23. But… Why Cancelled?
For a show that maintained such a dedicated following as Mythbusters, one has to wonder why it had to go off the air. The hosts seemed to always enjoy themselves. The shows were engaging. As far as anyone knew, there was nothing nefarious going on behind the scenes. One had to assume it still made money from advertisers. Sure, it had 14 seasons, but other than that, why-oh-why did it have to end?
22. Ratings Not Everything
YouTube
This is one of those concepts that are hard to understand if one is not in the industry. This writer is included in that group of confused people. Like any industry, performance metrics do matter, but only as one facet. An unrelated but relevant example would be a salesperson who lies to close deals and does it well. The how matters as much as the what. So, what about Mythbusters? There was nothing that bad going on, but the ratings weren’t as good as they used to be. A show on the decline can keep new shows from taking off. But, lower ratings were not a silver bullet for Mythbusters.
21. True Friends?
The hosts of the show, Adam Savage, and Jamie Hyneman had what they call “chemistry” on camera. It wasn’t that they were doing chemistry—that too—but they had a special chemistry when the cameras were on. Cameras off, though? Not so much. “We don’t get along very well together on a personal level,” Savage told Business Insider (BI) in a 2016 interview. “In 25 years we’ve known each other, we’ve never had dinner alone together. We do not choose to hang out if we don’t have to be in proximity.” Yikes.