Not because the audience wasn't large, but because the audience had the wrong demographics. You see, companies that buy commercials pays big bucks to networks for delivering their ads to urban, college-educated people between the ages of 18 and 49. If you are younger, older, or live in small rural town, you don't count for much. That was the supposed problem with Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman , as well as Murder, She Wrote and Christy . Never mind that people over the age of 55 spend lots of money.
Advertisers believe that their spending patterns are already fixed.
So they go after older teenagers and young adults. So the hot shows are the ones that deliver the demographics. Twice as many people watched Dr. Quinn as watched Dawson's Creek, but Dawson's Creek is considered a hit. More people watch Touched by an Angel than watch Ally McBeal or Melrose Place. The two hip, yuppie shows.