People were beginning to enjoy "Road Rovers" on a weekly basis.  It's ratings were pretty good, sometimes beating Superman, a renewed show.  The show even got on a few Fridays during WB's scheduling run.  The future of the Rovers looked bright.  Kids' WB at AOL started a weekly Road Rovers Trivia Game in which questions from that day's episode would be asked by host KWBF Loco.  Stars of this were EOCostello, RRvr Blitz, Takg (now known as Star :)), and myself, though I never won.  MUTTSROCK (now known as Spirit :) ) arrived late in our little games, but she did well too. Major Road Rover websites started up, the most obvious Krankor's "To the power of the pack..." site .  The show was doing quite well. More than anything, I think it was starting to change a few people's lives.  People were able to make friends they may have not had before by communicating their love for the Rovers over the internet.  I know I've made a number of great friends through the show that I wouldn't have otherwise.  That speaks volumes for the kind of quality show it was.
Then, on December 31st, 1996, New Year's Eve, things began to look bleak.  Kids' WB released a New Year's celebration in which episodes of some of its shows aired.  "Road Rovers" was among those that were not featured.  Many expected it to be aired, but it was pulled late, as was "Freakazoid," which would meet the same eventual fate.  Then, finally, in January 1997, the show met it's final fate, even before airing its final four episodes, "Gold & Retrievers," "Take Me To Your Leader," "Reigning Cats & Dogs," and "A Day in the Life."  Here is the announced '97-'98 schedule:

Saturday Mornings
8:00 AM Umptee-3 TV (new series)
8:30 AM Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs (new episodes)
9:00 AM Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky & The Brain (new episodes)
9:30 AM Calamity Jane (new series)
10:00 AM Batman (new episodes)
10:30 AM Superman (new episodes)
11:00 AM The Daffy Duck Show
11:30 AM The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (new episodes)

And so, if you go by television listings sake, "Road Rovers" was replaced by "Calamity Jane," a French produced show about the historic heroine.  It was an okay show.  It would be unfair to compare it to a great show like "Road Rovers," but hey, that's what you get WB.  After 3 episodes, the show was pulled off for "retooling."  Did it ever come back?  No siree bob.  Had Kids' WB brought the Rovers back, it could still be airing, and I feel like it would have raised a very large fan base, kinda like Powerpuff Girls has done recently. And even if it didn't, 13 > 3, last time I checked. This decision was made way too early.  It was made earlier than I even began watching the show (early April, '97).  Couldn't WB have given RoRos, F!, and EJ a little more chance to show they belonged?  Instead, they decided to make a "power move."  You know how many of the above shows are still on the air?  Two.  Batman and Superman.  Whoop dee dang doo.
Rover fans rallied to save the show.  That'll be covered in the How It Returned section of this four-part series.  The interest was shown.  R-Days, Rover Rescue, all took full effect.  Kids' WB on AOL gave away Road Rover t-shirts to chat room participants.  Mailers to WB Animation received t-shirts and thank yous with a scene from the show from the Road Rover staffers.  Rover staffers showed their support for the fans efforts, and definetly knew about them.  Our fearless leader, Mr. Steven Today, received letters from co-creators Jeff Gordon (no relation to the racer) and Tom Ruegger and heard from a reliable source that Jess Harnell was backing the efforts big time.  They succeeded, just not as much as we wanted them to. 
I don't want to blame WB of doing a bad deed to Road Rover fans when the show was last aired, circa September 6, 1997.  But, when they promised "never before seen" scenes in the final episode, it got everybody pumped up.  Maybe they would say the Rovers had been saved?  Or maybe it was just be something real cool we hadn't seen before?  Maybe the Rovers would thank the fans for their efforts?  Well, after watching "A Day in the Life" that day, I concluded that there was nothing new.  I was one of the first to break this on the message boards, and things escalated from there.  Was this a parting shot?  Well, Warner Bros. said they couldn't put the episodes in because of Princess Di's untimely death.  While this is a very tragic thing, Warner Brothers does not have a nationwide news service, but even more importantly, her death occurred the night of September 6, 1997.  The episode ran THE MORNING of September 6, 1997.  All through his reign, Jamie Kellner and his cronies have shown a certain ammount of "laissez-faire" attitude towards cartoons.  Excellent shows, starting with Road Rovers, Freakazoid, and Earthworm Jim, and then later on, Animaniacs and Pinky & the Brain, as well as others, have seen their demise too early, and have been very poorly advertised.  This was obviously shown through Road Rovers. It's unfortunate that people spent so much time in a process like saving the Road Rovers, only to have the final episode of the show on its original broadcast network end with a lie. 
But, thank god this is not the way it all ended.  "Road Rovers" was in limbo for a long time, with nowhere to go.  Frantic, fans all over continued efforts to save the show.  And finally, a reward came thanks to a cable network down in Atlanta, Ga.
Next Up: Chapter 3, How It Returned
The fight to get the Road Rovers back on the air is documented...and then the final success, not new episodes, but syndication around the globe.