Hello!
It's hard to look at a show you love from a distance, sometimes. If I went by the positive word of Sanctuary's fans and creators, the show ought to have 5 more seasons guaranteed!
Here's some thoughts on why Sanctuary isn't more popular, which doesn't necessarily speak to quality.
*Network,Scheduling: the biggest reason affecting viewers. It ran after wrestling on Friday nights, and when moved to Monday in Season 3, lost close to 50% of its audience. That's tough on any show, even one skillfully produced on a modest budget.
*Sanctuary is a mythology show: it's about monsters, "Abnormals" and about stigma and tolerance. It's partly serialized, and to understand the show you need to watch previous seasons. A first time viewer could have a hard time following the show. In a nutshell: it's a quirky, cult show whose themes don't relate well to mass audiences. It's not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where fighting vampires is pop culture and going to high school is relatable.
* War on Terror: Sanctuary's references to terrorism and genocide, made the show more serious than usual, and I think the subject is painful given it has been analyzed closely for a decade now. It's good that Sanctuary weaves important issues into the show, but this dominated Season 4.
*No central antagonist: The threats that SCIU and the Hollow Earth tribes posed were diffuse, and lacked urgency, through most of the season.
*Lost its Ensemble-ness: If you like a sense of family, and ensemble shows, by Season 4, characters were dropped or had limited showtime (Kate, Druitt, Henry to a degree). The show also focused more on its leads (Magnus, Will), who were fighting each other a lot of the time in Season 4.
I'm not sure how to make a mythology show more accessible to a larger audience. In the past, this meant dumbing down a show (i.e. mindless action), which I'm sure no one wants Sanctuary to do. Perhaps there's just a limitation to what a cult show like Sanctuary can do.
It's hard to look at a show you love from a distance, sometimes. If I went by the positive word of Sanctuary's fans and creators, the show ought to have 5 more seasons guaranteed!
Here's some thoughts on why Sanctuary isn't more popular, which doesn't necessarily speak to quality.
*Network,Scheduling: the biggest reason affecting viewers. It ran after wrestling on Friday nights, and when moved to Monday in Season 3, lost close to 50% of its audience. That's tough on any show, even one skillfully produced on a modest budget.
*Sanctuary is a mythology show: it's about monsters, "Abnormals" and about stigma and tolerance. It's partly serialized, and to understand the show you need to watch previous seasons. A first time viewer could have a hard time following the show. In a nutshell: it's a quirky, cult show whose themes don't relate well to mass audiences. It's not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where fighting vampires is pop culture and going to high school is relatable.
* War on Terror: Sanctuary's references to terrorism and genocide, made the show more serious than usual, and I think the subject is painful given it has been analyzed closely for a decade now. It's good that Sanctuary weaves important issues into the show, but this dominated Season 4.
*No central antagonist: The threats that SCIU and the Hollow Earth tribes posed were diffuse, and lacked urgency, through most of the season.
*Lost its Ensemble-ness: If you like a sense of family, and ensemble shows, by Season 4, characters were dropped or had limited showtime (Kate, Druitt, Henry to a degree). The show also focused more on its leads (Magnus, Will), who were fighting each other a lot of the time in Season 4.
I'm not sure how to make a mythology show more accessible to a larger audience. In the past, this meant dumbing down a show (i.e. mindless action), which I'm sure no one wants Sanctuary to do. Perhaps there's just a limitation to what a cult show like Sanctuary can do.
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