It struck me a while ago that loyalty to TV shows is actively unrewarded. Shows that have a loyal following can be shoved hither-and-thither around the schedule, postponed for three weeks because of the bloody snooker, and so on—trufans will always follow. By contrast, shows that have a more casual following get punished for such manoeuvres by reduced audience.
Are there any other examples of this phenomenon?
A friend of mine once remarked that he quite enjoyed the fifth series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except for that weird snooker story arc, which he felt didn’t really add anything to the rest of the plot.
Sometimes this kind of rescheduling can have a useful side-effect, though. I religiously watched (and taped for future rewatching) the first three or so series of The X-Files. And then the BBC postponed it a few weeks because of some vitally important extra commentary on some sporting event or other. What with one thing and another, I wasn’t quite as diligent in checking the tv schedules, and I’d missed a couple of episodes by the time I realised it was back on. I was surprised by how unbothered I was at missing what I’d got used to thinking of as one of my favourite programmes, and it made me reconsider whether I actually enjoyed watching it any more. I pretty much gave up on it a couple of episodes later, thus freeing up 45 minutes every week for something more interesting.