TV Show “Nashville” Is Canceled. Again, & For The Good.
Television drama Nashville has been canceled. Again. And this time for good. And thank God. It came, it did what it looked to accomplish, and after its 6th season which will air on CMT starting January 4th, it will be no more. And not even petitioners or budget parleys with the real City of Nashville will save it this time, nor should they. This turnip has been squeezed, and it’s time to move on.
Nashville had its usefulness and dollops of entertainment value for its loyal fans, especially early in the series. But it had long lost its luster, and was never much of a ratings winner to begin with. After moving from ABC to CMT after Season 4, the show was most certainly doomed. The goal was not as much to keep superfans satiated as it was to ensure the series would run long enough to where it could be optimized for syndication, which it was eventually to the tune of $30 million from a deal with Hulu and CMT. Once that occurred, and the show’s main character Rayna James played by Connie Britton was killed off, it was pretty much curtains.
But Nashville overall was a big success when you consider all of the cultural implications, and the fact that it lasted for six seasons. Just getting beyond a pilot episode and a second year is a pretty big accomplishment in network television these days. Yet the show did much more than entertain television viewers. It was tantamount to a steroid boost to the City of Nashville, putting the city’s already rabid growth into hyperdrive, for better or worse.
Unmistakably, Nashville was essential to the boom the city has seen to the local economy, and will forever be linked to Nashville’s emergence as a modern city of major cultural and economic impact. The city got whatever return on their corporate welfare investment in the show they were looking for, even if segments of Nashville residents may give the series the one finger salute for being the catalyst for exceeding growth factors of the region’s infrastructure, aiding and abetting Nashville’s gentrification issues and traffic problems, and putting more and more tourists on the streets to interrupt daily life than ever before.
Nashville also did an incredible amount to educate the population on how the business of music works, from what the songwriting process is (and that people aside from the stars actually write the songs), to understanding 360 deals, touring, how terrible some labels and producers can treat their artists, and even more cultural-based issues like the demands that being a musician puts on personal lives, or the harassment women artists often receive. Many of the actors on Nashville have become very public figures within the city itself, including releasing their own projects and playing their own live shows.
But the drama and plot stretches for the series became ridiculous, and the underlying themes frayed as creators and writers grasped for ratings through predictable cliffhangers and mawkish pulling of heartstrings. So much death, so many cross-pollinated love stories meant for a series bereft of nuance, and spiraling towards a flame out. And as most television series go, budgets get bloated as primary actors demand more money as a series stretches on. Their legs get restless and the desire grows to work on other projects and not get typecast into their role.
Probably the ultimate takeaway from the series will be the main character Rayna James, whose strong will seemed like the true embodiment and spirit of the country music matriarchy—a story that is rarely told with proper weight and vehemence to its importance in country history. There was an underlying Tao about Connie Britton’s character that even when you had to suspend disbelief through all the spurious drama swirling, it still delivered something worth attempting to understand and learn from.
Nashville will soon be gone, but its impact will linger in Nashville life and on syndicated reruns for many years to come. Unfortunately, so too will many of the issues facing the country music industry the series attempted to tackle, some of the overgrowth the series helped spurn, and the incessant drama that seems to plague Music City, for the entertainment and tabloid value of some, but the true-life struggle and inherent injustice of others.
hoptowntiger94
November 18, 2017 @ 10:25 am
I never watched again after they killed Rayna. I wasn’t boycotting the show, just lost interest and the split-season didn’t help.
The first couple seasons were good. Music was fun.
Chris
November 18, 2017 @ 1:04 pm
Killed? I thought she left cause she wanted to do other things instead?
hoptowntiger94
November 18, 2017 @ 1:27 pm
They killed her character on the show – organ failure from injuries due to a car accident.
She’s in two shows!
SMILF (single mother I’d like to fuck) – a pretty raunchy show on HBO airs after Shameless.
And 9-1-1 which will air on Fox in January (after X-files!!!)
tak a nee Lil Dales ass
November 19, 2017 @ 6:03 am
deer trig are u gonna get a round to riten about neill mccoys nu song about all the sissys in the nfl taken a nee?
Trigger
November 19, 2017 @ 1:53 pm
Believe it or not, I try to avoid overt political subjects. We’ll see.
Gena R.
