Why was this cancelled so soon?
I was twelve and every kid I knew watched it. The show was also very much in popular culture.
Friends help you move, real friends help you move a body.
[deleted]
there was a comic book called mighty samson that was pretty similar to this...also there is a lot of star wars and conan in the show
I think there was only like 13 episodes. Wish they would have made a few more seasons.
share[deleted]
Here's the answer from Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.
Thundarr.com: What's the story behind Thundarr's move from ABC to NBC? Why weren't any new episodes
produced after the move?
Ken Spears: First, let me say that when ABC cancelled Thundarr, we had excellent ratings. And when the news hit the
streets, we received hundreds of letters from viewers telling us how much they will miss the show and asking why it was
going off the air. Incredibly, many of the letters were signed by entire school classes!
Literally hundreds of fans, from grade schools, high schools, and even from prestigious universities like Stanford were
writing in! Without a doubt, Thundarr had a huge teenage and adult following.
Unfortunately, NBC only wanted the show for re-run purposes, feeling the show was so strong that the viewers would
watch the originals over and over again.
Joe Ruby: The re-runs had good ratings and we got a development deal to add a couple of kids to the show. But eventually,
I heard it was rejected because of the so-called "violent nature" of the show.
Here's the link to the rest of the interview.
http://www.thundarr.com/media/interview.html
share
It's a shame when the executives take the "We don't like it, so we're going to cancel it" approach. It doesn't matter that it's popular with others; that it does the job done by bringing in the ratings. The powers that be personally don't like the show's content and so they cancel it. It's like a boss firing a good employee because they don't like their haircut. It's also a shame that NBC didn't decide to continue the series.
share[deleted]
ABC clearly wilted to the Brent Bozell's of the day...I remember shows like 'Thundarr' and 'Voyagers' getting picked on a lot for being 'too violent' -- this is why you get things like 'humourous' side kicks, 'Scrappy Doo', and shows trying to have a morality lession every episode. Fortunately those 'morality' tips keps shows like GI JOE and Transformers on a bit longer...you'd get 22.5 mins of action and story and a 30 second safety tip.
shareMaybe just as well they didn't do episodes with cute kids added to the regular cast.
Live through the Shadow Tear at the Shadow Hate in the Shadow and Love in your Shadowy Life
https://www.looper.com/198784/the-real-reason-these-popular-80s-cartoons-were-canceled/
Joe Ruby, half the namesake of Ruby-Spears, has his own ideas about why: "It was not canceled from a lack of ratings, I'll tell you that right off the top. It was canceled, I guess, because it was too violent or something like that."share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpnBtlnm5eA
That may well have been part of it, but there was an even bigger factor in play: Garry Marshall wanted its slot. Marshall oversaw ABC's three biggest shows, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy – what he wanted, the network worked to give him. Marshall wanted animated versions of his shows, to cover every audience. To make room for Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Thundarr was kicked from the airwaves.
https://www.newsfromme.com/2003/03/05/live-by-the-sword/
Fonz and the Happy Days Gang was gone one year later, and a series of shows based on other Marshall properties took its place. None did as well as Thundarr. Alas, poor barbarian — we hardly knew ye.
this one site that has it shows a short 2nd season, 8 episodes.
https://watchseriesfree.to/serie/Thundarr_the_Barbarian