Question: Has anyone on this board looked into as to the real reason why this show may have been canceled?

Hello all, I'm new to this board and I've been fishing around the threads here. I have been watching the series via net flix and just finished with disk 2 of season 4. No exit was the last episode, so please no spoilers.

I find that what has made this show so popular is that 4400 is a story about hope. Hope that anyone can get an ability to possibly help change the world for the better. That is a very strong and powerful message and story arch. Anyone can do something special...there is Hope.

I think that this theme is what has helped to attract such an amazing following.

And what a following, I have to say that the fan base for 4400 is staggering! I mean sunflower seeds?!?!? consistent mailer protests, polls, petitions and all very well organized. That is an amazing following!

Quite frankly any studio executive who got a seed in the mail, with a solid mind for making money in this business, would be foolish not to listen to it's audience and continue the series, even at least a two hour movie to close it all up. When I say Foolish I mean with a capital "F". The 4400 fan base far exceeds 24, Heroes and Lost. Maybe foolish is not the right word, how about just down right illogical.

I remember when I was watching season 2 and a buddy of mine was telling me about the aggressive fan base to try to save the show, I was a little surprised. You guys made it to the news. So I did some research and saw big your following was...wow!

It's a good show, it grew on me, I can't say it was my favorite in the beginning but I really got hooked in season 2. I was really puzzled as to why USA would let this show go. Other popular shows only dream of a following like the 4400 fan base. Clearly the was not canceled because of bad ratings.

I was puzzled as to the shows cancellation until I saw season 3. Jordan Collier is on network TV talking about the war. He talks about how the elitists take all of the food and all of the "seeds" (this is important) and puts all of that in a bank hidden away in the north.
Now Seed banks are common all over the world to provide protections of the worlds most valuable seed supply in case of disasters. But there is one vault in particular that stands out the most, hence the dialog in the Jordan interview on the episode. The character of Jordan Collier was developed as a character who is a revolutionary against these types of actions along with other elitists’ goals.

Now the real news:

"The Svalbard International Seed Vault has been built inside a mountain in a man made tunnel on the frozen Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. It is designed to survive catastrophes such as nuclear war, hurricanes, and a world war. It is operated by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. A tunnel has been created in a sandstone mountain on Spitsbergen, which is part of the Svalbard archipelago, about 966 kilometers (600 miles) from the North Pole. The area's permafrost will keep the vault below the freezing point of water and the seeds are protected by 1-metre thick walls of steel-reinforced concrete. There are two airlocks and two blast-proof doors.^[2] The vault accepted the first seeds on 26 February 2008." -Wikipedia

The reason I bring up the seed bank of Svalbard is that it had a very well known donor to the creation of the project:

"Bill Gates is investing millions in a seed bank on the Barents Sea near the Arctic Ocean, some 1,100 kilometers from the North Pole. Svalbard is a barren piece of rock claimed by Norway and ceded in 1925 by international treaty" -F. William Engdahl

The rest of the article:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?con...va&aid=7529

Now, this is no conspiracy theory, this is all fact. Bill Gates through his foundation did invest in this project along with the Rockefeller Foundation. We can all see where there could be a potential for disaster here. And it was interesting that the creator and writers chose to bring up this topic as a negative issue in 4400. What's even more interesting is that in season 4 the new bad guy introduced in "The Mark" just happens to be a software billionaire based in Seattle.

What ever the writers/creator’s intention for the show was is a moot point. However I'm sure that someone may have gotten a little offended at the idea that his involvement in something huge as the seed bank in Norway, something that is suppose to be a good thing for the world, is used as a story arch describing how the elitists would try to "cleanse" the world: allow wars to happen so the worlds food supply is completely dependent on one source, Svalbard. Who ever controls the food controls the world.

So did the 4400 series tap into a possible truth or just merely offended the wealthy few (who feel that they are trying to do what's).

Either way, it is very clear that this show was never canceled for sluggish ratings or not having enough viewers...it was because of something else fiscally un-related.

If what I'm saying is more than just my guess and there is some truth to this then 4400 really is art imitating life. If there are more discussions on this subject and I'm just being redundant, my apologies and please send me to the right thread (I'm new here).

But what is really ironic is that you all chose to protest using "seeds".
Well, keep those seeds going.

The show was canceled due to budget problems and the writer's strike.
The Dead Zone did not approach any of these issues and yet it was also canceled to bring in some new show. We protest this with the 'seed revolution' because seeds were the favorite snack of Kevin Burkhoff.

USA officially dropped it's SciFi shows to make room for more detective, mystery, action shows.

Your idea revolves around the absence of free speech. The fact that there is a Bill Gates-like character is just another Allusion used in the show to make a refrence to the real world (like the symbols pointing at Jordan Coiller being similar to Jesus (same initials, similar appearance, followers, etc)).

It's an interesting point, but I doubt that Bill Gates would go out of his way to personally shut down a television series for just another silly blurb about him. He's still pop-culture. Everyone can relate to how a Bill Gates-like character can/could act.

-=Kross

With all due respect, the 4400 numbers were far lower in its final season than 24, Heroes, or Lost on their worst night. Now there're a plethora of reasons for this (4400 had been on longer, it's on a cable network, less advertising...the list goes on and on), but ratings-wise the 4400 could not and did not match those three shows you mentioned.

Yet your fan base is as large as it is...

I guess it is one of those things where the show gathered more viewers when the show got canceled and made available on dvd...more new viewers like myself (i dont watch tv I watch net flix). Of course advertising wise is it that the dvds got more press?

there have been many evil gates characters on television...however non nearly as impressive as the one in the Marked (and I'm assuming in other eps as well). I look forward to the next dvds to see where this all goes. but two very popular conspiracy themes under one roof...that was surprising!

I don't believe that gates would go after a show over how a character of him is portrayed. I do see however, where a charitable project like a major seed bank is being played up as connected to something potentially evil, could make the main donors a little disappointed. These donors my feel that a project they feel will save our planet is being repackaged to a captivated audience as something for the viewers to be afraid of.

Regardless if there’s anything special about what the writers have included in 4400, one has to agree that these are very impacting subjects.

Again this is what has made this show so good.