According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Fox Network has canceled the live action 'Tick' series.  The Tick, which featured Seinfeld star Patrick Warburton as the azure arachnid, won considerable acclaim with its clever take on the world of superheroes (see 'The Tick Debuts to Critical Acclaim'), and the series certainly deserved a better fate than it received.  Originally set to debut in midseason last year, The Tick was held back in part because of fears that the writers' strike would result in a lack of scripted programming for the fall season.  Well, the writers' strike never happened and Fox gave The Tick a death sentence by programming it on Thursday nights where it was caught in the crossfire between 'must see TV' and Survivor.  As ICv2 predicted when The Tick debuted, the series would either be switched to another timeslot or canceled.  Unfortunately the Fox Network, which still airs some of the worst dreck in the history of television (Temptation Island), decided to cancel its funniest new series.

 

The demise of The Tick doesn't necessarily mean that pop culture retailers won't be able to profit from this knowing parody of the superhero genre.  The eight episodes of the live action series and the 36 episodes of The Tick animated series may well thrive on either cable or video or both.  Unfortunately The Tick animated series is not out on DVD, but it might prove to be a 'cult' hit if the series were released while interest in the property is still high.  So don't throw away those New England Comics editions of The Tick just yet.  The big blue bloodsucker might just be lying dormant until the right climate for a revival appears on cable or in the ever-expanding realm of the DVD.