Miss Swan's SC Home Page: The Show

Miss Swan's Swans Crossing Home Page || The Show

Everything you've ever wanted to know about the series itself
Plus: why Swans Crossing was cancelled

The Premise:

Swans Crossing is the name of a fictional eastern seaboard town in the USA. I don't think it's in a specific state, but I'm guessing that it's somewhere in Maine (although there have been other guesses). This town is a hot spot for many of the oldest and wealthiest American families. Since these families have been around for generations, there's been plenty of time for feuds, friendships, romances, and scandal to develop within them. Swans Crossing follows the lives of the younger members of these families- the teenagers. All through the series, we explore the exciting and outlandish adventures of these teens and watch as they make friends, scheme, fight, discover secrets to their pasts, fall in love, and have fun.

General info on Swans Crossing:

Swans Crossing first premiered on June 29, 1992. It is originally a US syndicated show which aired every weekday for a half-hour. I'm guessing that Swans Crossing was taped from March to August 1992. Locations include Kaufman-Astoria studios in Astoria, New York, Long Island, and I heard that they even taped some episodes in Florida. There are 65 episodes of the series which ran for three months (July to September 1992). These episodes were repeated from October to December 1992.
CREATORS: Mardee Kravit and Ned Kandel (much thanks to these two for bringing a great, original series to television!)
PRODUCER: Joe Hobel
WRITERS: Mardee Kravit, Steven Scott Smith, Penina Speigel, Andrew Stoll, and Nina Combs
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Heliosphere Productions
DISTRIBUTOR: Sachs Film Distribution
(Swans Crossing is a trademark of Newlifier Limited.)

The Official 1992 Swans Crossing Press Release:
General Show Information
Character Sketches
Crew/Cast Biographies

Why was Swans Crossing cancelled? (be forewarned... there are many possible reasons!)

The most obvious reason why Swans may have been cancelled (and the one I chose to go by for the past 4 years) is low ratings. The producers chose to repeat the episodes of Swans Crossing in order to have time to decide whether to cancel it or not. At the end of Swans Crossing's last episode, there is a message that says, "To be continued....Let us hear from you!" Apparently, fans were supposed to write in so that the producers could see how many people were watching the show. Unfortunately, there was no address or phone no. after the message, so fans had no idea how to contact the producers. And Swans Crossing aired at such ridiculous time slots (6:30am ET, 2:00pm PT) so most fans probably weren't watching the last episode anyway. What I've never understood about this is that Swans originally aired at a suitable 5:00pm time slot, but halfway through the series, some oh so bright exec decided to move it to those other time slots. Any sensible person would know that you do not put a show geared towards teenagers on at a time when they are either asleep, getting ready for school, or *at* school. I may not be a business major, but it's obvious to even me that putting a show like Swans on at a time like that is basically like giving it a death sentence. Which makes me wonder if "the powers that be" were purposely trying to get it cancelled in that sneaky, subtle way....

According to Stacey Moseley (Callie), Swans Crossing 's cancellation had more to do with politics and business deals than anything else. Fellow Swans buff G-Child has a theory about this: "A few years ago, I read somewhere that the reason the show was cancelled was because one very powerful TV station decided to drop the show, and because of that a lot of smaller TV stations did the same thing. Where I live, the show was originally on at 5pm. Several weeks before the show was cancelled and began repeating, it was moved to 2pm, a time slot usually reserved for stuff like Gilligan's Island. So I suppose that when the show was moved to 2pm (approximately episode 50) was when word got around to the TV stations that the show had stopped production. Maybe the reason the local tv station didn't just drop the show outright was that they were still under contract to show so many episodes or something, but reserved the right to move a 'dead' show to a time slot that has the least daily ratings. But I'm just guessing at all this."

Tom Carroll's (J.T.) cousin has given me some information on Swans' cancellation that relates to what Stacey Moseley claimed about it being cancelled because of politics. His cousin knows for a fact that the show had been renewed for another 13 episodes, and she heard a rumor that "the producers/networks wanted to switch the time slot on all the networks to 2:30pm. The cast and crew said 'No way -- you do that and we'll all quit' so they were told 'good-bye' and the show was ended..." As far as she knows, the 13 episodes were never produced or even scripted: "[The producers and writers] did not inform the cast of what was going to happen in the next season, so they were as clueless as the rest of us for the most part. Only thing Tom knew was that they were going to temporarily set up Mila and J.T." (By the way, I've also heard rumors that we were supposed to find out who the Baldies were in episode 75, and Garrett and Sydney were supposed to get back together again, then break up again, then get back together again, etc. in future episodes of the show.)

According to Sarah Michelle Gellar (Sydney), Swans Crossing was cancelled because of monetary problems. The producers tried marketing dolls for the series while it was still on the air. (For more info on the dolls, see Facts & FAQ's). Unfortunately, the dolls bombed and a lot of money (which went toward the production of the show) was wasted on doll manufacturing and advertisements. Also, Swans was incredibly expensive to put on and the ratings were just not high enough to produce it on a daily basis.

