Tag Archives: cancellation

FOX cancels ‘Terra Nova’ after one season

News, Television, , ,

Fans of the Steven Spielberg-produced time travel drama, your days at Terra Nova are now over. Today FOX pulled the plug on the special effects heavy prehistoric sci-fi series, despite all the speculation that the show was tipping towards renewal. With House out of the way next year, there will be at least one vacant spot left open on Monday nights next season. But due to moderate ratings and a lack of creative focus, FOX prez Kevin Reilly made the final decision to close Terra Nova for good.

Back at the Winter TCAs, Reilly foreshadowed this decision. “There were a lot of chefs in the kitchen. The show was hunting for itself creatively through the season. I loved some of the episodes. If this is all we make [of Terra Nova], we made money on it, the studio made money on it, and it seems to have resonated with the family audience. If we had more holes in our network, we’d be thrilled to lock that right in.” I suppose the subtraction of House wasn’t enough to keep Terra Nova afloat on the schedule.

Am I surprised Terra Nova was erased from TV? No, not really. Though the thirteen episode first season managed to output a handful of exciting hours, overall the series disappointed due to poor writing, character development, and acting, plus the dino CGI was mostly lackluster. Props to Stephen Lange (Nathaniel Taylor) for commanding this show on his tired back. It’s certainly sad to see a show that started with so much buzz, potential, and pedigree lose its way so early on.

Can we lay Terra Nova to rest forever? Not quite yet. Backing studio 20th Century Fox TV has plans to shop the show to other networks to see if anyone else will bite. Unfortunately for fans, in all likelihood networks will not show much interest in resurrecting the show simply because it is extremely expensive to make. The question remains: is Terra Nova worth saving?

[Via Deadline]

HBO cancels ‘How To Make It In America’ & ‘Bored To Death’

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Just when I thought this TV season was coasting along just fine, this brunt of bad news knocked me unconscious today. HBO has decided to part ways with three of its cult comedies: How To Make It In America, Bored To Death, and Hung. How To Make It only managed to score two seasons before getting the axe, and fans of the show will never get to see if Ben and Cam, well, make it in America as fashion icons with the Crisp brand. They were definitely going places; season 2 managed to top the premiere season in almost every way and still the show was doomed in the end. Also concluding is Jonathan Ames’ Bored To Death starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, and the talented Ted Danson. This series lasted a total of three seasons and rightly deserved many more. What started as a detective-story-of-the-week quickly turned into a more serial adventure exploring the eccentric lives of the title characters. Though I must say, the season three finale thankfully wraps things up and leaves viewers pleasantly satisfied. Why did HBO suddenly feel the urge to clear out its Sunday night lineup? Ratings is to blame, as is usually the case (according to Variety How To Make It and Bored To Death were “down about 25% from their respective previous seasons”), plus the premium cabler is making room for new shows in the pipeline for next year. They did keep one, however. Enlightened starring Lauren Dern is coming back for a second season despite rather dismal ratings. Perhaps the comedy’s recent Golden Globe nomination came into play.

Ben and Cam’s hustle and the zany adventures of Jonathan, Ray, and George have come to an end. Triumphant tears are shed in their honor for making it this far.

[Via Deadline]

TBS cancels ‘Glory Daze’

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Tear. After its 10-episode debut season, TBS has cancelled the ’80s college comedy Glory Daze. The culprit is ratings, of course. When the show premiered in November it attracted 1.8 million viewers (with a 1.0/3 rating in the 18-49 demo) and that number would dwindle down to a low 1.1 million when the season series finale aired. It’s a bummer because Glory Daze managed to capture by attention every week with its grounded in reality take on fraternity life. Plus the ’80s backdrop was just downright nostalgic. If you missed out on the first season when it aired, the DVD box set is must-have. This show’ll make you laugh and it always left me feeling great after every episode–it’s one of those feel-good programs, you know? Now we’ll never find out if Joel gets with Christie; ah well, ’tis the nature of television.

[Via Deadline]

NBC cancels ‘Undercovers’

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Tear.  Shortly after granting all other freshman series full season orders, NBC decided to axe the spy series with potential Undercovers.  And just when the creative team was about to retool the show’s structure by injecting some exciting mythos into it.  Too little too late, as they say?  I happened to highly enjoy this series; the writing is smart, the action is cutting edge, and the small, vibrant cast is worth investing in.  And to think that a J.J. Abrams show could ever be cancelled!  Never thought I’d see the day come.  You can blame it on the lack of a gripping subplot (but that was coming!) and poor ratings; the show hit a series low last night drawing only 5.8 million viewers.

But enough grieving for now.  Bet you’re wondering about the remainder of Undercovers episodes.  NBC will air three more episodes in the short term (11/10, 11/17, 12/1) and may run three additional episodes at a later time.  The information regarding those lingering episodes remains unclear right now.  RIP Blooms.  I just hope that we find out what Shaw, Alan Dale, and the CIA had in store for the sexy duo.

[Via Deadline]

White iPhone 4 delayed, again; is it dead and gone?

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After announcing two delays already, Apple has gone ahead and delayed the oft-delayed white iPhone 4 once again.  Due to manufacturing problems, the white iPhone 4 has been delayed to spring 2011.  I know what you’re thinking–by then a brand new iPhone will have been announced and perhaps even released!  Good thinking, because that is highly likely.  Hours after Reuters spilled the beans on a third delay, Boy Genius Report has a source that claims the iPhone 4 will never be coated in white and that the color option has been cancelled.  No matter the outcome–delay or cancellation–if you’ve been holding out to get the white iPhone it’s time to call it quits and give in to the black model.  Don’t worry, it won’t bite.

