TVSquad

Well, this isn't a big surprise: TV Guide's Mike Ausiello has just found out from FOX that The Return of Jezebel James has been canceled after three episodes. Jezebel James was the first project for executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino since she and her husband, Daniel Palladino, left Gilmore Girls after the show's sixth season.

Reviews for the show -- including mine -- were largely negative; almost all of them cited how Sherman-Palladino's unique writing style and pace were thrown off by the studio audience / laugh track used for the show. FOX obviously didn't have any confidence in the show, because it was airing episodes on Friday nights after cutting its initial order from 13 episodes to 7.

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.

ABC has yanked The Knights of Prosperity and The Nine off its schedule... again. Both series performed poorly in the ratings last season and were officially canceled in the spring. But, ABC was taking the opportunity to burn off the final episodes during this summer. Apparently even that wasn't garnering enough ratings for the network, because they've been replaced by reruns of According to Jim and NASCAR in Primetime.

There are still four episodes of The Nine that have not aired and two episodes of Knights that never aired. No word from ABC on whether they will ever see the light of day, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The folks over at iTunes have created this handy list for people who want to spend some time this summer catching up on the television shows that don't get as much buzz (anything that's not Lost, Grey's Anatomy, 24). The list includes full seasons of Friday Night Lights, Jericho, 30 Rock, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, The Riches, Dirt and Eureka. Also? You can bask in the glory of hastily canceled shows like Andy Barker, P.I., Veronica Mars, and The Black Donnellys. Oh, and Studio 60 is on there, but I wouldn't call that a "hastily" canceled show. (The current--and final--season of The Loop is also on iTunes, though it's not on the 'Missed' list)

This is a great idea. Many of the shows listed get a lot of buzz on sites like ours (because our readers know good television), but the general population doesn't seem to catch on. If only How I Met Your Mother would get on iTunes... it could definitely use some more fans as it heads into season 3.

I'm in denial even as I write this. Ausiello over at TV Guide has a scoop that appears to be about How I Met Your Mother, although he's not naming names just yet. He says the comedy may not be renewed because some stuffed suit over at CBS doesn't get it. Or, to quote Ausiello directly, the bigwig thinks HIMYM "is about as funny as a root canal." (What?!? You have to be dead if you don't find Barney funny) I wonder if this is the same decision-maker who keeps renewing The Unit?

Why do I suspect it's HIMYM? Because Ausiello gives a big hint, saying that the show in question was passed over for a major promotion earlier this season. That sounds an awful lot like how HIMYM got screwed out of the post-Super Bowl slot, doesn't it? Plus, there hasn't been any official word about a renewal for HIMYM so even if I'm wrong, it wouldn't hurt to send some support to the show.

Fans, it may be time for a rally. CBS has a feedback button on the bottom of its homepage where you can flood the network with love for Ted, Robin, Lily, Marshall and Barney.

*UPDATE: Here's the online petition. (Thanks, e!)

[Thanks for the tip, Steven!]

First it was Perfect Hair Forever and The Brak Show, and now Adult Swim is also bringing back 12 Oz Mouse with exclusive Web-only episodes, according to this interview with creator Matt Maiellaro. The new episodes are set to begin production next month. Maiellaro also mentioned a future DVD release, so there's plenty for 12 Oz Mouse fans to be thrilled about.

From the very beginning with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Adult Swim has provided folks like myself with the kind of goofy surrealist comedy we crave. What's particularly intriguing about 12 Oz Mouse is that it manages to be a weird show even in contrast to the weird shows that surround it. It doesn't provide the eleven-minute comedy pummeling of other Williams Street fare, but instead unravels slowly, revealing a little bit more of what's underneath the surface while also piling on more and more questions. It is the most simplistically drawn of all the Adult Swim shows, and yet the most complex in terms of story. It's that paradox that kept me engrossed in the series right up to the last televised episode.

[via Toon Zone Forums]

20th Century Fox is developing a feature called Coach Snoop about Snoop Dogg's Snoop Youth Football Team Foundation. The problem is, Snoop had also signed a deal with Natural Resources Media & Technology Group to develop a reality series about his youth football league. Since 20th Century owned the exclusive rights to any production involving the football league, the reality series was forced to shut down production. Now Natural Resources Media & Technology Group has filed a lawsuit against the foundation for breach of contract.

If trying to process all of that information almost made your head explode, join the club. It kind of makes me wonder exactly what Snoop was thinking, since at some point this information was going to surface.

