Anna Daniels
Based on the long running comic strip, Garfield and Friends was a massive success worldwide and featured some of the best animation of its era. The show lasted seven seasons — an eternity in 80s cartoon years — before cancellation. The reason for this cancellation? Budget cuts due to a changing TV landscape.
The show was expensive to produce, but the producers figured it was worth it — selling the show to CBS, plus syndication across the country, let them charge a high license fee and rake in profits. The success upped the license fee each year, and eventually CBS wanted to renegotiate.
When Garfield and Friends premiered, cartoons aired almost exclusively on CBS, ABC, and NBC. As the series went on, however, Fox became viable, and entire channels dedicated to cartoons like Cartoon Network popped up. More places to watch cartoons meant that the audience was spreading thinner, which meant networks became stingier.
CBS asked the producers to cut the show’s budget by two-thirds, figuring that they made enough in syndication to handle a smaller cash flow. The producers did the math and determined it wouldn’t work — syndication wasn’t going to cover the deficit costs, and the show was doing well enough in reruns. Thus, the show was canceled after mutual agreement.
Written by: Looper
