Sunday, September 27, 2009

The first casualty of the Fall season!!!

Wow! THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE has been yanked by the CW after only two airings. How bad must the ratings have been for the CW to give it the quick hook? THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE was about good-looking models having sex. And not enough of the CW audience was interested in seeing that?

Actually, this takes the pressure off of me. I try to predict the first fatality of the Fall season and was undecided between MERCY, TRAUMA, and THREE RIVERS. My hang-up was they’re the same show. But now I don’t have to guess. It’s THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE.

A couple of years ago Fox cancelled a show before it even aired. That of course is the record but gone after only two airings on the CW – that’s pretty impressive.

20 comments :

Aaron Barnhart said...

I wonder if the idea goes somewhere after it's killed. Is it sitting in a waiting room with Bill Safire right now?

Grant said...

Yeah... How bad were the ratings? They're going to replace it with re-runs of Melrose Place?

I'm looking at CW/UPN/WB shows that have lasted longer:

Homeboys in Outer Space

Shasta McNasty

Even "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" went four episodes. And that had Abraham Lincoln getting hooked on telegraph porn.

I'm sure I could go on.

Anonymous said...

I was foolish enough to watch the first episode. My only excuse is that I was recovering from surgery, clearly on drugs, and mostly oblivious to how awful it was.

Anonymous said...

Wow this is gonna send Mischa Barton right back to the looney bin.

Nat G said...

Imagine a rating that is too low for The CW... I mean, this is a network that just ended Everybody Hates Chris, only to see it getting higher ratings in reruns on Nick at Night than it was getting when airing new.

(Aaron: I think canceled shows have to show up for an exit interview the next morning on Good Morning, America.)

unkystan said...

I remember a sit-com called "Snip" with David Brenner and Leslie Anne Warren that was cancelled before it aired. But being cancelled during your premiere episode? That distiction belongs to "Turn On".

Wojciehowicz said...

You have to wonder how the execs who greenlight these things let them get to that point instead of not giving them the thumbs up to begin with. Or how it is they haven't learned to stop treating the production process like an audition for a show, using the network's money to get it to one show and then say no, it doesn't work.

You'd think they'd want a career with the greatest number of successful shows under their belts instead.

emily said...

So, is "The Beautiful Life" a BONO?

Mike Schryver said...

There was also "Co-Ed Fever" for CBS during the "Animal House" craze, which aired once in a special time slot (Sunday, I think), and never made it to its regular slot.

WV: pleactu: What you have to say to Gort if he doesn't respond to "Klaatu barada nikto". It means "Pretty please?"

J.J. said...

Damn. I had "Mercy" in the First Cancelled Pool. Lost again, I'm already down a grand this season. Damn.

D. McEwan said...

"emily said...
So, is "The Beautiful Life" a BONO?"

As I understand it, only if the show that replaces it gets cancelled in under three shows, and the one that replaces it, and so forth. Then it's a Bono.

I just hope FlashForward isn't canned, because the first episode was DYNAMITE! Best pilot I've seen since LOST. (And did everyone catch the bollboard for Oceanic Airlines in the premiere?)

Anonymous said...

Fascinating how many other shows people can think of that made it one (or less!) episodes. The only one I could remember was "South of Sunset," a mystery show starring the Eagles' Glenn Frey. (I remember actually wanting to see it, too, but I missed my one chance!) But, naturally, there's...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_series_canceled_after_one_episode

Howard G. said...

Mike Schryver --
You are correct -- Co-Ed Fever ran once on CBS, after the network premiere of Rocky, and got Superbowl ratings. The series (six episodes) never ran because it was bad -- no, worse -- it was carcinogenic. The showrunner (now dead) had severe cocaine-induced psychosis. He seriously threatened to kill me, twice. In showbiz jargon, this is called a really bad job.
Howard Gewirtz
Story Editor, Co-Ed Fever

Mike said...

I believe the show Ken may have been talking about was this Fox sitcom "Rewind," which starred Scott Baio. I believe the premise was Baio and his friend got caught in a time warp and went to the 1970s, or something like that. Fox greenlit it, they made I think at least six episodes, and Fox pulled it just a couple of weeks before its debut.

And speaking of Fox, while it's not a sitcom, Fox ordered a TV version of Cruel Intentions, called "Manchester Prep." It was a prequel to the movie, and was going to take place at the high school the characters went to in the film. Fox also canceled it just weeks before its debut. The pilot movie surfaced on DVD shortly thereafter, as "Cruel Intentions 2" (even though, again, it was a prequel).

Anonymous said...

accidentally on purpose !! that show sux! - just watching episode 2 now, and it's all flashback - of what happened on their first night together - last week!! r u kidding me?? if you're using flashbacks for storyline in episode 2, you're in some real trouble, in my opinion...

D. McEwan said...

"Anonymous said...
accidentally on purpose !! that show sux! - just watching episode 2 now, and it's all flashback - of what happened on their first night together - last week!! r u kidding me?? if you're using flashbacks for storyline in episode 2, you're in some real trouble, in my opinion..."

Next week, a clip show!

nancy graceless said...

Please tell us CougarTown is on permanent hiatus.
ABC, are you listening. One episode was enough. Next............

jbryant said...

I'm waiting for a show to be canceled during its first commercial break. You come back from the kitchen, and they've put up a Law and Order repeat or something.

Erik Holmberg said...

I might have missed something but if a understand things correctly the networks order a pilot, and if they like that one they order a number of shows. But if they have already order the shows why not order every one they got they have already paid for them.

Anonymous said...

Actually, it looks like "V" is already canceled before airing. Or rather, "on hiatus".