Television News


USA Network Cancels 4400 and DEAD ZONE

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Friday, December 21, 2007
Source: Reuters/Press Release

After months of speculation on the matter, the USA Network has officially cancelled two genre dramas, The 4400 and Dead Zone. Rumors have been lively that these two shows would but cut out of the schedule but the WGA strike gave the fans some optimism that the shows would be saved, even perhaps moving to the parent network NBC. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case with either show. Dead Zone lasted for six seasons while 4400 lasted for four seasons. Both shows were aired as a sci-fi-themed block on Sunday nights for the network.

4400's Creator Scott Peters was the first to break the cancellation news on the show's official messageboard..

"We've had a great time bringing you this story and submersing you in the lives of all these incredible characters," he wrote. "I wish we could go on forever, but the party has come to an end."

USA Network had this to say on the two cancellations.

"We wish we could keep all our great shows alive forever," said Jeff Wachtel, executive vp original programming at USA. "But we feel we need to give some of our new shows a platform to grow, and it's with great sadness that we say goodbye to two shows that had a great run and helped create the resurgence of original programming on our network and on all of cable."After months of speculation, USA has officially canceled veteran sci-fi dramas "The Dead Zone" and "The 4400.

 

Thanks to Snallygaster and KlatuVaradaNecktie for passing this along to us.

 



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Comments/Responses
1 2 > >>
daforce • Dec 20, 2007, 11:28pm •
NOOOOOOOO!!!

The 4400 was just hitting its stride story-wise. I can see canceling the Dead Zone since the last two years were pretty lackluster.

I guess the only thing left worth watching on USA (for me anyway) is Burn Notice.


GMAN • Dec 21, 2007, 12:19am •
Sad day. I couldn't care less about "The 4400," but "The Dead Zone" was my favorite television series with the exception of "Lost." I hope that someone will pick that series up to, at the very least, give it two hours of closure.

narpin • Dec 21, 2007, 03:52am •
Sad news. The 4400 was one of the best shows on TV. Smart writing/cool concept. Season 4 was really good. I would love to see where season 5 would have gone.


I think NBC should rethink this. 4400 would make a great Monday night companion to Heroes. Both shows have a simular concept and could work well together.

acidsquall • Dec 21, 2007, 05:57am •
Agreed narpin. I thought the exact same thing. Since Journeyman is getting the axe, put it on right afterwards. The audience would most likely transfer and would continue to gain ratings. It is one of few shows these days, IMO, with a decent story and they seem to strive to keep consistancy. I want to know what other abilities have developed and was hoping to eventually see what exactly the human race evolved into to cause the whole thing to begin with. Sad news indeed.

KlatuVerataNecktie • Dec 21, 2007, 06:25am •
i was a pretty big fan of 4400...and was looking forward to ssn 4 on dvd since i haven't gotten cable for the past year.

i really hope this is a series that can thrive in the sci-fi afterlife w/either comics or books. even though the acting was sometimes pretty lame, the stories were almost always a lot of fun.

filmman74 • Dec 21, 2007, 08:49am •
Definately Narpin. NBC should think about picking up The 4400. It definately has a good enough fan base to hold it's own on NBC, and it was partnered up with Heroes, all the better.

That is one reason why I lost interest in TV for the longest time. All the shows I get interested in and that are actually well made get the quick fall of the axe. Though 4 seasons is not a bad run, 4400 was just finding it's own story wise.

bjjdenver • Dec 21, 2007, 09:03am •
I liked both shows.

TDZ was at a point where it needed to come to an end. The stories were losing their edge and to much waffling back and forth on their storylines. It was a pretty good run.

4400 was an awesome show, but I thought it also had lost a little direction. However, a couple of tweaks and it could have kept going for a while.

USA has produced some good shows...Monk, Psych, Burn Notice and others. I'm a little surprised 4400 isn't continuing. Move it to sci-fi and put it with Eureka.

bdd • Dec 21, 2007, 09:08am •
The 4400 should have gotten one more season, it felt like it was closing in on an end. It has been losing it's way but still was decent to watch.

metalpause • Dec 21, 2007, 09:38am •
4400 was one of the few shows that both me and my wife enjoyed watching together. What a bummer. I hope that they at least do a movie, or a mini-series, to wrap it up.

KlatuVerataNecktie • Dec 21, 2007, 09:39am •
i don't wanna be a conspiracy theorist...but USA used to LOVE having the 4400. i think NBC/Universal is simply putting all their eggs in one sci-fi drama basket now. the storylines are too similar to pair together in syndication (a virus that's killing everyone that's averted by the blood of a healer? oh yeah, 4400 did that 2 seasons ago, good job heroes. i understand that superhero fiction borrows from other superhero fiction, its just frustrating).

and thus concludes my rant. for now...

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