Well, that was fast. After just two episodes, NBC has axed its newest sitcom, The Paul Reiser Show. Starting next week, repeats of The Office will takes its place at 8:30pm.
The decision comes after the second episode dropped from its already low premiere ratings. In week one, it got 3.3 million, and followed that up with 2.5 million this week. As I pointed out earlier, that was lower than last night’s episode of The Vampire Diaries on the CW, which was at its series low already.
The disaster also comes after NBC rushed to burn off the old sitcom in that time slot, Perfect Couples, and rushed The Paul Reiser Show onto the air. Both shows bombed spectacularly.
The hit is yet another example of NBC’s painfully bad development season this year. In the fall the network debuted Outlaw, Chase and Undercovers, all of which have been canceled. The Event started strong, but then the ratings fell faster than a penny off the Empire State Building. The same can be said for Law and Order: Los Angeles, which took an extended hiatus to retool its cast. Outsourced also started OK with about 7.5 million viewers, but the latest episodes have been around 3.5 million.
In mid-season, the network had The Cape (which was brilliantly mocked in the latest episode of Community). Then it had Perfect Couples and The Paul Reiser Show, both doomed before they started.
That leaves the mid-season drama Harry’s Law as the only remotely successful show NBC has had in the entire development year, and even that was universally panned by critics.
In other words, NBC is praying that The Voice is a huge hit next week, because if it fails, the network might as well go out of business.
Source: TheFutonCritic
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
