Posted Aug 26th 2008 11:23AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Celebreality
In terms of compelling celebrity reality shows, Denise Richards thought she had a great story to tell. Her life seemed very complicated, what with her fights with ex-husband Charlie Sheen and their legal wrangling over their children, it seemed like a compelling product.
Umm...no, it wasn't.
Today,
E! pulled the plug on Denise Richards It's Complicated, her attempt to keep up with the Kardashians and outdo the Hogans. The bottom line with Denise's show was that it really wasn't that complicated. It was dull.
Her family appeared as her supporting players, including her father who -- like his children -- is still mourning the loss of his wife, Denise's mom. Those moments in the show were sad, but a little went a long way.
Denise's getting in the middle of the employment issues with her assistants was hardly great TV, nor was watching Denise driving in Beverly Hills. And, yes, the ratings were declining week after week.
Continue reading Not so complicated after all - Denise Richards' show axed
Posted Aug 21st 2008 9:22AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Industry, Stargate, Cancellations, Reality-Free
Well, this is just all kinds of disappointing, and a little surprising. Season five of
Stargate Atlantis will be
the end of its run on Sci Fi. That's a surprising bit of news considering that ratings are actually up for season five, compared to season four. Unfortunately, the economics of making the show are catching up with it. As the show goes beyond season five, salaries go up, and the exchange rate bonus of shooting in Canada isn't what it once was.
It might mark the end of the series, but we will hear more from our friends in
Atlantis. The network has ordered a two hour movie and says the show will live on as a network franchise. I'm not sure if that means they hope to do more movies, or they are just confirming that they will continue to fill out the schedule with copious
SG-1 and
Atlantis reruns. The movie will be written by
Atlantis showrunners, Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. As you would expect, there are no details about casting or the story at this point.
Continue reading Stargate Atlantis canceled, kind of
Posted Aug 15th 2008 10:39AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Programming, OpEd, Grey's Anatomy, Short-Lived Shows, Criminal Minds, Cancellations, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free, Army Wives
I can't decide if this is good news or bad news.
Moonlight star
Alex O'Loughlin is staying at CBS.
Unless you've been in another galaxy for the past year, you know that the Aussie actor cultivated an enormous fan base with his role as vampire P.I. Mick St. John on CBS'
Moonlight. The uproar caused by the cancellation of the show in May can still be heard, well, in another galaxy.
At the
Television Critics Association press tour in July,
CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler said the popularity of
Moonlight was
due in large part to O'Loughlin's fan base. So I can appreciate the fact that CBS wants to keep him around. But it's what they'll do with him that has me worried.
Continue reading Alex O'Loughlin inks deal with CBS...now if they could just create a show like Moonlight...
Posted Aug 6th 2008 2:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Cancellations, Reality-Free
Perhaps the strangest soap opera of all time has come to an end now that
Passions has been canceled by DirecTV. The gothic, modern psycho-drama set in a small Maine town replete with witches, elves, zombies and even some regular people, lasted nine years on the air. In primetime terms, that would be a hell of a run. For soaps, it characterizes
Passions as a noble -- to some -- failure.
I never cared for
Passions. It turned me off in the first season, 1999, but it wasn't because of the outre elements. I was actually interested in the gothic stuff because I'd grown up enjoying
Dark Shadows with Barnabus and Quentin and Angelique and all those horror classic reinterpretations on a next-to-nothing budget -- furniture provided by Stern's Department Store, as I recall -- including werewolves,
Frankenstein's monster and
The Innocents, and parallel universes.
Dark Shadows remains a vivid, happy memory.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Passions played out
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 Jun 13th 2008 7:02PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Arrested Development, Video, Retro Squad, Cancellations, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.
(S03E13) Originally aired February 10th, 2006 -- I could roll out about a dozen clichés when describing the series finale of Arrested Development, but I'm honestly not sure that saying "this was the end of an era" does it enough justice. For those that own the DVD sets, take a look at the cover for season two. There's a quote from Entertainment Weekly on it: "Once in the history of time comes a sitcom like Arrested Development."
Too bad FOX never saw it that way. Not only did they delay the airing of the final four AD episodes, but when it came time to show them, they got bundled together and aired 'em in a row - on a Friday night in the middle of winter! As I've said before, it sucks that Emmy wins don't dictate a show's future. But we really can't blame FOX because those Emmys are arguably why we were lucky enough to get three seasons period. Blame the people who watched Skating with Celebrities (AD's time-slot replacement) instead.
Continue reading Arrested Development: Development Arrested (series finale) - VIDEO
Posted Jun 10th 2008 2:14PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, Video, Short-Lived Shows, Cancellations, Reality-Free
Invasion aired for one season from 2005-2006. Check out Jonathan Toomey's great reviewcaps
here.
Along with
Surface,
Invasion was one of my favorite new shows that season, with each episode getting better and better. By the series finale, I was hooked. I'm still miffed that ABC didn't give it more time to flesh out the story and characters.
Incorporating a sci-fi-alien mystery, a government conspiracy, and plenty of family drama,
Invasion had a built-in audience because it aired directly after another sci-fi mystery,
Lost. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep the series on the air.
