How Christopher Titus Accidentally Got His Own Hit Sitcom Canceled

There are all sorts of reasons why a show goes off the air. Sometimes, the cast wants to move on to new projects. Sometimes, the ratings tank. And, sometimes, there are issues behind the scenes. In the case of the short-lived and underrated sitcom everyone should watch, "Titus", it was most definitely the third reason — specifically, a blow up between the president of Fox and show's star. "Titus" was the brain child of stand-up comic Christopher Titus. The series was loosely based on his own life. However, the network airing the show, Fox, was constantly attempting to alter or change the formula, which Titus was not a fan of.

In the end, the president of Fox, Gail Berman, at the time suggested that Titus' character break up with and cheat on his girlfriend. In his stand-up special, "Voice In My Head," Titus said that was the last straw. "I look her in the face and I go, 'Do you even watch the show?'" he asked. "The show is based on one premise: Two dysfunctional, screwed up people together make a great couple that can survive anything. If I split them up, then, all of a sudden, they're scumbags like the rest of the world." Titus and Erin were hardly one of the best sitcom couples of all time, but their relationship was a major part of the series. Needless to say, the executive was not a fan of the pushback and the network's support for the show disappeared overnight.

The immediate reaction to Christopher Titus criticizing the president of Fox was the network pulling all support for "Titus." "The following day, all promos stopped. I'm not kidding," Titus said in an interview on 97X. "I used to get these promo sheets and it would show how many promos Fox ran for us ... zero. We had zero that next week." But that wasn't all, Titus said the next move for Fox was to change the time slot of the show, first putting it up against "The West Wing," then moving it to Friday night.

Amazingly, even changing time slots didn't seem to scare off the audience. "It took them six months to kill the show," Titus said in the same interview. "The ratings would drop and then the show would start coming back." While the show wouldn't end up being considered one of the best shows Fox ever aired, it did have a loyal fanbase. Eventually, however, the ratings dipped enough to give Fox a reason to cancel "Titus" after its third season. 

Looking back on the experience, Titus says he realized that he was the reason that his show got canceled, and that he's learned his lesson about standing up to television executives. "If you tell your boss he's stupid long enough, he will fire you."