 Writers strikes impacted the show, and killed all of the momentum the series had ahead of season 2. Pair this with the fact that ABC moved it to Fridays at 10:00 pm, and it's clear that the studio had given up due to the break, and chose to quietly let the show die in the graveyard slot.
As a result, this absolutely captivating series with incredible potential dropped off the radar, and fell into disregard because the audiences were no longer around to see it. And unfortunately, this wouldn't be the last time that Fuller's work was relegated to the graveyard.
Hannibal
Bryan Fuller later worked with NBC to create the critically acclaimed series, Hannibal, starring Mads Mikkelson. However, despite the acclaim, the live ratings for the show in its premiere season were not up to par with other shows on the network. As a result, season 2 was moved to a slot on Fridays at 10:00pm, which could have been disastrous.
Unusually, with Grimm, another widely beloved series that wasn't afraid to get dark, gritty, and macabre, airing alongside Hannibal, it managed to pull in just enough of an audience to secure the show for a third season. However, the death slot still did its job, and the total viewership was not enough to secure further investment, despite the widespread love and appreciation for the show.
Now, the season 3 finale wasn't initially planned as a true ending for the series, as was revealed by Fuller, but perhaps because of his previous experience with the graveyard slot, Fuller saw the writing on the wall and managed to create a conclusion that could work in either capacity, as a a season, or series finale.
Dollhouse
Joss Whedon also had another entry worth mentioning here with his high-concept sci-fi series, Dollhouse. In his capacity as a writer and director, Whedon has always been able to capture audiences' imaginations and deliver a show that keeps people coming back.
So, when Dollhouse managed to build up a cult following in a very similar vein to Firefly, despite being positioned in the Friday 9:00pm death slot, there was a sense that the show would be canceled early like Whedon's previous collaboration with Fox. However, to everyone's surprise, the show was renewed for season 2.
Unfortunately, the celebrations didn't last all that long, because during filming of season 2, the show was finally canceled, and despite those final episodes being made and aired, it left a sour taste as the promise was backtracked and became more fodder for the graveyard slot where shows go to die, or occasionally just live out their predetermined end.
Star Trek: The Original Series
While Star Trek: The Original Series is now one of the most widely influential shows in sci-fi, and the series that kicked off a sprawling franchise that has since become one of the largest in the genre, NBC got tired of the show after a handful of seasons.
Despite its legendary status, NBC moved the show to Friday at 10:00pm for its third season, which inevitably became its final season. Of course, the show's budget likely added to the reasons why the show was targeted as a prime candidate for the death slot, but evidently, the franchise had more staying power beyond this initial run.
Unfortunately, it did take some time for the show to gain momentum after it's initial cancelation, but thanks to an animated show reuniting the original cast, feature films, and an eventual spin-off, Star Trek beat the odds many years later to become a staple of the sci-fi TV landscape with several concurrent shows airing today.
Stumble
While streaming has done a lot to put an end to the existence of the Friday night death slot, there are still shows that can fall victim to this tactical move from networks even today. For example, Stumble stood out as a promising new mockumentary sitcom on NBC, but the show occupied the Friday 8:30pm slot, which likely didn't help its viewing figures.
Predictably, as has been the case with so many shows before, Stumble didn't make it past a single season in this doomed slating, leading to a cancelation after just 13 episodes.
There is enormous potential in a mockumentary done right, and with this show capturing some of the same spark of creativity and fun that had audiences falling in love with shows like The Office and Glee, it could have thrived in any other slot. Unfortunately, the Friday night death slot remains a tool that networks can use to quietly end a show due to lower than average viewership ratings.
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