Friends
NBC
Friends ran for a ten seasons on NBC, but despite viewer interest, the show was almost canceled after its fourth season. While viewership was still at an all-time high, the show faced a high financial burden: compensating its star-laden main cast. The stars demanded a heavy salary to match the show’s success, but with so many of them, the show almost couldn’t keep up. NBC executive Harold Brook said, “The numbers were insane when it came time to renew their contracts.” If NBC couldn’t negotiate appropriate contracts, they were set to cancel the series. Brook added, “We had two promos made. One was the season finale, and one was the series finale.”
Parks and Recreation
NBC
Despite a massively devoted fanbase now, Parks and Recreation creator Michael Shur told Entertainment Weekly that he thought the show would be canceled nearly every season it was on the air. Shur explained, “So when we were moved to midseason, I thought that season 3 might be the end. And then I thought that season 4 might be the end. And then, of course, I thought maybe the end of season 5 was going to be the last year. So at least four times I’ve written what I thought might be a series finale.” This explains why Parks and Rec has so many high-emotion, bow-tie-ing moments in the series, Shur was always writing what he thought might be his last episode.