CANCELLATION AND ITS AFTERMATH

Q: I heard MST3K has been cancelled! Is that true? When and how was it announced?
A: On February 24, 1999, BBI released a statement which read, in part:

After producing its 10th season of episodes, Best Brains Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, will close the curtain on its Peabody Award winning series, Mystery Science Theater 3000, as the Sci-Fi Channel will not be ordering any new programs.

"Ten years is a great run for any series. We've had a tremendous ride and it's time for Mike Nelson and the 'Bots to come down to Earth," Executive Producer and Best Brain's President Jim Mallon said today.

"We'd like to thank our families, friends and our tremendous fans for all of their support over the years. We'd also like to thank the Sci-Fi Channel for a great run which brought us to our 10th year."

Q: Why did Sci-Fi Channel officials decide to stop ordering episodes?
A: Initially, network executives said the issue was ratings, pure and simple. Later, they also noted that the cost of acquiring the rights to movies for riffing was getting too high. Many viewers also noticed a change in the network after Barry Schulman -- MST3K's chief defender at the channel -- departed, and Bonnie Hammer -- an executive from what was then Sci-Fi's parent company, USA Networks -- took over. MST3K apparently did not fit with her vision for the network.

Q: Does BBI think the show can be saved?
A: No.

Q: So, it's over?
A: Yes. There will be no new episodes of MST3K.

Q: How long did reruns of the show continue to run on the Sci-Fi Channel?
A: The original contract Sci-Fi Channel and BBI signed expired in early 2002. However, in late 2001, the two parties signed a two-year contract extension, allowing the Channel to continue showing reruns through the end of January, 2004. At that time, the show ended its run on Sci-Fi Channel.

Q: So, does that mean that some channel can put the CC-era reruns back on the air?
A: While theoretically possible, that looks very unlikely. To do that, some channel would have to find the resources to repurchase the rights to the movies in many episodes, and having spent all that money, they will then have to find advertisers willing to pay enough to cover those costs and make the whole venture profitable. It doesn't seem like this business formula has much of a chance.

Q: Did they consider making direct-to-video episodes?
A: Yes, BBI and Rhino considered that. But when they crunched the numbers, it was clear that it wouldn't work. BBI needed a certain amount of funding to stay in business--that is, meet the payroll, maintain its office and studio, and all the things a business has to pay for. And Rhino needs to be able to make enough from each sale to pay for the rights to the movie being riffed and for duplication and distribution costs, and all the other expenses that go into putting the videos on the market--and make a reasonable profit. They didn't think the home video marketplace would provide that level of revenue. The numbers just didn't add up.

Q: What happened to the idea of running an ad in Variety asking some other channel to pick up the show?
A: It happened, thanks to generous donations from 145 people in 36 states, Washington DC, Canada and one from New Zealand! A full-page advertisement appeared in the Friday, June 18th, 1999, issue.

If you didn't have a chance to see the ad, click HERE to download a copy in Adobe Acrobat's PDF format.

Click here to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader

Q: Was there any response to the ad from TV executives?
A: None that we know of.

Q: I hear that people have been writing to other networks, asking them to pick up MST3K. Have they gotten any responses?
A: Although BBI in no way encouraged them, some fans took it upon themselves to write to various TV networks in an effort to get them to pick up MST3K. Every response we saw was polite but uninterested.

Q: What's happened to the MST3K area on the Sci-Fi Channel's Web site?
A: It has been deleted. The content from the site survives on Satellite News.

Q: What about the "Caption This" feature on the Sci-Fi Channel Web site?
A: In 1999, the channel said that it would remain, stripped of its MST3K-related graphics. But ultimately it was shut down.