Last week, NBC announced its first cancelation of the year, as the poorly-received and terribly corny Sean Saves the World got the ax for its pathetic ratings. It was the second time in just four months that NBC gave the boot to a Thursday night show, as the Mike O’Malley sitcom Welcome to the Family came and went faster than I could just ask myself, “Wait, which one was Welcome to the Family?” But the network’s itchy trigger finger is still firing away, because the unbelievable has occurred and NBC has canceled The Michael J. Fox Show.
According to Deadline, as NBC’s coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi is set to begin, it was basically time for the network to clean house of the third and final poorly-performing new Thursday night show, and make way for Hollywood Game Night, which will make the move to its new night on February 27 at 9 PM ET. The move is just a Band-Aid, however, as Game Night is only set to run through April 3, so it’s unknown which show will then move into the 9 PM spot. Knowing NBC, it’ll probably be The Voice, because promoting Parks and Recreation to 9 PM would just be silly.
As for The Michael J. Fox Show, this really should be a wake-up call for NBC, as network officials were really banking on the return of one of America’s most beloved celebrities to provide a huge ratings boost. I wanted to like the show so much, and I tried to watch past the first few episodes, but it was just… not good. Hopefully, David Caspe’s Marry Me, starring Ken Marino and Casey Wilson, will get a shot on Thursday nights and actually receive some… what do they call it? When a network actually puts its faith in a show and promotes and markets it as such? Oh yeah, confidence. Hopefully it gets some of that.