TV Bulletin Board (April 17)
04/17/07 12:10
By ED BARK
Gone in 60 seconds. OK, some of this season's new and since canceled shows actually got as many as five episodes.
Networks have long been notorious for passing quick judgments on whether a series will make it or not. This has been the season of the Quick Hook, though, with of course some exceptions.
NBC to its credit gave Friday Night Lights a full season to somehow kick at least a field goal in the Nielsens. And the Peacock already has renewed 30 Rock for next season despite its rock-bottom ratings performances.
Conversely, no fewer than nine newcomers have been yanked this season after five or fewer episodes. And these don't include the likes of NBC's Kidnapped and Andy Barker, P.I., ABC's The Nine, Six Degrees and Day Break, and Fox's Happy Hour, Vanished and Justice. They all got at least a half-dozen outings before getting the gas.
As Fox's new Drive threatens to screech to a five-episode-or-less halt, here are the other members of this season's clubbed. May they live on in multi-disc DVD sets featuring an unusually large number of "lost" episodes.
***Celebrity Duets (Fox). Premiered Aug. 29. Lasted five episodes.
***Smith (CBS). Premiered Sept. 19. Lasted three episodes.
***Runaway (The CW). Premiered Sept. 25. Last three episodes.
***20 Good Years (NBC). Premiered 11. Lasted four episodes.
***The Rich List (Fox) -- Premiered Nov. 10. Lasted one episode.
***3 Lbs. (CBS). Premiered Nov. 14. Lasted three episodes.
***Show Me the Money (ABC). Premiered Nov. 14. Lasted five episodes.
***The Wedding Bells (Fox). Premiered March 7. Lasted five episodes.
***The Great American Dream Vote (ABC). Premiered March 28. Lasted two episodes.