"Just Shoot Me" hasn't been canceled — yet. But it looks very much like NBC is playing out the string for the 7-year-old sitcom.
After disappearing earlier this season, the show returns on Tuesday, April 22, at 7 and 7:30 p.m. for a five-week run that will include 11 original episodes. The 11th and, presumably, final episode will air May 20 when three episodes will air back-to-back-to-back.
If you needed any further evidence that "Just Shoot Me" isn't long for the TV world, creator/executive producer Steve Levitan said that that final episode, while not precluding an eighth season, is being designed as a possible end for the series.
NBC's Entertainment president Jeff Zucker need look no further than the mirror to explain how "Shoot" executed a nose-dive in the ratings this season. Airing it on Tuesday nights (instead of a safe Thursday-night time slot) and pairing it with the failed "In-Laws" was enough to kill the show all by itself.
But it has to be said that "Just Shoot Me" has seen better days. The show was once among the best and brightest comedies on TV; now it's running on fumes.
On the other hand, as weak as it has become, "Just Shoot Me" is still better than what's passing for the next generation of sitcoms on NBC. If "A.U.S.A.," "Hidden Hills," "In-Laws," "Good Morning, Miami" and "Watching Ellie" are the best NBC can do, Zucker might want to take a second look at "Just Shoot Me."
"IDOL" CRIME: One-time Utah resident Corey Clark is the latest "American Idol" contestant whose trouble with the law has come to light — and gotten him booted from the show for withholding that information when interviewed by Fox.
TheSmokingGun.Com found court documents showing that Clark is scheduled to go to trial on April 15 in Topeka, Kansas, where he allegedly assaulted his 15-year-old sister. Clark is charged with resisting arrest, physical battery and criminal restraint. He has also been sued for passing bad checks.
I certainly wasn't looking for him to get dropped because of something like this. I just wanted him voted off because listening to him sing was like having a nail driven into my head.
Clark is the latest aspiring "Idol" to make unwanted headlines. Jaered Andrews was kicked out of the top 32 after he was arrested for an assault that left a man dead; Frenchie Davis got dumped because of her past as an Internet porn model; and Clark's fellow finalist Trenyce is a convicted shoplifter.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com