November 18, 2017 @ 10:38 am
It had a good run, and I’m sure (as with FOX’s ‘Glee,’ which also ended up lasting 6 seasons) being able to sell downloads and soundtrack CDs helped keep it afloat too. :\
But yeah, the characters have all been pretty much adrift without Rayna; at least they’ll have a full season to properly wrap up their business before the show gets put out of its misery.
Master Spleen
November 18, 2017 @ 10:43 am
thi is a good thng I mean it wasnt a bad program but it wasnt something that was particularly good eiter it was sort of average and while it may have been a good portrayal of the realities of the busness the characters weren’t super engaging or memorable especially compared to the sarah connor chronicles or dukes of hazard they just all seemed bland and one dimensional an im sure not every one felt that way but its my opinion and im entitled to it and I think future music industry shows shood have at least one top lister music star and one famous actor portraying another famous musician and then the rest of the cast can be anybody I like to use david bowie playing nikola tesla in the prestige as a great example of this and give them slightly unrealistic adventures I think Nashville was so realistic it wasnt as exciting as it could have been say if the ghost of hank Cochran lived in somebodys living room for comic relief but I didn’t watch very much so I don’t wanna badmouth something i just think it could have been better and also i also think that cancelling it is a good thing because making country music a top institution helps open the floodgates for making country the go to genre like rock before it and the more popular and successful the more interlopers there might be so i think that maybe going back to being a 2nd fiddle genre would do country music some good and removing the popularity and marketing of a franchise like this goes a long way towards removing country music from Hollywood culture
Tezca
November 18, 2017 @ 3:40 pm
Tv show idea: The adventures of the ghosts of Hank Williams and Waylon Jennings lol 😛
Caitlin
November 18, 2017 @ 10:53 am
I loved the show in the beginning and really enjoyed the music. Often, there was better country music on the show than what actual country artists were were releasing and radio was playing. I stopped watching shortly before ABC cancelled it. Life happens. I lost interest, but I will always have a fondness for the show. I think it was important because it centered women’s experiences and was created by women, and that’s quite a rare thing these days. I will always love the show, but I think it’s definitely time for it to end.
Gina
November 18, 2017 @ 11:08 am
Yeah, it was a guilty pleasure, but after Rayna, wow, it was bad. And way too much Scarlett. Also, the writing took a turn for the worse. Not that it was ever good but still.
Todd
November 18, 2017 @ 12:10 pm
I was afraid of this. Loved the show initially, and though not as much after Rayna’s death ( how stupid was that?) I still looked forward to it popping up on the DVR. It surely didn’t hurt some of the lesser known actors careers, and absolutely boosted the already musically successful and super talented Rhiannon Giddens. R.I.P. Nashville…
Tubb
November 18, 2017 @ 12:25 pm
Disappointed but not surprised. I’d been a fan of the on location shooting since season 1. They always managed to throw in a couple of Easter eggs for country fans if you looked hard enough.
I thought Rayna’s death was handled phenomenally (three straight episodes that made me tear up). Even after she was gone in the next half of that season I thought the ramifications of her death were handled well and realistically (Deacon covering Waylon’s ‘Dreaming My Dreams’ in her honor at a charity auction).
Sucks to see it go but I look forward to seeing it pop up on syndication here and there in the future.
Hugh
November 18, 2017 @ 1:40 pm
“I got a problem. I’m short a guitar player.” Still cracks me up. Couldn’t watch it after they killed Rayna either. I have my theories and suspicions. Something to do with TBones wife having a personal moment in television history at the expense of others and the show. Gotham is giving me problems this season with that stupid Pig villian taking the stage like it’s a broadway musical, and their take on Bruce is douchey. The Riddler loosing his intelligence is the best part, only power ignoramuses remaining. What’s never valued but always missed?
Thoroughbred
November 18, 2017 @ 1:42 pm
Lot to love about the show early on. One thing that did always bother me was how obvious it was that Gibson guitars was a sponsor for a show that was set in a town with a genre that is still defined by Fender Teles. Go back and watch the first two seasons, you’d be hard pressed to find many Teles. Even the intro has a fake Gibson in it. Humbuckers have their place, sure…but that twang was built from Leo.
Tezca
November 18, 2017 @ 3:45 pm
I couldn’t finish season one on Hulu years back lol, got a bit too melodramatic for me.
