The dual reality drama "Awake" was canceled by NBC after just one season during the 2011-2012 season. Kyle Killen, the show's creator, appeared on HuffPost Live and discussed the pressures of making network TV, and explained that the show may have been better off on cable.
"Well, I think on cable it might have been a different show ... What networks are doing is getting a little confused. You're trying to sort of be both things. I think 'Awake was a perfect example. You have a cop procedural at the heart of it, which has been the bread and butter of network television for a decade, but you sort of have this interesting, personal serialized element on top of it. I think on cable, you might have followed one or two cases for the season, and you would have been as wrapped up in how things were unfolding along with the elements in his personal life ... On network, there's much more of a drive to continue that case of the week, keep it something so people can watch out of order so if they miss an episode they're not lost," Killen said.
Killen went on to explain that outside of CBS, the state of network television is largely in disarray. "I think we're sort of in an era where audiences aren't quite sure what they're going to get from a network. And ... if it feels like there's a super-serialized, juicy premise, there's a sense that if it were on cable it would be explored in a different and perhaps more satisfying way. I think our show was just an example of nobody quite being sure what a network show is," he continued.
A season later, NBC is still struggling with the same identity crisis. The network recently fell to fifth place in the February sweeps, behind Univision.
