The coach's wife seducing players was just another day at Blue Mountain State. Photo courtesy Lionsgate
The SpikeTV comedy Blue Mountain State has ended abruptly after it was not picked up for a fourth season. The show, which follows the juvenile hijinks of a nationally-ranked college football team, was produced by Lionsgate. When SpikeTV notified Lionsgate it was not picking BMS up for another season, the studio considered shopping the show around to other networks, according to zap2it.com, but ultimately informed the cast and crew that the comedy’s run was over.
Blue Mountain State saw a significant increase in viewership during its second season, but when ratings declined in its third season this past fall (average viewership fell to approximately 900,000) SpikeTV gave the Mountain Goats the axe.
The show succeeded in writing topical plots using incidents like player drug use, pay-to-play scandals, and NCAA infractions as the source of its comic fodder as such stories came out about actual college football programs. Season 3 concluded with the Goats of Blue Mountain State narrowly missing the “death penalty” of college football just months after many suggested Ohio State and Miami should receive said penalty for their various violations.
Another signature twist of the show was its uncanny ability to incorporate parodies of popular movies and television shows into the comedy’s storylines. In the last season alone, Blue Mountain State riffed on classics like Field of Dreams, The Godfather, and Memento.
Ultimately Blue Mountain State ends as the classic example of a fairly well written and produced show that simply struggled to maintain an audience. I expect some of the shows more promising stars like Darin Brooks (who played Alex Moran) and Alan Ritchson (Thad Castle) to be casted into new shows relatively quickly. Brooks in particular I feel is a great actor, not just from a comedic perspective, and should have a bright career ahead of him.
All three seasons of Blue Mountain State are currently available for internet streaming to Netflix subscribers.
Follow Bryan Lienesch on Twitter @bclienesch!
