Posted on 05/19/2005 8:21:18 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Put an Eye Out CBS cancels ''Joan of Arcadia,'' ''Judging Amy'' -- The low-rated former hits get the ax, as does the Wednesday edition of ''60 Minutes'' by Mickey O'Connor
Oh, God. It's official. At the unveiling of CBS' fall 2005 lineup Wednesday, the network announced that it has axed Joan of Arcadia, the underdog-that-couldn't, despite last year's Emmy nomination for lead Amber Tamblyn and much critical love. A second-season ratings slump made continuing it not feasible, said CBS chairman Les Moonves, calling it one of his biggest disappointments.
In other cancellation news, a desire to attract a younger demographic has spelled the end for two graying CBS shows: The awards magnet Judging Amy has heard its final sentence, and the beleagured Wednesday edition of news warhorse 60 Minutes, which suffered after a story that questioned President Bush's military service proved to be false, will stop production as well.
So what will replace these dearly departed shows? Among the new series that the chatty Moonves held forth on: a comedy about a family of doctors; a drama about FBI profilers; and, er, Jennifer Love Hewitt seeing dead people. ''I think talking to ghosts may skew younger than talking to God,'' Moonves said. From his mouth to... oh, never mind.
What do you make of the fact that they never interviewed the actress who plays Marie? They interviewed everyone else on Raymond but.....no Marie? Incredibly, we had to listen to Moonves instead! What's up with that?
I'd watch that girl read out of the phone book for an hour!
Yeah, had to get my 9 year old daughter out of the room, on the one show of their's I actually watched. She comes in as they're pulling a piece of glass (close up) from the leg of a stiff.
Joan of Arcadia was an interesting show and provided an interesting concept of the relation beetween man and God.
I was very suprised there was not a general revolt on Free Republic to have the show banned because it did not comply with Christian dogma.
They may have done all those interviews when Doris Robert's was sick.
She had laryngitis shortly after Patricia Heaton...that's why the final episode taping was delayed twice.
I think that the appearance of an agent of the Evil one was Hall productions attempt to tell us that those forces did not want Joan to continue.Apparently, it started right after the nomination for Amber.
I loved the show!
Yeah that could be. But its weird given the last show was shot months ago and still they didn't edit her observations in later. OTOH, all the interviews seemed too short. And just one blooper?! That struck me as stingy. Oh well.
"...Maybe CBS can do a "CSI - Petticoat Junction"...."
Or maybe CSI-Green Acres.
Ahhh, but did you notice the not so subtle advertisement for the Season 3 (or maybe 4) DVD.
They sort of snuck it in there after the blooper. "You can see more bloopers on the new DVD, on sale NOW!"
I'd probably watch that. Mrs Ziffel always looked unstable. Hank Kimble would be the first to have been chopped up and put in Arnold's food trough.
got a link to more info??
Mark
I was surprised that The Contender got the axe at NBC. They thought ratings of 6.7 million were way too low and they axed Fear Factor as well. 2 shows that would easily be big hits on UPN/WB or any other network that wanted to pick them up.
It was Maude herself who got the abortion. She did it because of her age.
NBC cancels Dreams, Contender
Six new series include Martha Stewarts ApprenticeThe Associated Press
2005NEW YORK - NBCs formula for erasing the memory of a bad ratings year includes a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama about the Pentagon, Martha Stewart picking a protege and Amy Grant criss-crossing the country to make dreams come true.
The network likely to finish an unprecedented fourth place this season said it will introduce six new series in September but said its plans could change before then.
NBCs 8 p.m. hour will look different on five nights next fall. Two of those new shows include Martha Stewarts rendition of The Apprentice (Wednesday) and Three Wishes with Grant (Friday).
The key driver in putting this together was to affect the 8 oclock hour, said Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal Television Group president. Its really where we fell down this year and the ability to launch things at 9 having them self-start is nearly impossible.
NBC is canceling the fourth installment of the Law & Order series, Trial By Jury, which lost star Jerry Orbach to cancer shortly after production started. NBC risked alienating producer Dick Wolf because it wanted to try some new ideas, executives said.
