Muera Laughlin
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- October
- 22
Way, way back in July, I called it.
I probably wasn’t the first to call it, and I certainly wasn’t the last, but call it I did.
Viva Laughlin is likely to be the first CBS show of the fall season to die.
A mere 8.39 million folks tuned in on Thursday night when it premiered last week, The Hollywood Reporter reported. That doesn’t sound totally horrible, until you realize that the show on immediately before it, CSI, had a whopping 21.22 viewers. I don’t think CBS liked losing that may viewers from one hour to the next.
I haven’t seen Viva Laughlin, I don’t plan to see Viva Laughlin (not that I’ll have much of a chance to), and I’m not surprised many others feel the same as I do.
The last musical TV drama on a network was Cop Rock, which is remembered, pretty much, for being a spectacular failure.
Fact of the matter is, outside of Broadway, folks don’t like the musical much anymore. Even Disney movies aren’t musicals anymore.
Maybe it’s the reality TV effect. As unreal as reality TV is, it is a reminder that in real life, folks don’t burst out into song for no particular reason. Well, rarely, anyhow, and when they do, it tends not to further the plot.
Sure, The Drew Carey Show and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Scrubs each (and others, I’m sure) have had successful musical episodes, but that’s what they were  episodes. Kitschy. Unusual. A one-shot deal. Not weekly weirdness.
Anyhow, the ax is expected to fall on Viva Laughlin soon, possibly as soon as today, TVGuide.com says.
The good news was supposed to be that Jericho would take its place. At some point, CBS said Jericho would be the first replacement show of the fall season. But now TVGuide is saying The Amazing Race is “the most likely candidate” to take it slot, which is 8 p.m. Sunday (the Thursday airing was a special premiere, where it was supposed to take advantage of its CSI lead-in and develop a buzz).
I’m not even sure what to say about this. The fact of the matter is, CBS has done nothing to keep Jericho in the public eye other than the production blog. But even that ended Oct. 2, the release date of the Season 1 DVD. No fault of the show production crew  production had already wrapped by then. What were they supposed to be blogging on?
Oct. 9. Still waiting for word from CBS as to when our seven episodes will air.Oct. 10. Still waiting for word from CBS as to when our seven episodes will air.
Oct. 12. Still waiting for word from CBS as to when our seven episodes will air.
Oct. 15. Still waiting for word from CBS as to when our seven episodes will air.
Oct. 19. Still waiting for word from CBS as to when our seven episodes will air.
Oct. 22. Still waiting for word from CBS … aw, hell.
TVGuide did have something nice to share about Jericho, however. Three photos from the Season 2 shoot.
Photo courtesy of CBS, via the Associated Press.ÂÂ
This entry was posted
on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 2:30 pm by Amy Vernon.
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Boy, you pegged this one Amy! You put this up and a few hours later, the world knew it was cancelled, LOL! I watched a half an hour of the first episode on Thursday, just out of morbid curiosity. I had heard all the negative reviews and wanted to see if it was really that bad. It was! Adios Laughlin…