They couldn't make it in New York, so Donny and Marie's daytime show won't be making it anywhere.
That's right, it's official: The plug has been pulled on "The Donny & Marie Show."
To the chagrin of local affiliate KSTU-Fox 13, Columbia Tristar Television Distribution announced Thursday the cancellation of its syndicated TV talk show hosted by the Osmond siblings.
"The show has done very well for us from the beginning," said Duffy Dyer, vice president and general manager of Fox 13. "We're still not clear on how we're going to handle the absence of Donny and Marie from the schedule. We're quite disappointed."
The show was in serious trouble after Fox affiliate WNYW-TV in New York dropped the program from its schedule, even though it was one of only six syndicated shows that saw ratings increases over the previous year, the Associated Press said.
Entering what would have been its third season in September, Donny and Marie's show was dropped because ratings didn't rise as much as Columbia President Barry Thurston had hoped. "The show has a good station lineup, but unfortunately we are disappointed that while we did have increases in ratings this year, they did not come up sufficiently enough to make economic sense. This is not an inexpensive show," Thurston told the daily trade-paper Variety.
Dyer said Utah's strong interest in the show was not representative of other markets, including New York, where he said the show "didn't work."
"A show that might work in one market doesn't guarantee it's going to work in all other markets," Dyer said. "Certainly any program in syndication needs to clear New York."
Fox 13 now has a hole the size of Donny's smile in its talk lineup, especially after losing the "The Rosie O' Donnell Show" to KUTV Ch. 2.
"We've invested wisely in some of the best court shows that are out there," Dyer said. "But as far as the variety talk genre — that was represented by Rosie and by Donny and Marie."
Dyer said Fox 13 is looking at another property, but he can't talk about it specifically yet.
"While we may be without (talk TV) for a year, it is a genre we like," said Dyer. "We don't have anything (besides 'The Jenny Jones Show') on the schedule right now for September."