canceled-related stories
Posted Oct 19th 2009 2:29PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Just when I'd added
Southland to my list of shows to spotlight in upcoming editions of "Gone Too Soon," now there are glimmers of hope for its future. After NBC unceremoniously dumped it
before it premiered this season, in favor of more
Dateline, fans and television pundits were stunned.
Executive producer John Wells has reportedly been in contact with the cast to tell them he has at least
two cable networks interested in picking up Southland. The good news comes in two ways. One, the series gets to come back. And two, a cable network is a lot less likely to tamper with the storytelling style
Southland was developing in its first season. NBC already had them de-emphasizing the larger cast and the serialized nature of their storytelling in the episodes they were filming for the new season.
Continue reading Southland may yet find new life on cable
Posted Sep 29th 2009 5:25PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
When ITV canceled their hit series
Primeval, I was baffled. This was the top-rated show on BBC America, and it was a pretty solid hit worldwide as well. Apparently, I was right about that, though, as BBC Worldwide and German ProSeiben are part of a complex deal that enabled the show to go back into production.
If only there were an organizaton like that that could step in every time a network axes a sci-fi show on a massive cliffhanger, like
Primeval was. Even better, the renewal gives the series
two new seasons at 13 episodes each. We're going to have to wait until 2011 to find out how Connor and Abby get out of that tree, but that's better than never finding out.
Unlike the
Jericho renewal of a few years back, this deal doesn't include any reductions in budget of any kind, so not only will they be able to keep the entire cast intact, the effects budget remains untouched. I'm glad to hear that, as I don't think I was ready for men in rubber suits chasing the crew around.
Posted Aug 29th 2009 1:02PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Rescue Me, Video, Cancellations, Reality-Free
The boys of 62 Truck are finally calling it quits. According to TVGuide.com, Tommy, Lou, Franco and the rest of the
Rescue Me crew have
fought their last fire, polished the rig one final time, and will hang up their boots for good in 2011.
Details on how it'll end, who might be back, and a preview of this Tuesday's season five finale are after the jump.
Continue reading The fire is out: Rescue Me done in 2011
Posted Aug 17th 2009 8:10AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Cancellations, Ratings
It's not really possible that every summer premiere on the great
American broadcast TV schedule crashed and burned, is it?
But, out of all the original programs that premiered on the major networks after the completion of the fall 2008 season, not a single one got traction.
According to
analysis reports, you can take your pick from any of the following shows:
Defying Gravity,
The Superstars,
The Listener,
Mental,
The Philanthropist,
Hitched or Ditched,
Merlin and
Great American Road Trip. All of them bombed -- each hovering just above a one market share.
In fact, you don't need numbers to prove that the fall crop crapped out. Ask your friend what his/her favorite summer replacement show was. You'll be waiting awhile.
Continue reading Entire summer TV schedule declared a failure
Posted Aug 9th 2009 12:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Animation, Reality-Free
It looks like
The Goode Family and Surviving Suburbia won't be surviving. ABC confirmed that Friday night's airings of both episodes season finales are in fact their respective series finales. I've sampled both series at one point or another in their runs, and this fate was inevitable.
It was great seeing the "other" Bob Saget get some TV time, but
Surviving Suburbia just wasn't good television. Maybe if you're a television fan who's never seen a family sitcom, then the formulaic plotlines and dialogue won't bother you. In a way, I had the same problem with
The Goode Family.
However, with the latter, it seemed like they had the potential to grow into something better. I think in the beginning they were too bogged down by their schtick: a family of do-gooders, recycling and living green and all of that crap.
Continue reading It's bad news for The Goode Family and Surviving Suburbia
Posted Jun 12th 2009 8:13AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cancellations, Reality-Free
If any of you
Hickey fans were hoping that the show might live on in cable, it's time for me to shatter all your hopes and dreams like that first girl who told you you just weren't all that. The truth hurts. It looks like the producers couldn't make the numbers work, so
new episodes of My Name Is Earl won't be coming to TBS after all. I'm of mixed feelings about this now. I really enjoyed the show for the most part, but now that I have some distance from it, I don't think I'll be too shattered if it's gone.
Continue reading It looks like Earl has checked off his last list item after all
Posted Jun 1st 2009 2:27PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
ABC has
given an air date to
Samantha Who?'s swan song. The network will begin burning off the seven remaining episodes of the show Thursdays at 8 p.m. starting June 25.
As we mentioned last week, even a
petition set up by star Christina Applegate couldn't save
Samantha Who? from the axe. It's a shame. Applegate has turned into such a magnetic and charming comedic actor. Here's hoping she gets another shot at her own show or, like Jason
already suggested, a long-running guest stint on
HIMYM or maybe
The Big Bang Theory.