Continue reading Short-Lived Shows: Invasion - VIDEO
Posted Jun 9th 2008 12:24PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Industry, Cancellations, Dirt, WGA Strike, Reality-Free
You don't usually get cancellation or pick-up announcements about TV shows at a charity fund-raising event. But that's what happened yesterday at the "A Time for Heroes" Celebrity Carnival benefiting the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, or the "ATFH"CCBTEGPAF for short. When asked about the chances of her FX series getting picked up for a third season, Courteney Cox announced that
Dirt has been canceled.
The show was never really embraced whole-heartedly, either critically or in the ratings, but it managed a second shot. Unfortunately for Cox and company, that second season was cut short by the WGA Strike, and as with many bubble shows, it just fell by the wayside. Maybe the
tweaking they did to the format for Season Two, making it lighter and more accessible to the casual viewer turned off more of their hardcore fans than they anticipated. Maybe the ratings it was getting just weren't enough for FX to pick back up production after the strike. Maybe David Arquette had a habit of showing up on the set in his BVDs and it finally just got to be too much for the cast and crew, so they walked. Or maybe Shane dropped a grenade in Lucy's lap in that finale they just never got a chance to film.
Posted Jun 6th 2008 11:59PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Arrested Development, Cancellations, Awards, TV Squad Lists, Journeyman, Moonlight, New Amsterdam, TV Squad Awards
There were plenty of choices for
The Arrested Development Award, a.k.a. The Show Least Deserving of Cancellation Award. Among them,
Las Vegas,
New Amsterdam,
Miss Guided,
Aliens in America, and
Women's Murder Club.
The Readers Choice Award goes to
Moonlight, the vampire-themed crime-drama-romance that amassed an insane amount of fans during its short run. And it still might come back on another network, so we'll keep our collective fingers crossed on that.
The TV Squadders' pick is
Journeyman. Here's why:
1. Time-traveling is cool. The idea of time-travel is always intriguing, as evidenced by other shows like
Quantum Leap and
Sliders. What's cool about
Journeyman is that Dan Vasser, played by
Kevin McKidd, is just a normal guy who could be any one of us. At first, he hates the time-traveling. It interrupts his life and causes undue stress, both at home and work. But later, when given the opportunity to make it stop, he chooses to keep time-traveling. He knows he's been chosen for a reason, and feels it's his calling to help people right the wrongs of history. Never mind that every episode made me wonder how much of history he changed by leaping into the past. I can only imagine that even the smallest of events might drastically alter the space-time continuum.
Continue reading The Arrested Development Award: Winner - VIDEO
Posted May 30th 2008 1:41PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Jericho, Cancellations, Reality-Free
I know, I know, you're thinking to yourself, "I thought we went through this already and Jericho has been officially, definitely, and finally canceled by CBS?" Oh, silly people!
Jericho fans just won't quit. The "Save Jericho" people have erected a billboard on Ventura Blvd. in Los Angeles. It looks like a real estate ad, with a sign that says "TV Show For Sale," and includes the CBS phone number and the URL for a web site. They're looking for a new home for the show, and if it's not CBS then maybe The Sci-Fi Channel or another cable network.
Now, I sort of rolled my eyes at this, but what makes it a little bit more confusing is that Jericho producers Carol Barbee and Jon Steinberg called into a radio show during Jerichon and said that they were having meetings with various people and that they were optimistic. Huh?!
[via Franklin Ave.]
Posted May 29th 2008 10:41AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, Cancellations, Awards, Upfronts, Journeyman, Moonlight, New Amsterdam, Reality-Free, TV Squad Awards
Did your favorite show get canceled? Yeah, mine too. It makes you think twice about investing time into a new show, because you never know how long it'll last. Sometimes even shows with fairly good ratings are sent to the chopping block.
Here at TV Squad, we're doing our part to bring attention to cool shows that were axed in the recent
upfront announcements. Last week, I put out a call for considerations for
The Arrested Development Award, a.k.a. The Show Least Deserving of Cancellation Award.
You made your opinions known - thank you! - and now we're into Phase 2: The Nominees. The Squad will pick our own winner, but we're giving you the chance to pick a Reader's Choice winner. Here are the nominees, and be sure to vote in the poll at the bottom.
Continue reading The Arrested Development Award Nominees
Posted May 16th 2008 8:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Reality-Free
Frasier has left the building, but Kelsey Grammer hasn't. Or maybe he just doesn't want to. The actor, whose Fox situation comedy,
Back to You, was canceled after just one season, doesn't want to call it quits. He wants the show to continue and he's so determined, he's even lobbied for the show personally. The Emmy award winning star phoned CBS executives -- including CBS CEO Les Moonves -- to plead the case for
Back to You.
When Kelsey phoned, Les took the call, and he even told Grammer that he'd "think about it," that is, moving
Back to You to CBS. However, when Kelsey followed up with a call to Nina Tassler, CBS Entertainment prez, she dismissed it. There really was no room on the
CBS schedule for another sitcom; even
Rules of Engagement (which CBS has a vested interest in bringing back) won't be broadcast till mid-season next year. There's no mention of Kelsey calling ABC or NBC; perhaps they didn't take his call?
Continue reading Kelsey asks CBS to save Back to You
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