Why exactly were Clemens & Fennell fired?

[Andrew Pixley]

all good and logical points...but the bottom line, even today, is money, BUDGET. and ABC, etc...didn't have a bottomless pit for budgets, unlike their U.S. counterparts at U.S. ABC. AND once U.S. ABC pulled the plug, the show was OVER. despite countless sales and broadcasting in other regions.

Oh, absolutely. I think that from around late 1966/early 1967, ABPC are having the series made primarily for the US market with the UK market being very much a secondary consideration (akin in some respects to the approach adopted by the series financed by ATV and distributed by ITC). The moment the US network didn't renew the order, that was that.

All the best

Andrew

[Andrew Pixley]

Thanks, this makes a lot of sense. I always felt like there was probably some back-room political stuff behind it, as is usually the case in these situations. I always had a little bit of a hard time believing it was done purely for creative reasons (though I know ABC didn't love all the whimsy and surrealism either and had them tone it down slightly in the second chunk of Series 5).

There's certainly memos as far back as 1965 indicating that ABC didn't necessarily agree with some of the more excessively stylised elements that Telemen were introducing into the series. There is a significant shift in tone for the eight episodes filmed from "Death's Door" onwards... and that could well have been a move designed to appease ABC/ABPC...

All the best

Andrew

[mousemeat]

all good and logical points...but the bottom line, even today, is money, BUDGET. and ABC, etc...didn't have a bottomless pit for budgets, unlike their U.S. counterparts at U.S. ABC. AND once U.S. ABC pulled the plug, the show was OVER. despite countless sales and broadcasting in other regions.

Oh, absolutely. I think that from around late 1966/early 1967, ABPC are having the series made primarily for the US market with the UK market being very much a secondary consideration (akin in some respects to the approach adopted by the series financed by ATV and distributed by ITC). The moment the US network didn't renew the order, that was that.

All the best

Andrew

bingo, couldn't stated it..any better...I will say, the show was aired against the top rated show on U.S. TV, Rowan & Martin's Laugh in, which aired on NBC. Shame that ABC, simply didn't move the show, to a different day and time..might have played out much different, maybe even run for another season or two...Alas, we will never know...perhaps in a alternative universe..