American Dreams, Third Watch, Revelations and the Mark Burnett/Sylvester Stallone boxing series The Contender also will not be returning.
The West Wing is moving to Sunday nights, with the campaign to replace Martin Sheen as the mythical president continuing.
Taking its place on Wednesdays will be E-Ring, the Pentagon drama starring Dennis Hopper and Benjamin Bratt. One of the busiest producers in Hollywood, Bruckheimer also is behind the CSI franchise on CBS.
Illustrating how TV schedules are constantly in flux, NBC promised two other new comedies would come on the air sometime next season. Two shows not on the September schedule, Scrubs and Fear Factor, will also return at some point.
Schedule to be reviewed
Executives conceded the new schedule might not make it past this week: It will be reviewed when all the other broadcast networks release their plans. NBC is the first of the six to unveil its schedule.
Its a lot easier to go first, as we have in the last decade, when youre operating from a position of strength, Zucker said. We are not going to be afraid in the next week or two weeks to go back and take a second look.
NBCs troubles this year came when they were unable to replace the departing Friends and Frasier with new hits. After much soul-searching, NBC said it was returning its Thursday schedule intact, despite losing ground to CBS on what was once its most popular night.
That includes the troubled Friends spinoff Joey, which hardly got a resounding vote of confidence.
The show was a mixed bag to say the least this year creatively, said Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president. I have never felt the show was broken. I felt the show was uninspired at times.
NBC also debated the wisdom of having two versions of The Apprentice, with Stewart and Donald Trump. In the end, Reilly said the network wanted to strike while interest in Stewart was hot. He said the two shows were very different in tone.
NBC renewed The Office despite lousy ratings. The network scheduled only two hours of comedy for the entire week. The one new comedy: My Name is Earl, with Jason Lee portraying a downtrodden lottery winner.
NBC also announced that Ann Curry of the Today show will do double duty as the new co-host of Dateline NBC with Stone Phillips.
NBCs other new series:
Fathom, a drama about a new form of life lurking in the sea, starring Lake Bell of Boston Legal.
Inconceivable takes Ming-Na of ER and places her in another medical setting, among the doctors at a fertility clinic.
Four Kings, with four New York guys on the cusp of adulthood, and Thick and Thin, starring Jessica Capshaw as a formerly fat woman, were both chosen as midseason replacements.
May 17 2005
IN/Being Kept:
24
Alias
Arrested Development
Boston Legal
Cold Case
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI Miami
CSI: New York
Desperate Housewives
ER
Gilmore Girls
Grey's Anatomy
House
Jake in Progress
Joey
Las Vegas
Law & Order
Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Lost
Malcolm in the Middle
Medium
Numb3rs
OC, The
Office, The
One Tree Hill
The Simpsons
Reba
Scrubs
Smallville
That 70's Show
Veronica Mars
The West Wing
Will & Grace
Without a Trace
OUT/Canceled/Finale:
8 Simple Rules
Jack & Bobby
American Dreams
Boston Public
Enterprise
Everbody Loves Raymond
Eyes
JAG
NYPD Blue
That 70's Show
Third Watch
Law & Order: Trial By Jury
LAX
Life on a Stick
Medical Investigation
My Wife and Kids
North Shore
Point Pleasant
Charmed
Joan of Arcadia
Judging Amy
"...a desire to attract a younger demographic."
Every time abccbsnbc cancels a show, they cite this as the reason. Why is it so important to attract young-uns? Don't they know that the over 40 crowd is bigger and has more money??? Their "desire to attract a younger demographic" is exactly why I DO NOT watch commercial television.
The only show I have recently watched on NBC is "Revelations" and I thought that was a miniseries. I didn't know it was an actual "series" series. Oh well, moot point, it's canceled. NBC can cancel whatever they wish, I don't tune it in.
Once "The Amazing Race", "King of Queens" and "Two and a Half Men" is canceled, I'll be done with CBS.
ABC? "America's Funniest Videos" is it.
I'm almost weaned off the networks! LOL!
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