Apparently NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt’s early-season patience had a shelf-life of “this week.”
Just two days after making “The Playboy Club” the season’s first casualty, NBC has pulled the plug on the freshman comedy “Free Agents.”
The cancellation of “Free Agents” has been in the cards since the series took a precipitous fall from its “Up All Night” lead-in airing after the “America’s Got Talent” finale last month. Subsequent airings in its regular Wednesday time period proved no more encouraging.
In its fourth and final airing, “Free Agents” drew a non-negotiable 3.28 million viewers and a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49.
Based on the British format of the same name, “Free Agents” starred Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn.
While “Free Agents” has been pulled effective immediately, NBC has not yet announced plans for the new time period. Presumably repeats of a Thursday comedy would be the most likely contender, with “Whitney” a logical choice having been recently picked up a full season.
NBC has “30 Rock,” plus new offerings “Are You There, Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea,” “Best Friends Forever” and “Bent” on the comedy front for midseason, but don’t expect to see any of those shows in this slot any time soon.
[Update: NBC has, indeed, set repeats of “Whitney” to air in the 8:30 p.m. Wednesday slot for the near/foreseeable future.]