Well, that was fast. After an avalanche of scathing reviews (including mine) and extremely low ratings, CBS has canceled the musical mystery drama Viva Laughlin after two episodes. According to the story on Variety's web site, the show will be replaced in its Sunday 8 PM timeslot by The Amazing Race starting November 4 (a CSI rerun will air in that slot next week). No word yet on if the remaining episodes will be shown on CBS' web site, or anywhere else for that matter.I imagine what happened is that CBS took a look at the low ratings for the show's Thursday premiere (8.8 million viewers) and the even lower ratings for the first regular Sunday showing (a 1.2 rating and 3 share in th 18-49 demo, according to Variety), saw that the quality of the remaining episodes were not going to improve, and decided to bail out. Those are the two factors that usually lead to such quick cancellations, especially to shows that were as heavily-promoted as Laughlin was.
This has got to go down as one of the biggest disasters in network history, right up there with Emily's Reasons Why Not and The Will. Not only was this a remake of a popular BBC miniseries (Viva Blackpool), but it had Hugh Jackman's name attached to it as an executive producer. In addition, the Tiffany Network used this as one of the big examples of how their new fall shows were supposed to be edgier and attract more buzz than their returning shows (save for How I Met Your Mother and an occasional CSI episode). Unfortunately, the only buzz the network got was negative, as not even Cavemen and Big Shots got such universally awful reviews.
Still, two episodes over three days is an very quick hook. Do you think the show got a fair shake? Let me know in the poll below.
UPDATE: Yes, this means we'll be choosing the first winner (out of the 41 who chose Viva) in our TV Squad Cancellation Trifecta game and allowing you all to enter again to choose the second show to get the ax. Stay tuned!
Giveaways reminder: Office, Eli Stone, Supernatural, South Park
Giveaway Thursday: Tickets to the New York Television Festival ... all of it!
I miss the media-friendly John McCain - VIDEOS
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-22-2007 @ 3:58PM
jeff said...
that sucks, i liked the show.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:12PM
Vivek said...
Yahooooo, The Amazing race is back!!!
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:15PM
Deezul said...
Anything to keep the Amazing Race off the air. "Waah, we're Americans and you don't speak English. Help us anyway."
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:20PM
gwangi said...
So did this last longer than Cop Rocks?
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:30PM
Shark said...
I wonder if Jericho will replace this on Sunday nights. I read that CBS is looking to put it back on in place of their first cancellation.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:38PM
Margaret Calvert said...
I enjoyed the two airings I got to watch. I liked it because it was unique. I think if people judge a new program just by reading reviews, they probably miss some good entertainment (TV & movies). I also think there was more of story to the program than it was given credit for in all the hype. I'm not a fan of The Amazing Race, so I'll have a little less TV to watch until "the next big/new thing" comes down the pike. I'm a huge fan of Jackman, so hate to see the "ding" on his resume, I've read that Melanie Griffith has had a hard time getting work, but she wasn't half bad in Viva Laughlin. She's not someone I miss seeing, but she's also a victim of the "women over-40 can't find work" syndrome. But, she's not the brightest talent either.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:43PM
JT said...
If you liked this show please report immediately to your local public psychiatric unit for indefinite internment.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:50PM
Max said...
Thank goodness. This was the worst show I ever saw. The concept was interesting, but the writing and the acting were just painful to watch! Everyone in it was uniformly horrible and should be ashamed. How something this dreadful made it on the air is beyond me.
It made the Nick shows like iCarly and Zoey101 look like Masterpiece Theater.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:51PM
Jeff N. said...
I don't like it when they cancel shows so quickly. But I love it that they are bringing back Amazing Race so soon. I wonder if there will be two runs of Amazing Race now? because I had read there was only one run of epsiodes instead of the usual two.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 4:59PM
dan.radio said...
Nothing beats Supertrain for TV show flops.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 5:13PM
scott said...
why was the premier on thursday against er.
not even 2 esp in the same timeslot.
idiot networks.
I was much better than many things on the air.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 5:24PM
Chris said...
You know what i gave Viva Laughing a chance on both nites. The show was just awful, the main guy can't sing and it just doesn't make any sense. This is one cancellation I will not contest.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 5:48PM
C C said...
Viva Laughlin was going to be a tough sell even if it had been a good show. I know the latest thing is to borrow concepts for tv shows from the Brits, but adapting Viva Blackpool for American audiences was just not a good idea. Because it was on British tv,Viva Blackpool didn't have that many episodes-therefore it worked. It functioned more like one of our "mini-series". But transfering it to a 22 episode season? A tall order.
CBS should have picked up Babylon Fields instead.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 5:52PM
Lord Bodak said...
One episode in its timeslot and they kill it-- that's stupid no matter how bad the show was.I'm disappointed to see Amazing Race come back so soon, because the 8:00 Sunday timeslot SUCKS during football season. The end of the show always runs into Desperate Housewives time and I miss one or the other.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 6:02PM
K said...
Hey Lord Bodak - quit your whining and go buy a couple of DVRs.
I was amazed this show was even on a Network! Let alone make it on the air in the first place!
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 6:13PM
Veronica said...
About the cancellation game, it seems that Nashville was canceled as well:
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=7474
And I completely agree with everyone who said that Viva Laughlin was terrible, I couldn't bring myself to finish watching the pilot...
But most importantly - The Amazing Race is baaaack!!!
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 6:23PM
Ryan said...
No more Viva! I'm very glad Amazing Race is back. And with this cancellation, Eric Winters can go back to Brothers & Sisters! Win-win-win!
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 6:33PM
JRM said...
For the purposes of the contest, wasn't Nashville canceled first? The Futon Critic reported on 10/19 that Nashville was canceled and on 10/22 that Viva Laughlin was canceled.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 6:54PM
Brent McKee said...
"Nashville" wasn't cancelled, it was put on "indefinite hiatus" and if the writers strike drags on long enough you might see the rest of it. Strictly speaking though, "Online Nation" from The CW was the first series cancelled.
Reply
10-22-2007 @ 6:58PM
Brian said...
YES! I was going to paste that same futoncritic article. Nashville was first! Aren't you guys supposed to keep up on that stuff better than us?! :P But yeah, I do remember a previous posting here that said if Nashville never came back it would be considered the first show cancelled.
Reply