ABC Pushes ‘Samantha’ Down the Stairs, Again
Christina Applegate, star of "Samantha" where? (Image by indoloony via Flickr)
Variety reports today that ABC has cut short the already-limited run of “Samantha Who” by a week. The show — along with “In the Motherhood” — was slated to run one more week before “Ugly Betty” came back on the air.
Instead, ABC is pulling the plug now:
That means last week’s “Motherhood” and “Samantha” segs wound up being the last of the season for both shows. “Motherhood” isn’t expected to return, but “Samantha” still has a decent shot at returning for a third season. (via Nets pull shows sooner than expected – Entertainment News, TV News, Media – Variety)
For “In the Motherhood,” I say good riddance. (And Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is with me on this…) But for “Samantha,” it’s a shame, because “Samantha” is precariously toeing the sad and jagged edge of TV’s What-Might-Have-Been Chasm. It’s a lonely place, hot and dry and filled with the TV equivalents of high school jocks who blew out a knee their freshman year in college and now work for their dad and former student council presidents who leave their corporate PR jobs to celebrate their 40th birthdays with a bottle of Johnny Walker and a cassette copy of Bruce Hornsby’s “The Way It Is” in the parking lot of the Target out by the highway.
Because “Samantha Who” is a funny show. Is it genius? No. But it’s a quality show, well-acted. Better still, it doesn’t pander and it’s not family-wholesome-bland. It’s a trifle — but a smartly created one. And it may not make it back next season because ABC has bounced it around the schedule like an on-sides kick, plugging it in where the network has holes and yanking it off just as quickly. No surprise, then, that it can’t build a lasting audience (5 million viewers last week…). ABC didn’t include in the fall premieres, put it on just this past winter and now yanks it with seven episodes still left to air. Folks can barely find it let alone grow accustomed to it.
(Full Disclosure: I have an enormous crush on “Samantha Who?” star Christina Applegate and believe she is a unique American musical comedy treasure. This, in no way, influenced this post.)
But TV’s been doing this for years, treating decent, law-abiding shows like chattel to be pushed, pulled and trotted around, forced into service in unlucky or demeaning ways and then cancelled when they didn’t live up to the potential they were never given an opportunity to explore.
Off the top of my head, I can think of “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “News Radio” as two great examples of shows that, given time to find an audience and not shuffled across the schedule like a 10-year-old on a Ritalin bender could have been lasting parts of the TV landscape. Instead, they became TV What-Might-Have-Beens. And I’m afraid “Samantha” could be next.
What’s on your TV What-Might-Have-Been list?
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ABC is not big on any of it’s scripted shows. This network is the reality king, and sitcoms and dramas are only ever an afterthought on this network.
I really don’t see much hope that ABC would take the quality of the show into consideration. The decision is going to be based purely on numbers.
True enough, James — but that’s part of the irony, isn’t it? Can ABC make the calculated decision to yank a show based simply on numbers if it hasn’t given it the time to succeed or fail? I’d liken it to investing in a mutual fund and then divesting after two week because the fund isn’t performing? Is two weeks a fair estimate of the fund’s overall management and soundness?
Sadly, I think we’re both tilting at windmills here.
In response to another comment. See in context »I can’t remember if was Sepinwall or whoever, but I came across a column recently that basically said the networks should forget the useless business of imagining that there is a set “season” to air shows. If Lost is kicking ass, wait for twenty four weeks and then run your show in that slot. The cable networks, especially USA, use the “dead zones” to great effect, and I really believe that this strategy is a key reason so many cable shows are getting more than just critical reception these days. They’ve been filtered out away from all the static so that viewers can actually see them.
As for the short leash shows have nowadays… it’s amazing how a show like Cheers was given so much rope back in the day, and then grew into a monster hit. But all the shows that have been given rope in the past ten years – Enterprise, Veronica Mars, Arrested Development – all disappointed in the end.
With viewership declining, I don’t think many of the networks can afford to give so much leeway. Unless it is a show like Heroes, which, despite the generally low numbers, has such a massive concentration of a very fickle demographic, Networks probably have no choice but to perform triage in less than ideal circumstances.
In response to another comment. See in context »It’s official…ABC has renewed 12 series in an early renewal announcement (Check Futon Critic).
Of the scripted dramas, Ugly Betty, Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Brother & Sisters get the nod.
Samantha Who? wasn’t mentioned, so it’s definitely on the bubble or to be canceled.