Dane
November 18, 2017 @ 5:01 pm
IMO, you may have missed the most important part of the show: it gave a spotlight to some incredible new (or overlooked or forgotten) songwriters. Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale & T-Bone were early music supervisors at various points & delivered great sings for the actors. Whether or not the actors did the songs justice, the importance was both publishing $$$ and Music Row spotlight for the writers. In early Seasons, the show used then-unrecorded songs by Kacey Musgraves (pre Diff Trailer), Brandy Clark (pre-12 Stories), Sarah Burton, Bonnie Bishop (pre Thirty Tigers), Adam Wright (pre Miranda) etc.
It also gave a place for classic writers who don’t get new cuts: Rodney, Al Anderson, Jeffrey Steele, Deana Carter, Ally Moore, etc. Those are just the marquee writers. It gave a place to showcase hundreds of new & upcoming writers on a weekly basis. To me, THAT will be the big loss by the shows end.
Trigger
November 18, 2017 @ 5:27 pm
Early in the series, I wrote a few articles praising various aspects of the show, including the featuring of up-and-coming artists that regularly are not given a chance on country radio, etc. However as the series went on, they seemed to get away from that. The move also paralleled less talk of the business and Nashville itself, and more focus on the characters and the drama in between them. Someone else likened it to the arc of ‘ER,’ which was praised initially for its realness of an emergency room setting, with the character threads being an aside to the action. Yet by the end of the series, it was almost solely about characters and their relationships.
Jtrpdx
November 19, 2017 @ 11:07 pm
That’s great. Still don’t understand how you spend time on stuff like this yet you let things like Jeremy Pinnell’s recent album go unnoticed in these parts. Yes, I know “there is a lot of releases to cover”, but you obviosly have the time if you are writing about goddamn Nashvile the tv series. I think the issue is that you failed to catch his prior release, and you are months behind covering his latest release (rolling stone wrote him up for gods sake), and you are apprehensive to cover a 2017 album that you weren’t on top of from the day it was out. The readers of SCM are missIng out big time, eapeciallly when they are being fed two guns up reviews of Parker freakin McCollum in place of albums like Pinnell’s. Love what you do here trigg, but this one is a head scratcher.
scott
November 20, 2017 @ 12:13 pm
Please, Jtrpdx, give it a rest. Comment is getting old, and I’m not connected to this website. Usually agree with your points, but, for all that is good and sacred, stop the pestering.
Jtrpdx
November 23, 2017 @ 7:55 pm
Pestering? Trigg is missing what will definitely be in the top 5 albums of 17. I have mentioned Pinnell about six times. The album is good enough to get 10 more mentions, so get used to it.
scott
November 23, 2017 @ 8:10 pm
I wait with baited breath. LOL
Jtrpdx
November 24, 2017 @ 9:30 pm
“LOL” ….? Are you 15? It seems you have the musical taste of the typical 15 year old if you don’t think that the Pinnell album deserves a review…..so that makes complete sense.
Nate
November 18, 2017 @ 5:08 pm
“Many of the actors on Nashville have become very public figures within the city itself, including releasing their own projects and playing their own live shows.”
Rumor has it if you say “country music” 3 times anywhere in Nashville, Charles Esten will suddenly appear with his guitar and start singing.
Rick Saunders
November 18, 2017 @ 5:10 pm
I loved the show, and I’m sad to see it go. I get it, tho. I will say that the 1st episode following Rayna’s death, watching Deacon walk into the house after the funeral just punched me in the face. I saw my future, should my wife pass before me. Powerful TV, and lots of good songs.
Jay
November 18, 2017 @ 5:24 pm
I was hoping that Deacon could use the show to manufacture a real career with real new good songs. I don’t think it happened.
Kathy Montesjardi
November 18, 2017 @ 9:09 pm
I loved Nashville and very sorry to see it go. Yeah, Raynas’ death sucked. I loved the other characters also, the daughters, Juliette,Will, Scarlett, Deacon, etc. I will miss it very much and I think they did a good job after Raynas’ death.