The following July, 20 1992 article from the magazine Advertising Age that G-Child found recently contains even more proof that Swans Crossing's cancellation may have indeed been because of the dolls:

"Toy Characters Starring on TV"
by Kate Fitzgerald
Two top toy marketers are creating syndicted TV programs to promote new toys they hope will become popular in fall 1992. Toy analysts agree new doll entries will need extra marketing help this year as the $13.5-billion toy industry is glutted with dozens of new action figures and dolls. Playmates hopes to hook girls with "Swans Crossing," a daily live-action soap opera for children. While federal ad restrictions prohibit Playmates from advertising its new Swans Crossing doll and accessory line during the show, the company hopes the show's potential success will entice children to want the dolls. Mattel is relying on syndicated, 30-minute animated TV specials to help drive sales of 2 major doll lines.

Here are G-Child's thoughts after reading this article: "The funny thing is, I saw that the doll ads did show up a few times during the show. I even have it on tape. [So does Miss Swan.] I wonder if Playmates got in trouble with the government for airing the ads during the show, and perhaps that may have been the reason (or a factor) as to why the show was cancelled. Also, I was always under the impression that the dolls were like an after-thought by Swans's producers to try to cash in on the show's growing popularity. If I'm understanding this article correctly, the dolls were thought up long before the show was ever produced. And the entire concept of Swans was to simply be an advertisement. Maybe that's why the powers that be (quite possibly the Playmates corporation) show no interest in re-airing Swans -- the dolls are no longer in production. I don't know about you, but finding this out kinda makes me feel cheated somehow. Swans was so much more to me than just a 30-minute daily infomercial...they obviously have no idea."

I agree with G-Child's notions all the way -- it was also very upsetting to me to find out that the show's initial purpose was to market a toy line. And I also have some additional theories on Swans' cancellation after reading it. First off, the dolls most likely didn't sell because the majority of the show's viewers were age 12 and up, and most people that age don't play with dolls anymore (it might've been more effective if they had marketed an accompanying soundtrack or novels based on the show instead). I think that Playmates probably did get frustrated when the toys didn't do as well as they expected them to and immediately decided to take Swans off the air before any more "unnecessary" money that wasn't being earned back from toy sales was "wasted" on production of the show. And since Swans' cancellation was reportedly as surprising and abrupt to the cast as it was to the viewers, I doubt they knew about the dolls themselves, or that Swans was intended to be a marketing scheme. Maybe Playmates were even the ones who shifted Swans' time slots so that it would lose a lot of viewers and in turn could be easily and logically cancelled due to low ratings. If G-Child's or my theories are correct, then Playmates are the "powers that be" who are responsible for Swans' being pulled off the air. They also ruined Swans' chance at becoming a hit show like it was starting to before it was moved to the bad time slots. In my opinion, Playmates should've abandoned their whole doll/toy marketing scheme and focused on the actual show instead because that's where the money really was. Although it's saddening to realize that Swans was most likely cancelled just because their dolls didn't sell, the positive side to this is that at least it wasn't the show itself that caused its cancellation. As G-Child mentioned, Swans was so much more than a 30-min daily advertisement -- it was an original series that had a lot of potential and a lot of dedicated fans. If Playmates didn't conceive the series for the sole purpose of selling an accompanying toy line, and if it had been conceived purely with the hope that it would've been a successful show, I'm sure Swans would've stayed on the air a lot longer, and may possibly have still been on today.

New doll info:
Dennis, a dedicated fan of Swans, has provided me with the following:
"If Playmates was involved with the show being canceled, the cast didn't know. Carisa Dahlbo [Glory] said in her letter to me that I should write to Sachs Finley Entertainment because 'they have canceled the show.' She told me to address the letters to George Storm. All the teen magazines said to address them to Teresa Caruso. If these people could be reached, they might know a little more. The problem is, would they give an honest answer, or try to make it sound like it wasn't their company's fault?

"In a letter from Sachs Family Entertainment (from what I can tell, it is a division of Sachs Finley), they said that 'the investors lost millions of dollars and show no interest of losing more.' Who are the investors? Playmates I would imagine.

"There must have been some interest in doing new episodes because Sarah Michelle Gellar said in a letter to me back in 1993 'I don't know if there will ever be more episodes of Swans in the future, but I know they are still working on it.' I don't know who 'they' are, but there must have been a chance.

Now that there is more evidence that the Playmates toy company had something to do with both the show's production and cancellation, it would probably be helpful to contact them and ask if we can still get the Swans rebroadcast. You can either email them here: toys@playmatestoys.com and/or visit my Bring Swans Back section to send a copy of the letter I have there to Playmates. Thanks to all who help out, and hopefully this will get us closer to having the show come back on the air.

So now you know all the reasons I've gotten behind Swans Crossing's cancellation (please keep in mind that all of them are just rumors and theories -- I'm still not positive about any of them). And in conclusion, I'd like to say that I feel if Swans was just left alone in its original 5:00pm time slot, it would've gained the viewers it needed and would probably still be on the air today. The producers themselves even noted that they were extremely sorry to let Swans Crossing go because it was an original, well-written series and had a lot of dedicated fans. But hopefully one day someone smart will decide to air the original series again. It's certainly in huge demand and therefore could be worth a lot of money right now! (To find out how you can help Swans Crossing return on the air, please visit my Bring Swans Back section. Thanks!)

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