We’re a little over a month into the new fall U.S. TV season and while there are some real hits (New Girl and Prime Suspect among them), there are, unsurprisingly, also some serious flops. Here’s a sampling of what’s already faced the execution wall, since it looks as though the nets are not in the mood to hold the new shows in the cooler.
The first fall series to get the axe was NBC’s The Playboy Club. Though it kicked off with a lot of hype (and Mad Men comparisons due to its retro setting), it was cancelled, surprisingly, after just three episodes. The Twentieth Century Fox-made drama failed to impress viewers and the network’s new brass did not give it a chance to grow. The show debuted to five million viewers, dropping to 3.4 million by its third and final week.
Another short-lived series was the CBS comedy How to be a Gentleman, starring ex-Entourage star Kevin Dillon. Though its ratings were much higher than The Playboy Club, the comedy still failed to deliver to advertisers.
In the reality sphere, H8R was pulled from the CW. Hosted by Mario Lopez, the show pitted celebrities against their “haters” in an attempt to change people’s minds and convince them that stars are just regular people. Unfortunately, both the stars and the “regular people” failed to win over viewers, garnering just 1.29 million viewers for the premiere and lasting just four episodes.
NBC sitcom Free Agents, starring Hank Azaria, and centering on two co-workers exploring a relationship together, was cancelled after four episodes. The final episode was watched by just 3.3 million viewers.
And most recently, 1970s revamp of Charlie’s Angels was cancelled after just four episodes, altough ABC network plans to run the remaining episodes. Angels, which was being internationally distributed by Sony, was a long-awaited series.
What’s next on the chopping block? Only time and AC Nielsen will tell…
