If you had “We Are Men” in the pool as the season’s second cancelled show (and first cancelled comedy), give yourself a pat on the back.
Late Wednesday (October 9) afternoon, CBS announced that effective immediately, “We Are Men” has been pulled from its Monday schedule as part of a wholesale overhaul of a night that used to be a network strength, but has become a major weakness early in the new season.
The biggest piece of the move is that struggling third-year comedy “2 Broke Girls” will move up to 8:30 where it can take advantage of the “How I Met Your Mother” lead-in. Formerly a reliable stand-alone hit for CBS, “2 Broke Girls” was down to only 7.27 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49, not the sort of numbers CBS needs for a comedy that already has a lucrative syndication deal, but not very much episodic inventory.
CBS is hoping that “2 Broke Girl” was being hampered by “We Are Men,” which attracted dismissive reviews and only drew 5.41 million viewers and a 1.8 key demo rating this past week. The sitcom will shift to its new home for next Monday’s (October 14) episode.
For the next two weeks, CBS will air rebroadcasts of “The Big Bang Theory” on Mondays at 9:00, which will presumably give a bit of a bump to “Mom,” which has been a middling performer through its first three airings, drawing 6.86 million viewers and a 2.1 key demo rating.
Starting on November 4, “Mike & Molly” will take over the 9 p.m. time period. That’s an interesting shift-of-fortune for the Melissa McCarthy comedy, which was bumped to midseason for its fourth season, but suddenly finds itself launching an hour and counted upon to support “Mom.”
“Hostages” will continue to air in the 10 p.m. hour despite slipping to a 1.2 key demo rating and an audience of 5.22 million viewers.
“We Are Men” became the second casualty of the fall, coming after ABC axed “Lucky 7” last week. It was pulled after only two airings and despite key demo ratings that would put it ahead of every FOX comedy other than “New Girl,” every NBC comedy other than “The Michael J. Fox Show” and a number of ABC comedies, including “Trophy Wife.”
That leads to the return of the always-fun question: What’s going to be cancelled next?
Will it be “Dads,” with its 3.1 million viewers and 1.3 key demo rating?
Will it be “Ironside” if ratings fall in its second airing on Wednesday night?
Will ABC stick with “Betrayal” after two low-rated episodes?
Will NBC be patient with “Welcome to the Family” if the dismally rated comedy falls even further in its second airing?
What’s your guess? And will anybody miss “We Are Men”?