Living. Blogging.
Party Down has been canceled after just two seasons. The show, which airs on Starz, is a critical darling, but its lagging ratings barely qualify it for “cult favorite” status. It simply never caught on, and Starz’ executive vice president of programming, Stephan Shelanski, tells EW.com that Starz has “after careful consideration… decided not to continue with subsequent seasons of Party Down.”
In related news, the even lower-rated Gravity has also been canceled by the pay cable network.
The final hope for Ghost Whisperer fans has just gone belly-up. As you may recall, CBS canceled Ghost Whisperer earlier this month, but there was talk that the show might get picked up by ABC.
Today, EW’s Ausiello reports that ABC will not be coming to the show’s rescue after all. The show was co-owned by ABC Studios and CBS, so ABC had the option to pick it up after CBS dumped it. But after five seasons on the air, Ghost Whisperer‘s time has run out.
So long, farewell.
There’s a broad spectrum of news about Smallville today that fans will be both excited and sad to hear.
The CW has just announced that Smallville‘s 10th season — debuting this Fall — will be its last. As a longtime fan, I have mixed feelings about this. Smallville has certainly managed to live longer than anyone thought it could, while maintaining its compulsively watchable quality through all nine seasons thus far. That said, it’s starting to feel kind of ridiculous that ol’ Clark hasn’t become Superman yet. I mean, in the current season, he spends more time in Metropolis than in Smallville itself, working at the Daily Planet alongside Lois Lane, while he moonlights as a costumed hero. Sound familiar? And yet he’s still not wearing the red-and-blue or going by his destined super-name. On the other hand, knowing when their end date is should allow the producers to tie up the series in a satisfying way and bring Clark full circle.
In related news, actress Allison Mack has announced that she won’t be returning as a full time cast member for the final season. Mack’s popular character Chloe Sullivan will be back for an undisclosed number of episodes in the final season, to give the character a proper sendoff, but she won’t be in the opening credits as a regular, leaving series star Tom Welling as the only remaining original cast member still on the show.
It looks as though NBC’s celebrated, 20-year-old series, Law & Order, is coming to an end. Despite indications earlier this year that the show would go on to a record-breaking 21st season, negotiations have fallen apart for next season and NBC is reportedly on the verge of dropping the show altogether. Law & Order has, for years, trailed behind its spinoff, L&O: Special Victims Unit, in the ratings. (SVU is in no danger of being canceled.) Meanwhile, the latest spinoff for the franchise, Law & Order: Los Angeles, is still set to premiere this fall.
It also looks likely that NBC’s Heroes won’t be getting a fifth season. The show has struggled in the ratings for years, but it’s held on despite storylines that have wavered between ridiculous and so-so. But NBC is not blind to the show’s dogged fans, who still hope for some kind of proper ending, and are considering giving Heroes a 2 or 4 hour wrap-up movie/miniseries at some point next season.
Meanwhile, over at ABC, a number of high-profile shows have gotten the axe, including FlashForward (which the network once hoped might become the next Lost), the long-running Scrubs (which jumped networks from NBC not too long ago), Better Off Ted (which is universally loved by critics, but has too few viewers), and Romantically Challenged.
Ah, Spring. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and network TV shows are being renewed or canceled. Or… something else.
Deadline Hollywood (which admittedly is known for reporting rumors more than facts) has an interesting exclusive today: they’re reporting that CBS shows Ghost Whisperer and The New Adventures of Old Christine are under consideration to possibly move networks over to ABC.
Both shows — which have been successes for CBS for years — are currently “on the bubble,” which means that CBS is considering canceling them due to falling ratings. But if that should happen, ABC is ready to swoop in and save the day. Ghost Whisperer is currently paired with Medium on Friday nights; Medium jumped from NBC to CBS last year, so CBS losing Ghost Whisperer to ABC would be especially ironic.
ABC is reportedly interested in coupling Julia Louis Dreyfus’ Old Christine with The Middle, a show they believe has a similarly popular female sitcom star in Patricia Heaton.