Why Fox Canceled Lethal Weapon After Three Seasons
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Through four films released in more than a decade, “Lethal Weapon” cemented itself as a coherent and extremely entertaining franchise. In fact, despite Mel Gibson’s problems over the years, We are still talking about a possible “lethal weapon 5” to date. Whether it happens or not is another subject, but in the light of the continuing popularity of films, it may not be surprising that Fox brought Riggs and Murtaugh on the small screen from 2016 with a television series “Lethal weapon”.
Featuring Clayne Craye Cray as Martin Riggs and Damon Wayans as Roger Murtaugh, the show was a success out of the door for Fox, only for the network to cancel the series after three seasons in 2019. Variety Reported at the time, this was at least partly due to a fairly steep drop in grades. Season 3 had brought back just over 3 million viewers in total per episode, a major drop in season 2 (which reached an average of more than 4 million). Season 1, on average, had an average of 6.5 million viewers in total, so the show was absolutely on the wrong track.
However, it was much more complicated than a simple notes problem. Crawford was dismissed of “Lethal Weapon” after the second season of the showfor one. The actor would have created a hostile working environment and would have received complaints of emotional violence. Everything was very complicated and messy, both sides having a lot to say about what happened and how everything rocked. Crawford, at the time, apologized for his actions, saying the following:
“I am incredibly sorry if my passion for doing good work never made anyone who feels less comfortable in our set or that I feel less than celebrated for his efforts. In addition, I apologize to all the members of the crew for any negative attention ‘` Lethal weapon’ ‘receives because of these incidents. “
The fatal weapon was too troubled to stay on the air
An old William Scott (“American Pie”) was brought for season 3 of “the lethal weapon” To replace Crawford. Rather than replacing it squarely as Riggs, Scott played a new character named Wesley Cole. It was a big change that viewers had to get used to. Beyond that, Wayans also revealed that he was going to leave the show after season 3, expressing his frustration in the face of production. As the actor explained in a 2018 interview with EURWEB::
“I’m going to leave the show in December after finishing the first 13. So I really don’t know what they plan, but that’s what I’m planning. I am a 58 -year -old diabetic, and I work for days of 16 hours.”
The out-of-screen drama with Crawford, Wayans being unhappy of himself just after being supposed to have been struck with a piece of shell while turning an episode that Crawford has achieved, and the people who look at home to get used to a new character played by Scott all made the situation incredibly difficult to manage. In February 2019, / The film spoke with producer Matt Miller problems of the showAnd he had the following to say about Crawford:
“It was in a bad situation with what happened. I know it is difficult for him. I have the impression that I cannot comment on it because to comment, it is going down a very slippery slope. So, I have somehow taken the high road on everything, and I don’t have to talk about it at all. I can really say nothing.”
In the end, even if Fox had been able to convince Wayans to stay, the network was fighting a difficult battle. The notes of the show decreased at an alarming rate, and recovering viewers once they have abandoned a series is damn impossible. Unfortunately, this show seemed just cursed behind the scenes, so cancellation was the only result.
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