Good Idea! Now find a better one.

There have been a few, and I do mean a few, new TV shows out there that we really enjoyed only to have them viciously and capriciously cancelled simply because there weren’t enough viewers tuning in! Poppycock!

Take the show Eyes for example. Here is the description from TV.com:

Eyes was a suspenseful one-hour, midseason drama series full of risks, bluffs, blackmail and intrigue. If someone steals $100 from you, call the police. If they steal $100,000, call the FBI. But if you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and your chief financial officer embezzles $100 million on your watch, call Judd Risk Management.

Compelling stuff? Perhaps. The real question is why produce 13 episodes and only ever air 5? As an outsider looking in, it appears they simply cut their losses. A good idea by any measure. Why send good money after bad? They’re looking for shows that produce, not shows that require subsidies. Applause all around; Ladies. Gents, ABC investors, you did well.

I say Poppycock a second time. I argue that a failed show is an opportunity to take larger risks, not a reason to be shy.

ABC filmed 13 episodes at once becasue of simple logistics. You need to have the entire cast together to film one episode. Reassembling the cast and recreating the sets can’t be done on a whim so you don’t film here and there, you film whole seasons at once.

So the production is a sunk cost. Fine. And the advertising revenue didn’t materialize. Fine. But that’s no reason to leave revenue on the table. There are still customers out there waiting for you to satisfy them - suck it up and find a way.

So, how is a failed show like this an opportunity? Use it to test the distribution methods and pricing schemes you’re afraid to try out on your most popular content. DVD, HD-DVD, digital downloads, Post-It note flipbooks that play audio, or special partnerships with Netflix, iTunes and whoever else.

When you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain, Go Big or Go Home.