Let the bloodletting begin. All of a sudden shiny new shows are dropping like flies in the TV world.
Two months into the fall season and we’ve already seen the cancellation of the woeful Fox soap Lone Star, ABC’s fanciful My Generation and the NBC legal drama Outlaw. Two days ago, ABC pulled the plug on The Whole Truth, another legal drama suffering from anemic ratings in the United States. And nobody waved goodbye.
The smell of blood is now in the air. Expect networks to hand out more pink slips in the weeks ahead. For no apparent reason the Wednesday TV schedule is split almost evenly between new programs likely to be around for years to come, and shows living on borrowed time. Let’s take stock.
ON THE WAY OUT
Undercovers (NBC, CITY-TV, 8 p.m.) may, in fact, be gone by the time you read this. On paper, the show’s failure to find an audience makes no sense. The concept of a husband-and-wife spy team had the imprimatur of Lost’s J.J. Abrams as co-creator; the two leads, Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, were arguably the best-looking couple on television; and most of the episodes were filmed in exotic locales. Yet the show is bottoming out in ratings, both here and in the U.S. Not enough action or too high-concept? Either way, the first season of Undercovers will go to DVD, and then never be heard from again.
The Talk (CBS, 2 p.m.) launched last week to healthy ratings, surely due to morbid viewer curiosity. The only difference between The View and this new daytime series is that the six hosts of The Talk are all mothers, hence every second topic involves motherhood. No problem there, but the warm ’n’ fuzzy mom stories seem oddly shrill when coming from the likes of Sharon Osbourne and Leah Remini, formerly of The King of Queens. By comparison, the ladies of The View suddenly appear to have astounding gravitas. The Talk is not long for this world.
Being Erica (CBC, 9 p.m.) has actually been around a few years, but is currently pulling a fast fade. As noted by John Doyle, and more than a few viewers, Being Erica has gone off the rails this season. Erin Karpluk remains a delight as the titular character, but gone is the wit and whimsy of the first two seasons. The show has dropped below the half-million viewer mark. Even the CBC can’t stick with a clunker forever.
Shattered (Showcase, 9 p.m.; Global, 10 p.m.) is another Canadian-made show destined to die. The cop drama stars Callum Keith Rennie as a brilliant homicide cop afflicted with Dissociative Identity Disorder, but he ain’t no Monk. The show debuted last month to embarrassingly feeble ratings – 428,000 Canadian viewers – and the numbers keep dropping each week. Global has conveniently stopped sending out ratings for Shattered, but at last check, programs on community cable were drawing a larger audience. Cancellation would be a mercy killing.
GET USED TO THEM
Better with You (ABC, 8:30 p.m.) recently received a full-season order. Strangely mindful of CBS’s How I Met Your Mother, it boasts a minimal concept – the premise revolves around two sisters at different stages in their relationships – and Montreal-born Jennifer Finnigan is a hoot as the career-driven lawyer Maddie. Like HIMYM, it’s the kind of sitcom that can run for years, and probably will.
Hellcats (A, 9 p.m.) has been picked up by The CW for a full season and will also likely be around for the long haul. A network drama set in the heady world of competitive cheerleading? Why not? The first several episodes have firmly established the characters of bad-girl cheerleader Marti (Alyson Michalka) turning good and good-girl cheerleader Savannah (Ashley Tisdale) turning naughty. Go, team.
The Defenders (CBS, CTV, 10 p.m.) teams Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell as Las Vegas lawyers, who only take on unwinnable cases, which they always win, of course. The characters are stereotypes, the stories are painfully simple and the show has an eighties feel to it, though not in a good retro way. Naturally, CBS has renewed it for a full season. Never underestimate the appeal of Vegas sleaze and neon.
Law & Order: Los Angeles (CTV, 8 p.m.; NBC, 10 p.m.) is the newest instalment in the Law & Order franchise. The show is basically the same setup as previous L&O spinoffs, except with occasional shots of palm trees and the beach; even the trademark chuh-ching between scenes is there. The miscasting of lightweight Skeet Ulrich as the lead cop is balanced out by the very interesting Corey Stoll as his partner. U.S. ratings for Law & Order: Los Angeles are far from spectacular, but NBC is sticking with it for the full season. When you’re a fourth-place network, being picky isn’t an option.
Check local listings.
John Doyle will return.