[Via Gizmodo; Reuters; BGR]

ABC picks up ‘No Ordinary Family’ & ‘Better With You’

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Another network drama and comedy can breathe a sigh of relief.  ABC has decided to grant full season orders to No Ordinary Family and Better With You.  Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, and the rest of the Powell gang  average 9.5 million viewers per week and Better gets 7.3 million viewers.  The latter show remains the lowest rated comedy in ABC’s comedy Wednesday block (no surprise there with powerhouse Modern Family plus The Middle and Cougar Town drawing in larger audiences).  ABC has picked up five additional scripts for the cop drama Detroit 1-8-7 and four for returning drama Brothers & Sisters (rounding out the episode total to 22).  No word on the fate of The Whole Truth, starring Rob Morrow and Maura Tierney; the freshman legal drama is receiving a dismal average of 5.3 million viewers per week.  Truth will likely join ABC’s ill-fated My Generation in the cancellation bucket.

Update: Well that was quick.  Shortly after announcing the back nine for Ordinary and Better, ABC axed The Whole Truth.  A producer shared the somber news via Twitter and reports that they will only produce 13 episodes and then close up shop.

[Via EW, here & here; THR]

ABC axes FlashForward, renews V

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For some time now there’s been much discussion surrounding the fate of ABC’s two freshman sci-fi series, FlashForward & V.  Overall both have been performing rather poorly in the ratings.  But when it came to decision time, ABC decided to cancel one and keep the other.  As much as I have enjoyed following FlashForward, there were many hints to its eventual demise.  Two of them are the following: The ratings (FFpremiered to 12.47 million viewers and plummeted to 4.77 million viewers for last week’s ep) and a change in leadership (co-creator/showrunner David S. Goyer left the show in early February).  And here’s another one: ABC heavily promoted the new series the wrong way; in a number of ad spots the network was hailing it as “the next Lost.”  Although the show contains a myriad of characters, a complex mythos, and flashbacks to boot, it is most definitely not another Lost.  The direction and plot of the show are quite different from Lost.  ABC obviously felt some pressure to promote the show in this way since Lost is nearly finished, but I have a feeling FF might have fared differently if it was marketed in a more appropriate way.  In my opinion, I thought FlashForward started out great, then it started to lose its focus (right around when Goyer made his announcement), and now it finds itself back on track with a bunch of potential.  But now none of that matters anymore since it won’t be coming back after the May 27 finale.  I wonder if the producers will try to wrap things up for us..

And then there’s V, the mini-series reboot that could.  ABC aired this series in a very strange manner due to a number of early production issues.  They aired an initial “pod” of four episodes starting in November which garnered a huge following, then the show did not come back until the end of March.  Thanks to this long hiatus, viewership dropped during the latter half of the season.  As of late, however, the show has seen a surge in the ratings, especially in the coveted 18-49 demo, and in my opinion, it’s become more creative and engaging with the addition of some new characters and exciting and fast-moving plot twists.  According to the latest sources, V has been issued a 13-epsiode second season set to start this fall.

So what do I think about all this?  As a fan of both shows, I have to say I’m not so surprised that ABC decided to cancel FlashForward and keep V.  Although the potential for FlashForward is just starting to come to fruition, the delivery feels a bit “too little too late”.  V, on the other hand, always packed an explosive punch, from the initial pod of episodes to where to series sits now.  All I have to say is this: At least ABC decided to keep one of these shows; a sudden cancellation of both would have been devastating.

FlashForward airs Thursday nights at 8PM on ABC; the two-hour finale airs May 27.  V ends its first season run next Tuesday at 8PM on ABC.

[Via EW-AusielloFiles, here & here]

Fame Kills Tour is dead

Music, News, , , , ,

Well, that didn’t last long.  According to a LiveNation press release, Kanye West and Lady Gaga’s much-hyped Fame Kills Tour has officially been cancelled.  Although no comments have come from the West and Gaga camps, people have been speculating that the cancellation may stem from West’s negative publicity (re: his latest stint at the MTV Video Music Awards), poor early ticket sales, and “creative differences” between the two headlining artists.  A Lady Gaga choreographer LaurieAnn Gibson Twittered that the cancellation was due to such “creative differences.”  Also, Kanye had mentioned on The Jay Leno show that he wanted to take a much needed break from the tours and the albums; maybe this is his way of actually proving his point.

Refunds are available at the point of purchase, and if you purchased tickets online or on the telephone they will be refunded automatically.  Also, according to the tour website, the Club membership fee will be refunded, too.  Details on this will be made available “shortly.”

Update: Lady Gaga has commented on the cancellation today, though she did not go into much detail.  “Well, actually, it was a mutual decision to cancel the tour.  But I’m not taking any time off, so I’ll be leaving just a week later than I was supposed to on my own solo tour. It will be the same places. So I will see you guys there. I’m putting out my re-release as well — The Fame Monster on November 24.  In respects to the creative work that [Kanye and I] did together, I won’t be doing any of the things that we designed for the tour.  It will be entirely new, and it will be just as amazing and memorable and epic.”

[Via MTV, here & here; Canada.com]