The TV Column

A&E's arresting Longmire cancellation riles fans

Robert Taylor starred as Sheriff Walt Longmire in the modern Western, Longmire. A&E has canceled the series after three seasons.
Robert Taylor starred as Sheriff Walt Longmire in the modern Western, Longmire. A&E has canceled the series after three seasons.

For those who still didn't get the memo, here it is one more time: A&E has canceled Longmire after three seasons.

I've reported it before, but there are always those who miss the note. As the word slowly gets around, I get emails:

"Today you referred to the Longmire series as the 'late, lamented Longmire.' Did you mean that Longmire was not renewed? I hope not, as it is one of my favorites, and the last episode gave me hope that Longmire was going to find love and maybe shave!" -- Laura W.

"I was just reading your column in the paper, so is Longmire not coming back for another season? I loved that show except for the deputy -- can't think of her name to save my life right now [Katee Sackhoff as Victoria "Vic" Moretti] -- with her unbuttoned work shirts." -- Brenda D.

"I was fired up on hearing of the Longmire cancellation. I am still holding a grudge at A&E over The Glades cliffhanger cancellation. I tried to voice my disappointment and frustration on their feedback page [but] a bar crosses over and keeps me from sending it. I am sure they have been bombarded with upset fans." -- Sandy H.

And that's just a sampling. There were many more. It's like this every time a popular show gets canned.

Viewers have grown used to the broadcast networks and cable outfits pulling the plug with increasing haste in recent years, but Longmire's demise especially seems to have touched a nerve. That's because the series was a ratings success by cable standards -- an average of 5.6 million viewers. That, believe it or not, is more viewers than the much-honored Mad Men on AMC and the critics' darling Justified on FX.

But those shows have a younger audience and a younger audience translates to more advertising money. For example, a 30-second commercial on Longmire costs an average of $31,300. The same commercial on Mad Men was $69,500 last season. Why? Advertisers covet the 18-to-49 demographic.

Still, Longmire was the second most popular show on A&E after Duck Dynasty. But sometimes it's not just about the numbers.

Older viewers loved Robert Taylor as the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyo., because he was a throwback to the iconic lawmen of classic Westerns so popular when they were kids.

That includes me. In the 1959-60 season (when I was 11), there were 26 (!) Westerns in prime time. Imagine all those oaters in a TV universe with only three channels instead of 160.

Walt Longmire may have reminded viewers of their childhood heroes on such shows as Gunsmoke (Matt Dillon), The Rifleman (Lucas McCain), Wanted: Dead or Alive (Josh Randall), Bonanza (the entire Cartwright clan), Rawhide (Rowdy Yates), Cheyenne (Cheyenne Bodie) and The Rebel (Johnny Yuma).

And, yes, Longmire ended on a cliffhanger -- a distant shotgun blast out on the skeet range that could have meant several things or nothing. Did Barlow actually gun down his own son? We may never find out.

Cliffhangers are nothing unusual on TV, but they're especially frustrating when the producers haven't been informed whether they'll be coming back. Loyal viewers aren't given closure. Don't forget, it was also A&E that canned The Glades after four seasons and left our hero, Jim Longworth (Matt Passmore), shot twice in the chest and bleeding out on the floor.

Even though Longmire's ratings had slipped a bit in Season 3, that's not why A&E canceled the show. Bottom line: Follow the money.

1.) The audience for Longmire skewed older. The median age was 60.

2.) Scripted dramas are extremely expensive (and get more so the longer they are on) and A&E is shifting away from them in favor of cheaper, low-brow "unscripted" shows such as Storage Wars, Cement Heads, Big Smo, Love Prison, Bad Ink and Epic Ink.

In A&E's defense, cable channels rebrand and tweak their programming all the time. TLC, after all, used to be The Learning Channel. Not so much anymore. CourtTV is now truTV; Outdoor Life Network is now Versus; Military Channel is now American Heroes; and Discovery Home is now Planet Green.

3.) Most importantly, the real money to be made on a TV series happens when a network owns the program. A&E did not own Longmire and that was the final nail in the coffin.

There is one small glimmer of hope. Series owner Warner Horizon Television is shopping the show around to other networks such as USA. But so far there appears to be no takers.

Some readers have asked for a mailing address where they can vent. Here you go. Be polite:

A&E Television Networks, LLC

235 E. 45th St.

New York, N.Y. 10017

Programming note: NBC will air a second "special preview" of the pilot of its new comedy-drama The Mysteries of Laura at 9 p.m. today. The series, starring Debra Messing as an NYPD homicide detective, officially premieres (with episode No. 2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Weekend on 09/18/2014

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