Funeral Plans for 2010-2011's Network TV Freshman Casualties
We come to bury 'Lone Star,' 'Chicago Code,' 'The Event,' 'Outsourced' and more
Funeral Plans for 2010-2011's Network TV Freshman Casualties
The 2010-11 network TV season officially ended Wednesday night at 11 p.m. It was not, to put it plainly, a good one for new shows.
Of the 44 shows to debut at some point during this season, 34 of them will not be back for a second season. In fact, 36 of the 46 that were supposed to air this season won't be back, but NBC's "Love Bites" got bumped to summer for a burn-off theatre run, while NBC doesn't seem likely to ever air "Friends with Benefits." And of the 10 that survived, the only one that qualifies as a genuine hit is NBC's "The Voice," while the others ranged in ratings performance from solid but disappointing (CBS' "Hawaii Five-0") to marginal at best (FOX's "Raising Hope," which is funny but had bad ratings all year).
Creatively speaking, there wasn't a real watercooler show among either the canceled shows or the returning ones. "The Voice" is an effective twist on "American Idol," and a few of the comedies show promise, but anyone expecting the next "Lost," "Modern Family" or "Community" would have been seriously disappointed.
But before we get seriously into the idea of summer TV, let alone the 2011-12 TV season, let's bow our heads in memory of the 34 dead (again, leaving those 2 NBC shows aside) and look back on the laughs, the tears and, for the most part, the boredom they gave us.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupGuyITC
May 29, 2011 at 4:05AM EST Reply to CommentI liked 11 of these 33 shows. Actually, I think tolerated is a better adjective for that sentence. Actually, tolerated is less "accurate" than "watched."
To rank how watchable the 11 shows I watched:
The Chicago Code
Lone Star
Traffic Light
The Good Guys
Mr. Sunshine
Breaking In
Mad Love
Better With You
Hellcats
No Ordinary Family
The Event
1-3 were good, 4-8 were entertaining, 9-10 were disappointing, 11 was... fine, it sucked. But I really wanted to know what the freaking event was.
I normally agree with Alan and Dan, but Traffic Light was actually quite good. I'd take it in a close call over Raising Hope.
On another note...
Is Raising Hope the only sitcom that got renewed? Talk about a down year...
guyitc My bad. I forgot about Happy Endings and Mike and Molly.
May 29, 2011 at 4:13AM ESTTausif Khan Linda Holmes has pointed out that between Fox, ABC and NBC that Raising Hope was the only Fall freshman show to make it to a second season.
May 29, 2011 at 4:21AM ESTTausif Khan
May 29, 2011 at 4:18AM EST Reply to CommentIs there any way that photos in this slide show could be captioned listing the people in the pictures?
The only one of these shows I watched regularly and cared about was The Chicago Code.. I was sad for the loss of Lonestar as I appreciated the idea of the show. Hellcats I wish got another season because I feel Alyson Michalka and Ashley Tisdale are quite talented. Some of the shows I saw here I learned of their existence of the first time.
I also think that !&#$ My Dad Says might be best remembered for Daniel Fienberg referring to the show as Feces My Dad Says.
I am hoping that many of these shows were canceled due to audiences noticing how much derivative television they were being exposed to.
Next years crop looks innovative if nothing else. More female writers yay!
My biggest question is for a larger trend. Bob Greenblat said of this year that broadcast networks needed to start being innovative like cable. Greenblat and Paul Lee both ran cable channels. I wonder if this signals bland attempts at innovation by networks (The Playboy Club and Pan Am) and more cost cutting measures at cable networks (cancellation of Terriers and most recently The United States of Tara).
May 29, 2011 at 7:06AM EST Reply to CommentNo America's Next Great Restaurant? (Best remembered for far too many utterances of the phrase "Saucy Balls".)
GuyITC Not sure that it was technically canceled.
May 29, 2011 at 8:12AM ESTHard to believe it would have a second season though.
Maybe with a different name...
America's Nexter Great Restaurant
America's Next Greater Restaurant
America's Next Next Great Restaurant
America's Next Greatest Restaurant
sepinwall Darn it. I had a feeling my math was wrong but couldn't figure out what we left out. A goodbye to ANGR will be added within the next day or so.
May 29, 2011 at 9:11AM EST
May 29, 2011 at 1:33PM EST Reply to CommentStyx's "Renegade?" Hilarious
DougMac
May 29, 2011 at 2:24PM EST Reply to Commentthere were some pretty good shows in that lot
7s Tim
May 29, 2011 at 2:54PM EST Reply to CommentHas the Will Arnett/Amy Poehler/tiny horse connection been capitalized upon as much as it should be? They must really love tiny horses, yo.
The Goche
May 29, 2011 at 3:08PM EST Reply to CommentI think Undercovers is most well known for almost keeping Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec.
Never watched Undercovers. Might have been good. But seriously, it could have been pretty good, and still not been worth losing Jean-Ralphio over.
Jamie Actually,Undercovers wasn't bad. The problem is it was on the wrong network. It should have been on USA with the other spy/law enforcement shows starring pretty people. It would have fit right in with White Collar and Covert Affairs.
June 6, 2011 at 12:34PM ESTGuest
May 29, 2011 at 4:08PM EST Reply to Commentno Lights Out?
sepinwall Not a network show.
May 29, 2011 at 5:54PM ESTKen Raining
May 29, 2011 at 6:15PM EST Reply to CommentVery amusing, fellas. Although I've now got "Steal My Sunshine" in my head.
May 29, 2011 at 8:11PM EST Reply to Comment"Traffic Light" funeral song could have also been "Traffic Lights," from one of the Monty Python albums.
"I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights, ..."
aseroff
May 30, 2011 at 6:16PM EST Reply to Comment5 syllable title theme: funniest part of Mr. Sunshine. And the Dishwalla revival is overdue, if only for "Counting Blue Cars"
War Chief Shake Zula
May 30, 2011 at 6:35PM EST Reply to CommentHave you guys ever considered that maybe it was the writers and not Belushi who were at fault for According to Jim?
June 2, 2011 at 12:51PM EST Reply to CommentWShat about Human Target?!?!?!
dan Ari - The gallery only pays tribute to shows that were new to the 2010-2011 season and were canceled, not to all of the shows that were canceled this spring.
June 2, 2011 at 12:59PM EST-Daniel
Young
July 7, 2011 at 1:32PM EST Reply to CommentAnybody love Days of Our Lives? I'm a huge fan of it and I found some exciting news about it!
Did you guys hear about this really exciting contest to meet EJ and Stefano and to appear with them in Soap Opera Digest? Check it out at http://ClassWish.org/Days
It's doing charity and helping connect soap opera fans with soap opera stars together! I would be selfish if I didn't share this info with you guys here, since there are so many soap fans here.
July 13, 2011 at 11:25AM EST