The Five Stages of Beloved TV Show Cancellation Grief

by Roxane Gay · June 23, 2015

Denial: This isn’t possible. Doesn’t the network know who is watching this show? Don’t they understand genius? This is not possible. We have to save our show. Let’s start a campaign, hashtag save my show that I and tens of other people watch.

Anger: Television is trash.

Bargaining: Maybe Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon will resurrect the show.

Depression: I will never watch television again. Thank God for books.

Acceptance: We’ll always have the DVDs. And the recaps. And the fan fiction. And Quantico looks interesting.

Roxane Gay is the editor of The Butter.


47 Comments

  2. logicbutton +54

    “…anyway that’s the story of how I joined the FBI” -Roxane, sometime in the future

  5. ppyajunebug +50

    OKAY BUT WHAT IF AMAZON ACTUALLY PICKS IT UP, THEY ALREADY HAVE A STREAMING DEAL

    why can’t bryan fuller have nice things

  6. decembrian +9

    I was sad but not surprised when I saw the news about Hannibal. I loved it, but often wondered how the show even got on network TV given the baroque violence in every episode and increasing forays into gorgeous, plotless artiness. Fortunately, Fuller has confirmed that this season was written to provide a sense of closure in case the show got canceled.

    1. winterbymorning +11

      I wouldn’t say that any of it was plotless. Given how good the show has been about weaving together plot points and dialogues from all the other Hannibal Lector books and movies, I trust Fuller and the writing staff to tie everything together in a way that makes sense.

    2. catcet +4

      Oh thank god! After the last two seasons’ cliffhangers, I was worried the whole series might end with everyone bleeding on the floor again.

  7. winterbymorning +43

    This is TOO SOON, Roxane, I am genuinely upset that Hannibal got canceled. My friend texted me about it yesterday and I responded, “Why would you make up such a horrible lie” but then I googled it and it was true. It was a good thing I was already home sick because I would have gotten the vapours from the terrible news.

    I am clinging to every shred of hope that another distributor might pick it up (also: can you imagine Hannibal on a platform that does not have to listen to the FCC or any Standards & Practices censor?).

    Also, this:

    “Cancel my show, NBC? Fine, but the rest of what’s airing is going to be SO HOMOEROTIC!”

    … I wonder if Fuller upped the Hannibal/Will subtext to overt text because he knew it was getting canceled or whether it got canceled because of how strong the shipping vibes have been so far in season 3.

    1. ppyajunebug +16

      I’m almost 100% sure that he did that. It’s exactly in Bryan’s wheelhouse and I love him for it.

      1. Rillquiet +12

        I think he said that if actual intercourse is a 10 on the seduction scale, this’ll be an 8. What that means in terms of sexytimes/lengthy meaningful gazes/tender nibbling remains to be seen.

        2. femaelstrom +4

          DeLaurentiis Co affirmed that if 9 is a declaration of love and 10 is sex, it’s an 8. Bryan also tweeted that there’s an “almost lip-lock” this season. In other news, I’m dying of all of this.

          1. winterbymorning +4

            Is this a 1 to 10 scale? What are 1 to 8 if it’s only at 9 that you get to a declaration of love? I mean by that standard they’ve got to be at a 6 or 7 already after all the “He sent you his heart” and “Forgiveness is like love” stuff we’ve had in the 3 episodes so far.

          2. Unreadaethel +3

            And after “why did you follow him?” *romantic music swells* “I’m only myself when I’m with him.”

            I MEAN, COME ON.

            Re: winterbymorning and the Hannibal homoeroticism scale.

    4. Christin +5

      “also: can you imagine Hannibal on a platform that does not have to listen to the FCC or any Standards & Practices censor?”

      Yes and it will get very bad very quickly, tipping in Argento territory. Personally, the balance they’ve struck is perfect. WRT the violence. If that means Hannigram gets canon and explcit then sign me up.

    5. Unreadaethel +9

      “If you’d given me a season 4, I might have kept it at incredibly frustrating levels of subtext. But now, all bets are off! I’m gonna make them kiss.”

      1. femaelstrom +16

        “The dicks are gonna touch. What are you gonna do about it? You already canceled the show ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”

      1. gefthetalkingmongoose +7

        If you’re not reading Janice Poon’s “Feeding Hannibal” blog, it’s tremendous. She’s the food stylist for Hannibal, and she really gets deep into talking about her work in the context of the show. She doesn’t just prepare and plate the food, but actually does most of the conceptualizing of the dishes based on her eeeeextensive culinary-history knowledge. Great stuff! (and there’s some serious cooking / food porn in there, too — yikes)
        http://janicepoonart.blogspot.com/

  9. amelia +11

    I was so overjoyed that it got picked up for a third season because it meant that the 2 season curse of Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies. How could you betray me like this NBC?

  11. actualmeg +2

    I’ve been seeing tweets to the effect that Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu have already been approached, but honestly I don’t think anyone has a damn clue what’s going on yet.

    …bleh, I’m obviously still in the denial stage.

    1. actualmeg +16

      okay i am only referring to will as “sad beard dog man” from this point forward

      1. femaelstrom +8

        I call him “sweaty dad.” Hannibal is “fancy dad.” Anthony Dimmond (RIP) was “scarf dad”

        1. winterbymorning +6

          Dimmond was cute but had absolutely no self-preservation instinct, which made it really hard to root for him. I am grateful to him for “Is this that kind of party?” alone, but seriously, he tried to blackmail Hannibal after seeing Hannibal’s face turn into THE DEVIL’S during his lecture, come on, man.

  13. thewhelk +19

    WE HAVE SO MANY APPROPAITE GIFS FOR FEELING GUTTED

    on one hand, if it ends at three then it ends where Book!Will’s story ends and it was always tweeting on the brink of cancellation and it’s a miracle such a visual, abstract and freaking weird show lasted this long …

    BUT DAMNIT NO ITS NOT OVER TIL THEY KISS, OR KILL EACH OTHER, OR BOTH.

    (it’s like the Velvet Underground, like a thousand people watch this show but they’re all TV critics…)

    WITHOUT THIS SHOW ILL HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DRESS MYSELF.

  14. middlemarch +23

    BUT WHERE CAN I WATCH MADS MIKKELSEN SAYING REALLY GAY THINGS NOOOW????????? #ThatKindOfParty

  15. femaelstrom +5

    I almost took the day off work today, I’m that upset. The only thing that got me out of bed was the fact that Hannigram is more or less confirmed for canon.

  16. ktamas2 +13

    40 comments and not one complaining about Firefly being cancelled?

    I am disappointed in every single one of you.

  17. KTamas

    40 comments and not one complaining about Firefly being cancelled?

    I am disappointed in every single one of you.

    1. some Jack or other +3

      I still haven’t moved on from Farscape, but then Farscape was actually good.

  19. anotherkate_sf +2

    My fellow Fannibals! So glad to have found you, so sad about cancellation. But tumblr has had lots of good tips on tweeting, who to contact, etc. to try and get the show moved to another network. I have faith. And if Firefly and Veronica Mars can both get movies made, I know we can.

    1. IonCracker +1

      Another network would be great. Or Netflix. I’ll subscribe just to watch Hannibal if they pick it up!