NBC Axes My Own Worst Enemy

[Angel Tarragon]

This just in from Yahoo News:

Add Christian Slater and Brooke Shields to the list of actors with TV failures on their records.

NBC is pulling the plug on "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Lipstick Jungle," two of its more high-profile young series, according to two network executives who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the decision.

The network will not order new episodes of either series when their current orders -- nine in the case of "My Own Worst Enemy" and 13 for "Lipstick Jungle" -- run out, the executives said.

"My Own Worst Enemy" was given a big promotional pitch by NBC. The psychological thriller starred Slater as a man who had two separate identities and lives, and was slowly coming to learn about the situation.

But it was just another new series that viewers shrugged their shoulders at in the lackluster new TV season. The series ranked No. 61 in the Nielsen Media Research season standings, averaging just under 5 million viewers each week.

Shields was one of three hard-driving Manhattan career women in "Lipstick Jungle," one of two series that premiered last season with clear bloodlines to HBO's "Sex and the City." It was averaging just 4.2 million viewers for each new episode this season, according to Nielsen.

If it's any consolation to NBC and Shields, "Lipstick Jungle" at least lasted longer than "Cashmere Mafia," the ABC version of the New York career women story.

The executives said it was still not clear whether all the episodes that have been shot for each series will be used.

Discuss.

 

[Knightfall]

Nuts.

I really liked My Own Worst Enemy. It just goes to show that I'm not the U.S. market.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Yet another show to fail in the post-Heroes time slot.

I think 10 pm on a Monday is a naturally poor slot. Monday is, for many people, the start of the work/school week. On that schedule, it's more likely people get tired earlier on Monday that the rest of the week.

Of course, that's where Heroes comes in. Most people tune in only long enough to see the big draw, and then stop watching at 10pm.

It would be interesting to see what would happen (or had happened) to Chuck if it were after Heroes rather than before. Also, it would seem that with Chuck and Heroes successful, they might try moving Heroes to 10pm and airing a new show between the two.

 

[fba827]

I would have been giving My Own Worst Enemy a try - if for no other reason than to see how the concept played out in practice. But I never got around to it due to timing and personal schedules and such. Ah well, maybe I'll catch a bit of it on reruns on some random cable channel some time.

 

[Jack99]

Effect immediately or will there be a few more episodes?

 

[Knightfall]

Effect immediately or will there be a few more episodes?

Rev's initial post says that there will a total of nine episodes for My Own Worst Enemy. Only about four have aired so far; therefore; there will likely be four or five more.

Don't quote me on that, however.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Rev's initial post says that there will a total of nine episodes for My Own Worst Enemy. Only about four have aired so far; therefore; there will likely be four or five more.

Don't quote me on that, however.

It all depends on the ratings. Since 9 are filmed, money has been spent on that and they don't want to waste that money. If however the ratings are so bad that they have to give comp time elsewhere to the advertisers that comp time could end up being more than the cost of the episodes so it is more cost effective to cancel it outright and put on alternate programing that can pull better ratings.

 

[Insight]

NBC is still pushing the show as if it's not cancelled. That leads me to believe they'll show all the filmed episodes and/or they don't a replacement ready quite yet. Maybe they'll wait til after sweeps.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Yet another show to fail in the post-Heroes time slot.

I think 10 pm on a Monday is a naturally poor slot. Monday is, for many people, the start of the work/school week. On that schedule, it's more likely people get tired earlier on Monday that the rest of the week.

Of course, that's where Heroes comes in. Most people tune in only long enough to see the big draw, and then stop watching at 10pm.

It would be interesting to see what would happen (or had happened) to Chuck if it were after Heroes rather than before. Also, it would seem that with Chuck and Heroes successful, they might try moving Heroes to 10pm and airing a new show between the two.

Don't worry, Heroes is still considered to be on hot ice, so its only a matter of time before they too take the fall so they could also free up the 9 pm hour.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Don't worry, Heroes is still considered to be on hot ice, so its only a matter of time before they too take the fall so they could also free up the 9 pm hour.

[Thread Derail in Progress]

I've read a lot of posts and articles saying this, and I can't see how anyone would really believe it. Sure, Heroes is coming under a lot of fire, especially given it's lackluster sophmore season. Yes, it's also dropped viewers like a sieve, especially this season.

However, Chuck has lost similar numbers, indicating at the least a general drop in viewership on Mondays. This is borne out looking at the overall ratings for NBC Monday nights versus ABC and CBS (see Zap2It.com). Most shows lose viewers as time goes on, especially the so-called genre shows. Heroes is still pulling in a good point higher in share (~1.1 million viewers) than Chuck, and Chuck is in no danger of being cancelled. You also have to look at overseas, where Heroes is doing phenomenally well; of course, those ratings may drop as well.

Now, is that enough to justify the cose of production? If the rumors that Heroes has had its budget slashed, the answer is no. However, is it doing poorly enough to justify axing it completely? Definitely not.

It's possible I'm not seeing something, and please let me know if that's the case. Otherwise, I really don't see Heroes getting canned any time soon.