Comedy Central has canceled both of the sports-related programs it debuted this year: “Onion SportsDome” and “Sports Show with Norm Macdonald.” No one’s going to weep over the loss of “SportsDome,” but I think “Sports Show” should have been given another season to grow, if only because it’s Norm F’n Macdonald, who aptly described himself as “Comedy Central’s fourth most popular host.”
Macdonald quipped to EW that he had not been “officially” informed of the bad news, noting, “A Minute with Stan Hooper is still officially on hiatus,” a reference to his short-lived 2003 Fox sitcom. He also said that he was open to hosting a similar-style program (“I like doing a funny show where I don’t have to act and fall in love with a girl”) and talked up “an Internet campaign to save the show, almost like they do with shows about witches and vampires and aliens from outer space…. Maybe I’ll call [the network] and ask them to bring it back. I’ll say, ‘Just bring it back. How much could it hurt television, really?’” [EW]
Macdonald averaged 1.1 million viewers in his slot behind “Tosh.0,” which isn’t terrific but isn’t bad, either. I figured that the cachet of certain bits and stunts — like the Blake Griffin sketch and Macdonald’s $25,000 wager on Manny Pacquiao — would have been enough to get him another season. But I was wrong, and that’s why I’m a blogger and not a television executive. Because my head’s not inside my ass.
Further reading: The Very Best (and Last) of ‘Sports Show’; In Defense of ‘Sports Show’