Dawn
November 18, 2017 @ 9:38 pm
A show that was worthy of it’s fans. A series that wasn’t perfect like so many others..but was very refreshing to watch. The music for me is what drawed me in..from then on everything else fell into place for me..making sense. Now like so many other series that was worthy to last..it’s now time to say our good byes. Thank you to the entire cast and crew of Nashville and CMT for 6 seasons of a show that’s allowed me and others to be apart of such an amazingly series that will always be apart of me.
Justin S
November 19, 2017 @ 8:02 am
Speaking of tv shows Any one watching tales from tour bus?
Tezca
November 19, 2017 @ 9:21 am
I watched all the episodes except the Blaze Foley one. My favorites are the two Waylon ones
Justin S
November 20, 2017 @ 6:45 am
I loved the paycheck, and George Jones episodes. “I’m the greatest country singer ever”
“well your tied to a fucking tree”
By far my favorite line, and I never heard that story before.
Denixx
November 19, 2017 @ 10:24 am
Yes. Love it.
Blaze episode was season’s last.
Hope there is a second season?
Theresa Schiro-Keiser
November 19, 2017 @ 6:47 pm
Great series sorry to see you go been watching from the beginning I hope these talented musicians
To something like recording album or something again.
Thank you all you amazing Actor’s!!
Stephen
November 20, 2017 @ 5:48 am
I was an extra on one of the episodes (yes, I actually made the TV episode and was not edited out) in the spring of 2013. We filmed all day on the General Jackson riverboat. I got to interact with Clare Bowen (Scarlett) and she couldn’t have been nicer. Connie Britton even brought her son to the set. I’m sad to see the show go, but it lost a lot of its luster when it moved from ABC to CMT and lost a lot of its audience.
RD
November 20, 2017 @ 9:07 am
Powers Boothe was the best character on the show. Once they killed him off, the show was essentially over. At some point, Clare Bowen stopped being hot and started looking like a hairy-legged, burned-out drum circle bohemian loser.
Candyce Traci
November 23, 2017 @ 5:48 am
I am genuinely saddened by this news! I went through “Nashville” withdraw just between seasons. I am a successful business owner, I am a wife, mom, grandmother and I can still enjoy one (1) hour of escape-ism each week to enjoy a show with talented cast with amazing music. It was the one (1) show that made me sit-down and do nothing Even with all the drama in their lives, it was till like Mayberry in the long run – I know that is me wearing my rose-colored glasses that there will always be a happy ending….but after Rayna’s passing, my favorite episode ever is how they all came together at her home to help Deacon finish that album. I am so fortunate and blessed to have been able to enjoy one of the Nashville Tour Shows that included a Meet & Greet with the cast – I meant what I said Deacon, Avery, Will and Gunnar – if I won a big lottery, I would find a way not to ever let the show be canceled again (might even do some financial backing + hope to be an extra on the show at some point) – ALL THIS CAST AMAZING PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE TOO – it was an honor and a pleasure to watch you each week and catch up to your tour this past summer – I am in awe of each of your talent and love for what you do (both onscreen and in concert). Kindest Regards, Candyce Traci
Heather
February 3, 2019 @ 9:54 am
I enjoyed and disliked this show. Some of the music was great and I liked how they focused on the songwriter. However, Gunnar getting a 400k check for his first song and buying a house was laughable. Doesn’t happen. A song can be streamed 1 Billion times and the songwriter might, MIGHT be able to afford one months rent in Nashville now. I loved watching the young sisters blossom into great singers. The younger one is quite the talent. I liked that they addressed Alcoholism, streaming and the new branding of endorsements etc. Other than that, truly just fluff and romanticizing no different than any other soap. The ending however was superb!
Rete
November 13, 2019 @ 7:36 pm
Bring it back I miss this show😪
Michelle Hisson
November 23, 2021 @ 8:16 pm
Now why did you go and cancel Nashville , It Was One of The Best TV Series Out There, That was on TV That I Could Really Get In To and You Cancelled It ,………WHY!!!! Did You Do That For ,
We the People of Television, Request An Explanation On This Action You Decided To Do .
We as the Fans Of Nashville!!!!! Request That You Bring Back NASHVILLE!
IMMEDIATELTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .
Angie
January 5, 2022 @ 5:09 am
Really you all cancel the show that’s the best show ever ever please bring it back please I love Nashville and I’m from Chicago Illinois black lady love Nashville love all the characters please bring it back bring it back bring it back that’s all