TVSquad

Oh, Cupid remake, we hardly knew ye.

So the show is dead and gone. It won't be renewed by ABC and it's not going to be saved by another network. At this rate, with Cupid and Studio 60, some people are going to start calling Sarah Paulson a "show killer." That's silly, of course.

So why didn't this Cupid make it further? Just not good enough? Did it pale in comparison to the Jeremy Piven original? Too many quirky, light shows already on TV? Nothing to grab viewers? The cast?

When a Cupid remake (the original starred Jeremy Piven) was announced months ago, a lot of fans wondered if an update was even necessary. So here we are after the season finale, so I have to ask...was an update even necessary? How did it compare to the original? Should the series come back for another season?

(S01E03) This episode really lacked the charm and spirit of the first two. We did get to see the kooky Julie Hagerty as Claire's kooky mom. That was a plus. But you know a show isn't winning you over when the star's designer T-shirts are more interesting than the plot.

Only three episodes in and the Cupid cancellation rumors are swirling. According to some sites, the show is already dead. I might have been upset about Cupid going bye bye two weeks ago. Today, not so much.

I won't weep for a show that delivers warmed over fluff instead of compelling stories and interesting characters week after week. The first two episodes weren't amazing, but the charming cast, some great guest stars and the show's optimistic spirit managed to make them watchable. Tonight's ep dragged, the story and the couple of the week were straight outta dullsville, and Trevor and Claire's banter is getting old fast.

(S01E02) Like I wrote last week, the success of Cupid 2.0 will hinge heavily on the guest stars. Luckily, this week's guest stars were great.

Erik Palladino and Julie Ann Emery (as Mick and Riley) gave me the warm fuzzies as Cupid's latest couple of the week. I enjoyed their chemistry so much that I was able to forgive the stock "surprise twist" that reared its witless head in the third act.

(S01E01) Call me a hopeless romantic, but I was charmed by the series premiere of Cupid 2.0.

ABC's original Cupid from 10 years ago, also headed up by executive producer Rob Thomas, was a smart, playful and quirky hour of television that looked and felt like nothing else on the air at the time. ABC's promos for Thomas' remake made this new show look silly and the quirkiness look forced. Thankfully, that's not the case – for the most part.

Bobby Cannavale plays Trevor (played by Jeremy Piven in the original), a New York City bartender who claims he's Cupid, the god of romantic love. Expelled from Olympus, he's given the task of bringing one hundred couples together here on Earth. Trevor goes about his plan under the watchful eye of Sarah Paulson's Dr. Claire McCrae (Claire Allen in the original), a psychiatrist and best-selling self-help book author assigned to monitor Trevor's release from a psychiatric hospital.

Ten years after ABC prematurely cancelled Rob Thomas' dramedy Cupid, the alphabet net has decided to give it another go. The new version of the show, which premieres Tuesday at 10 PM ET, now stars Sarah Paulson and Bobby Cannavale in the roles originated by Paula Marshall and Jeremy Piven, respectively.

The premise is the same: Trevor Pierce claims to be Cupid, exiled from Mt. Olympus, and he needs to find true love for 100 couples before he is allowed back home. After Trevor is arrested for one of his stunts and sent to a psychological hospital, singles self-help guru Dr. Claire McCrae is assigned to keep track of him as he makes his way in the outside world. This time around, the show is set in the fast paced and cynical world of New York, complete with all the modern touches of dating in the late '00s (Maybe Cupid will have a Twitter account).

I spoke to the stars of the new Cupid last week. While I was on the phone, I asked Paulson about what happened on her previous series, Studio 60. I got a pretty interesting response...

Back when I was a kid, besides walking several miles in the snow to school, we never heard the insider-ish, behind the scenes details of what was going on behind the scenes of a TV show. We hardly knew that shows were even coming up, not until we got the super-duper fall preview issue of TV Guide. We didn't have any preconceived notions of the shows, we didn't know about any episode orders or set tension or anything like that. Shows just premiered, they stayed on or they didn't, and then we moved on.

That's not the case nowadays, of course. TV fans on the web (thanks to sites like, well, this one) know just about everything about a TV show months before it airs. And here's another little bit of information about a show before it airs: ABC has again dropped the number of episodes it wants for the Rob Thomas remake of Cupid.

Fans might remember the original TV show Cupid, which starred Jeremy Piven long before Entourage made him a household name and he won a bunch of Emmy awards. It was about a seemingly ordinary guy who might just have been the magical guy who gets lovers together (or maybe he was just crazy). There's a new version coming to ABC from Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, and the trailer for the show is after the jump.

This one stars Bobby Cannavale, and it seems to be...quirkier than the original? Not that the original wasn't quirky, but there was something very down to earth about it. This one seems like it might be forcing that quirkiness. I'm not sure if it's going to be a comedy, a drama, or the dreaded dramedy, so I'll throw it in both categories. It has a good cast though.

Studio 60 fans will recognize Sarah Paulson. I'm sure her character will be just as beloved in this show as she was in that one.