No official word from CBS yet, but Broadcasting & Cable reports that it's all over for 3 lbs after only three airings. CBS launched the show, which many considered a rip-off of House, after it canceled Smith. The network actually hoped that House would provide some ratings for the show in the same way that Grey's Anatomy viewers have flipped over to ER on NBC. No such luck, though. 3 lbs actually did worse than its predecessor. Ratings for 3 lbs were 16% lower than Smith. Ouch!

I actually liked the premiere of 3 lbs, but I never remembered to watch the subsequent episodes. Starting next week, CBS will fill the 10 pm Tuesday time slot with reruns of one of its many procedural dramas.

Ratings are so poor for NBC's Kidnapped that it's being pulled from its crappy Saturday time slot. The show was sent there earlier this month from its Wednesday night time slot, where it was also tanking. Previously, NBC had ordered the show to stop production after 13 episodes, which is why we dubbed it the first canceled show of the Fall 2006 season.

Last Saturday, Kidnapped got only about 3.7 million viewers, making it the lowest-watched program on television that night. Only five episodes of Kidnapped have aired so far and there's no word from NBC on whether it will even play out the rest of the 'season'. Starting this Saturday, reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent will play instead of Kidnapped.

Sad news here. This morning Showtime announced that Huff will not be back for a third season. The decision was made after numbers for the second season didn't exceed the low ratings of the first. I suppose it's nice that we at least got two seasons because if you recall, Showtime president Robert Greenblatt gave the second season a greenlight before the pilot even aired. If that hadn't happened, I might have been posting about this a year ago.

Hank Azaria and the rest of the cast were notified of the news earlier this week. They should feel proud of what they did accomplish though. A best supporting actress Emmy for Blythe Danner and nominations for Azaria and Oliver Platt are nothing to be ashamed about. And who knows if they'll get any more nods this year.

I'm especially disappointed by this as are some of my fellow TV Squadders. Heck, we even interviewed show creator Bob Lowry twice! Everyone should tune in to the season series finale this Sunday though. I've already had the opportunity to screen it and you won't be disappointed.

TV Guide is reporting that Veronica Mars just got renewed for a third season. According to creator Rob Thomas, The CW is picking up Mars for 22 episodes, with an agreement that if ratings are bad, it'll drop back to 13 episodes.

Also from TV Guide, word that One Tree Hill is renewed but Everwood is canceled. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

[Thanks to tipsters Ashley & Peter!]

Ahead of today's Upfronts, The Futon Critic is reporting that NBC is not renewing Conviction or Teachers for the fall. Neither of these cancelations comes as a surprise, really. The storytelling style on Conviction was so complicated that it was virtually impossible to feel anything for any of the characters (although, I'm going to miss Julianne Nicholson and Eric Balfour). And, Teachers? Why was that even on television?

Also, ABC had reportedly decided not to renew Invasion, Freddie and Hope & Faith. Also not major surprises-- and Invasion might end up on The CW. What will Kelly Ripa do with all her extra time?

Stick around... Bob will be covering NBC's Upfronts later today.

Here's a welcome piece of news (at least to me), via our friends at The Futon Critic (and via another TVS-friendly blogger, Whitney Matheson of USAToday.com): NBC has yanked the remaining six episodes of Four Kings from the schedule, replacing them with reruns of My Name Is Earl. No word if the six leftover episodes will air, but it's not looking good. Two of the stars have already signed on to new pilots, so the show's pretty much dead. Not that I'll miss it, but it would be nice if Seth Green was starred in at least one successful show that didn't involve clay chickens, know what I mean?

Still Standing and Yes, Dear (aka two of The Five: Shows that give lazy overweight men hope) won't return for another season. The cancelation of Yes, Dear comes as no surprise, as CBS only ordered half a season and star Anthony Clark recently announced that he'll be the new host of the next edition of NBC's Last Comic Standing (Yeah! No Jay Mohr!). It lasted six seasons and is already in syndication.

The fourth and, most likely, final season of Still Standing comes to an end tonight in two half-hour episodes on CBS, according to USA Today. While CBS hasn't officially canceled the sitcom, which was the 93rd-ranked show this season, the producers and writers had no illusions that they probably wouldn't return, so they handled the season finale as if it were the final episode for the series. Since the show lasted four seasons, with 88 episodes, it qualifies for syndication.

Rose McGowan had been hinting at it in television interviews, but now it looks like it's official. Charmed will not be making the transition when UPN and the WB merge into the CW. The last show of the series, which ran for eight seasons, will be May 21. If there's the slightest bit of silver lining to this cloud hovering over the heads of Charmed fans, it's that the last episode was written as a "series ender" according to executive producer Brad Kern. At the very least, the series will end with some kind of closure.

Thanks to Cavalera for the tip.