The network death march continues with the passing of two more victims: CBS has canceled "Dellaventura," and NBC has dropped "Jenny."
Not that either move was a surprise, given that neither show had much of anybody tuning in to see it. And it's also no surprise that they've had a lot of company.The freshman class of fall 1997, quite frankly, was pretty much a bunch of losers. Half of the 36 shows have already been canceled. And of the other 18, only three can be considered hits (depending on your definition of a hit).
And it's not like these are quality shows biting the dust. Most of them didn't deserve to survive.
"Veronica's Closet" is by far the highest-rated new series on the air, but is it a success? The show is sandwiched between the two highest-rated shows on television - "Seinfeld" and "ER" - and it loses a big chunk of the "Seinfeld" audience every week.
Last week, for example, "Veronica's Closet" was the No. 7 show on TV - but its rating was 22 percent lower than "Seinfeld's."
And, as has been so clearly demonstrated once again, being in the top 10 doesn't make a show a hit. NBC canceled "Union Square," which was No. 9 in the ratings last week. Of course, the fact that its ratings were more than a fifth lower than "Friends" and a third lower than "Seinfeld's" explains why NBC dropped it.
"Dharma & Greg" isn't as highly rated as "Veronica's Closet," but there's no question that the show is a success - it often outrates both the program that precedes it ("Spin City") and the show that follows it ("Drew Carey").
"Ally McBeal," which has already been renewed for next season, is not a big hit in terms of households - it has yet to land in the top 20 in household ratings. But it's doing the best numbers Fox has ever had in its time slot, and its demographics are excellent. (It was in the top 10 last week in the all-important 18-49 demographic.)
And that makes it considerably more valuable than a show like "George & Leo," which does fairly well in households but not very well among the younger demographics so prized by advertisers.
Here's a rundown of just how bad things have been for last fall's crop of new shows:
ABC
ABC's fall crop of shows turned out to be nothing short of a disaster. Of the 12 shows the network introduced last fall, seven have already been canceled - and a couple more have, for all intents and purposes, effectively been axed as well.
The ABC death list is long - "Cracker," "C-16: FBI," "Hiller and Diller," "Over the Top," "Timecop," "Total Security" and "You Wish."
Meanwhile, "Teen Angel" is out of production and not expected to return. And the episode of "Nothing Sacred" that aired Saturday is the last one ABC has scheduled. (There are a few unaired episodes that will be on eventually - probably - but the network is not expected to produce any more episodes.)
The second weekly edition of "20/20" has been moved from Thursdays to Mondays.
The only bonafide hit to come from ABC's large freshman class is "Dharma & Greg." "The Wonderful World of Disney" movies, while generally no ratings blockbusters, are doing well enough to succeed in a tough time slot.
CBS
CBS hasn't canceled as many shows as has ABC, but it has a large number of series whose futures are hanging by a thread.
"Dellaventura" and "Meego" have both gotten the ax. But a whole slew of shows, including "Brooklyn South," "Gregory Hines," "Michael Hayes" and "Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel" are underperforming - some of them quite badly. It wouldn't be a surprise if any or all of them fail to make the cut.
(The same can be said of "Family Matters" and "Step by Step," two shows that moved to CBS from ABC last fall.)
Actually, the closest thing to a hit CBS came up with is "George & Leo," and it's a very moderate success at best.
NBC
The ever-boastful folks at NBC can hardly be proud as a peacock over the performance of their new fall shows - five of the eight have already been canceled.
That list includes, "Built to Last," "Jenny," "Sleepwalkers," "Tony Danza" and "Union Square." ("Sleepwalkers" got the ax after airing only one episode!)
"Working" and "Players" are still alive, but neither has broken out (and both are iffy when it comes to renewals for next season).
NBC's sole freshman hit is "Veronica's Closet," and there's a that continuing debate about whether it's a real hit or simply benefits from its great time slot.
Fox
Fox has the singular distinction of canceling one of its fall shows before it ever went on the air. The sitcom "Rewind" was considered so unsalvageable that it was cut loose without ever airing a single episode.
The fourth network has also dropped "413 Hope St.," "Rewind" and "The Visitor." And "Between Brothers" is doing quite poorly, although it hasn't been dropped yet.
Fox's one new hit is "Ally McBeal." But even that is a relative success story - it does relatively well for Fox, which tends to have lower ratings than the Big Three networks. And, again, its demographics are better than its household ratings.
The WB
Much more so than Fox, success at pseudo-network the WB is relative. A show that would surely be canceled by an established network might be the biggest hit here.
That said, the WB hasn't dropped anything yet. But the ratings for new shows "Tom" and "Alright Already" have been very low, and both have been shuffled around the network-wannabe's Sunday schedule to no avail.
UPN
This is another network where even a tiny bit of good news is trumpeted - and there hasn't been any trumpeting going on.
"Good News" and "Hitz" are still on the air despite low ratings. And "Head Over Heels" was quickly dropped after even worse ratings.