I am about to write something that I normally don't do when it comes to the way networks program their primetime schedules. It's something that will shake your foundations, rock the world, turn Republicans into Democrats (and vice-versa) and make Amy Winehouse finally get sober. Ready? ABC is being smart with its programming schedule.

There, it's done. Now to sit back and wait for the accolades.

Seriously, after years of relying on only a handful of shows to carry the schedule throughout the year, ABC has been filling out their schedules with a number of backup shows to fill those gaps that always appear when a fall premiere tanks. Granted, some of these mid-season replacements also tank, but at least the network is letting them try. Because of that we have been lucky to enjoy shows like Samantha Who? and Eli Stone. This time around, ABC has five new series - all scripted - that will be premiering during the 2008-09 season. You'll find a brief explanation of each after the jump.

It's hard to believe that we're a full year removed from the glorious mess that was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It seemed that the split between "liked it" and "hated it" was about 50-50, but everyone wanted to comment. One thing I noticed in those comments was that, even among the people who liked it, there was a strong sentiment against the performance of Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes. Most people just didn't like the chemistry she had with Matthew Perry, and she didn't manage to make us care enough about the plight of the über-religious comedian to root for her to connect with anyone.

So, for anyone who's looking forward to the revival of Rob Thomas' Cupid, the news that Paulson's been cast as the female lead on the show has to be disheartening. She's playing Dr. Claire Allen, the same role Paula Marshall played in the original series, opposite Bobby Cannavale, who is taking over the Cupid role from Jeremy Piven.

Just in time for tomorrow's series finale on NBC at 10pm comes this announcement from Warner Home Video that they will release Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Complete Series on October 16.

The set will not only include all 22 episodes from it's first and only season, but there will be a new behind the scenes featurette and episode commentaries by creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme (hopefully cast members will join in too).

...of course, the second part of that headline should probably be "...but it probably won't be renewed."

There have been rumors going around that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip had stopped production, but that's not the case. In fact, they just finished filming episode 19 earlier this week, and filming of episode 20 started earlier today. So it looks like they'll film the full 22 for the season, but after that...well, they'll probably burn off the episodes during the summer and the show will not see a second season. That's Ray Richmond's take on it, and I agree with him.

Which is really too bad, because...well, for all the reasons I've mentioned several times here at the site before. And it's too bad that NBC abandoned the show, even though other shows that have premiered since Studio 60 was put on hiatus haven't done any better in the ratings. It would have been really nice to see what the show could have done in another time slot, another night. But I guess we'll have to be happy with a one season DVD set, hopefully with extras.

[via TV Tattle]

If you are avid readers of TV Squad you know that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is taking a little break. Okay, it may be taking a long break. All right, the next time we see it may be on the Brilliant But Cancelled website! Regardless of whether or not it returns to the NBC schedule (which is should, since it does have a full order) I am still rooting for the show. Not because of Aaron Sorkin, or the subject matter, or even for the walk-and-talks. I am rooting for Studio 60 to succeed due to one cast member . . . Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes.

Oh, wait a minute. That's for my 'The reason I'm NOT rooting for Studio 60' post. Who I meant to mention was Matt Perry as Matt Albie. Well, also Bradley Whitford as Danny Tripp, Amanda Peet as Jordan McDeere, D.L. Hughley as Simon Stiles, and pretty much everyone else on the cast except Harriet Hayes. But, mostly I'm rooting for Matt Perry.

I almost didn't write this, because I'm really just inviting every person who hates me or hates Studio 60 (or the many people who seem to have a part-time job hating me and Studio 60) to just jump into the comments section and tell me why the show was bad and why I'm a terrible, terrible human being for even liking it. But then I decided, what the hell. In fact, let me help you with your comments. Cut and paste as you desire:

1. No one cares about what's going on behind the scenes of a late night comedy show
2. Sarah Paulson isn't funny.
3. The show isn't funny.
4. Sorkin is too preachy!
5. There's no chemistry between Paulson and Perry, and they focus on the Matt/Harriet plot too much.
6. Amanda Peet isn't believable/too young/too pretty to be a network exec.
7. You suck Sassone!

The previews hammered it home a thousand times this past week: this episode of Studio 60 would be the one that "America will be talking about." So I have to ask America: are you talking about it this morning?

I don't bring this up to dig into the episode specifically (though the two-part "Harriet Dinner" episode was certainly the worst so far). I like the show. I bring it up to point out that network promos these days are overdone, overhyped, misleading and/or confusing. They usually don't make sense or are disappointing when it comes to everything from ER to Lost, but this one was truly odd. Why would America be talking about this episode when America hasn't really been talking about the show so far? The moment they were talking about, I assume it was the kiss between Danny and Jordan? OK, nice moment, and the second part of this ep was better than the first by a longshot, but I hardly think it's something that we're talking about in any major way. Danny and Jordan aren't Sam and Diane yet, or Dave and Maddie.

Maybe they meant Ugly Betty star America Ferrera?