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Bad News

Fox Pulls 'Ben and Kate' from the Schedule

by | January 23rd, 2013

Fox just put its critically-acclaimed freshman sitcom Ben and Kate on hold and is ditching the idea of a Tuesday night comedy block. New Girl and The Mindy Project will continue to air at 9pm and 9:30 Tuesday, and Fox will be doubling up on Raising Hope, airing two new episodes in the 8pm hour until Hell's Kitchen takes over the timeslot on March 12, ending the network's latest stab at a two-hour live-action comedy block. It's really a shame to see Fox removing Ben and Kate, which I recently called "TV's Best New Sitcom," from the schedule because it's grown into a funny and tight show that has found [...]

Bad News

It's Probably Best If You Don't Look at Last Night's Ratings for NBC's Comedies

by | September 23rd, 2011

It's official: we are weirdos, outside the mainstream, who like things that most people find unpalatable. Admit it, you've always known it deep down, but now we have the TV ratings to prove it: over 10 million more people watched The Big Bang Theory than Community last night.

No, last night's ratings weren't great for the shows we like to champion around these parts. Community was watched by 3.98 million people; Parks and Rec, 4.11; The Office, 7.63. Whitney actually did OK, with 6.71 million people watching that. But compared to Two and a Half Men (28 million), 2 Broke Girls (19 million), and The Big Bang Theory [...]

Bad News

Handsome Killjoy Alec Baldwin Says Next Season Will be 30 Rock's Last

by | April 6th, 2011

Here's some bummer news, if it's true: last night, Alec Baldwin told Vulture that 30 Rock only has one season left. "I will tell you one thing, and that is our show next year is our last year of the show. Our contracts are expired [in 2012], and Tina is gonna have a big career directing films and writing. She's going to be the next Elaine May. She'll be great." And Alec will run for Congress, and it will be weird. Onward and upward?

Bad News

Dustin Hoffman Tells Stephen Colbert He Was Cut Out of the Movie 'Quartet'

by | January 23rd, 2013

Telling an actor they're cut out of your movie is probably the hardest thing a director has to do, and Dustin Hoffman chose to break the news to Stephen Colbert on national TV last night that his performance in his movie Quintet (now titled Quartet) has been left on the cutting room floor. To be fair, it doesn't look like Colbert's spoon-playing character fits into the film based on the short clip Hoffman plays, but it is going to be pretty distracting watching that movie and wondering why the classical music ensemble doesn't have a spoon player.

Bad News

Conan Viewership Down Roughly 60% Since Premiere

by | August 18th, 2011

Oh boy. Apparently Conan ratings have fallen approximately 60% since the show's debut last fall. They've dipped below one million viewers per night after starting off at around 2.4 million, and the show is consistently beaten by Nightline, Leno, Letterman, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and even sometimes by Chelsey Lately.

TBS is allegedly shelling out big bucks to air episodes of The Big Bang Theory as a lead-in to Conan's show in the hopes of giving him a boost. "We want TBS to be a leading comedy brand," President of Turner Entertainment Networks Steve Koonin said, adding "How we get to that destination we don't have [...]

Bad News

Everything Is On Hiatus: 'Louie' Won't Be Back Until 2014

by | October 9th, 2012

Just after NBC announced it's putting Community on hold, FX's Louie is also being placed on an extended hiatus, with no new episodes coming until Spring of 2014. Whereas Community's delay was initiated by the network, Louis C.K. himself actually requested his show have a late season four debut, so that he can have more time to work on the new batch of episodes. The new season was originally expected to air in Summer of 2013 but will be pushed back to spring of the following year. Here's what C.K. told reporters:

I want season four to go somewhere new… I'm looking back to when I did the first [...]

Bad News

And In Non-Fake News, An ONN Writers Strike Possible

by | August 1st, 2011

This morning marks the deadline for a potential ONN writers strike, as well as a serious blow to our right to uninterrupted comedy broadcasting. As of this morning, failed negations between the Writers Guide of America-East and The Onion, Inc. still leaves ONN writers, as WGA says, "the only scripted live action television show now in production where the writers did not work under a WGA agreement." Without a contract, the writers are working without the promise of benefits, Guild pay or a sufficient term of employment for the show's second season, scheduled to premiere in September.

The WGA reportedly sent out an email last week calling [...]

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