ABC is also making room on its summer schedule for the final eps of
Cupid and
In the Motherhood. The sole remaining ep of
Cupid, which shared the same fate as the 1998 show it was based on, will air June 16 -- if the NBA Finals don't make it to Game 6! (That's another slap in the face from the network to
Cupid creator Rob Thomas).
In the Motherhood's final three eps will begin airing June 25 at 8:30 p.m.
Posted May 18th 2009 2:30AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Cancellations, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reality-Free
How many times have we Internet bloggos reported the cancellation of
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles?
It seems like the series was killed and resurrected a dozen times during its second season. At this point, it's hard to believe
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello who is telling us that
the show is dead and will not rise again no matter how much its fans kick and scream. But it looks like Fox has officially canceled
TSCC.
Continue reading The Sarah Connor Chronicles is terminated - for real this time
Posted Apr 14th 2009 8:35PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Cancellations, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reality-Free
And yes, I am probably the 50th person to use that headline for this story. Thank you.
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting (from various sources he has skulking around the television world) that
FOX is just about to cancel The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The
ratings haven't been great for the sci-fi show. FOX paired it with
Dollhouse on Friday nights and there has been no reason to keep the show alive for another season (ratings-wise, anyway - I'll leave it to the fans to judge the quality of the show itself). Things don't look that great for
Dollhouse either, but that's another story.
Officially, the network won't announce its fall schedule for another month or so, at their annual upfront presentation. Unofficially, you probably shouldn't look for the show on that fall schedule. Now I guess we'll just have to wait for the premiere of the movie
where Christian Bale yelled at everyone.
Posted Dec 19th 2008 1:01PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Stargate, Festivus, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
... five canceled shows.
Some shows, like critical darlings
The Shield and
Battlestar Galactica, are allowed to end gracefully; major story arcs are wrapped up and fans are left satisfied. Others are yanked from network schedules like unsightly weeds from a rose garden.
The networks yanked a number of shows off the air this season. Most of them, like
The Ex List, probably deserved the axe, but there were four that deserved more time to develop an audience and one that I'm really gonna miss. In no particular order, they are:
Continue reading On the 5th day of Festivus, TV gave to me...
Posted Dec 19th 2008 11:03AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Festivus, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
As we do every year, we here at
TV Squad are reminiscing on the top TV news stories of the year. What has 2008 brought us? Well, while we were all complaining about the lack of quality shows that debuted this season, we may have missed the second-year shows going right down the crapper.
Let's start over at ABC. Three very promising shows premiered last season --
Dirty Sexy Money,
Eli Stone, and
Pushing Daisies -- to praise from the critics and buzz from the viewers.
Dirty Sexy Money, with the cast that could be someone's fantasy cast, started off strong. There was a mystery, unique and complex characters, and some integrity. With the writer's strike went the integrity and the ratings, and recently, we got the news that
no more episodes of Dirty Sexy Money would be ordered.
Continue reading Top TV Stories of 2008: Second-year shows go down the toilet
Posted Oct 8th 2008 9:03AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Cancellations, The Riches, Reality-Free
The Riches was one of those shows that suffered from the p-word: potential. With an interesting story -- a family of Travelers settle into a stolen life as an upper-middle-class suburban family -- and excellent acting performances from Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, the show had the same breakout potential as any of FX's other dramas.
But the show's potential was never realized, either creatively or in the ratings. The show always had trouble balancing dark comedy and intense drama, and it strained to make the audience care about the Malloys, who were dealing with the consequences of stealing the American Dream. At the end of its aborted second season, FX had not committed either way to bringing the show back. Well, now we know: Mike Ausiello of
EW confirmed yesterday that
The Riches has been cancelled.Continue reading FX cancels The Riches
Posted Aug 5th 2008 3:23PM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Cancellations, TV Squad Lists, Moonlight, Reality-Free
There will always be
Buffy,
Angel,
Quantum Leap and
Magnum, P.I. on my "Oh Man I Want New Episodes of These Shows" list, but what about the more recently canceled shows of the past few years? Are there any worth mourning?
Maybe not in the same way I mourn my culty loves and classic '80s shows, but there are a few worth mentioning....
Moonlight Yep, I know, I am one of Those People -- a fan of
Moonlight. Though I agree it was weak when it returned after the writer's strike, there were lots of things to love about this show: the vampire lore, the episodic mysteries, the way they could have taken the love story (had they not muffed it up in the last four episodes), the actors (
Jason Dohring and
Alex O'Laughlin; not Sophia Myles). I can't believe that I won't find out more of the back story with Joseph's family and Coraline.
Continue reading Recently canceled shows I mourn
Posted Mar 24th 2008 7:04PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Cancellations
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.
Continue reading FOX cancels Jezebel James; no one is surprised
Posted Oct 22nd 2007 3:45PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Contests and Giveaways, Cancellations, Ratings
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.
Continue reading Viva Laughlin gets a quick cancellation
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