Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has officially been cancelled.
Go fuck yourselves, NBC.
Not once... not ONE TIME did NBC think that maybe a different timeslot would be a better fit for this show. They gave it no chance to succeed. Ratings went down after the premiere for whatever reason, and NBC let everyone run wild with the story, citing all kinds of reasons for the show's downfall. It was too political, too preachy, too smart, too highbrow, too liberal, too whatever. They let every other outlet in the country make Studio 60 into a punchline. And so what did NBC do? They blamed it for not keeping the viewers from Heroes, pulled it from the schedule, and ultimately just let it die. Their own show... they never came to its defense.
Trying one time slot only, and matching it with a show that for the most part has an entirely different demographic, is simply criminal. Every fucker in NBC's programming department should be shot. And I know that sounds harsh and I'm sure you're probably thinking I'd feel horrible and would retract this post if some crazed gunman went and blew away everyone in the programming department, but I wouldn't. I'd feel bad for their families, but then again I already feel bad for their families, being related to some of the stupidest people on the planet.
Two other shows failed in the same time slot: The Black Donnellys and that Real Wedding Crashers "reality" bullshit. Both of which, also, were not a good match for Heroes. Why is that the fault of the shows? Why is it Studio 60's fault that CSI: Miami is a runaway juggernaut?
If a network pinhead puts a show on in a timeslot and it fails there, said pinhead should be fired, and someone else should be brought in to make the multi-million dollar investment work. Pinheads who can't even get through their heads that the show might work better elsewhere aren't fit to flip burgers.
These people get paid a lot of money to do what they do. And yet here I sat, along with countless others who all loved the show, screaming "try a different time slot!" But it didn't matter. NBC made up their mind about this show long before the midseason changes took place.
This whole thing reminds me of what Fox did to Arrested Development, and something series co-star David Cross said about the network's inability to properly promote that show on the second season DVD set. You could simply interchange a few words and it would also apply to Studio 60:
"I got an idea for what you can do: why don’t you fuckin’ fire your complete marketing team, alright? Get a new one that knows how to market a show that won 12 motherfucking Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG awards, WGA awards, DGA awards, Producers’ Guild’s awards, critics’ top-ten lists… If you can’t market that kind of show and get better ratings, then maybe the problem doesn’t lie here. Maybe it lies with marketing. Good night."
Television no longer caters to the lowest of the low. Television *is* the lowest of the low.
And don't even get me started about the cancellation of Raines, which was never even given a chance to being with...
RIP Studio 60. However, if Sorkin was thinking a little outside the box he would be talking to other networks right now. I would pay for HBO or some premium channel to see Studio 60. I loved it and hoe to here some amazing news in the next several months.
Posted by: Greg | Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 11:44 PM