And the Katie Finneran curse strikes again

[yendi]

So The Michael J. Fox Show has been canceled. It was flawed, but still funnier by a long shot than a lot of hits (anything Chuck Lorre's associated with, as well as The Millers and Dads). Each episode had some flat moments, but I can't recall any episode that didn't also get a big laugh or two. But that happens, and given the ratings, I knew that each week was potentially the last one for the show.

But now I'm really starting to wonder if Katie Finneran -- who, along with Fox, is the reason I started watching in the first place -- is the heir to Chyler Leigh and Paula Marhsall's "show killer" status.

Consider: Bram and Alice, Wonderfalls, The Inside, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, and now The Michael J. Fox Show. All cancelled after less than a season. Katie was fine in all of them, and often had some great material, too (both Wonderfalls and The Inside deserved better, and even IHMTD was funnier than about 90% of current sitcoms), but the shows all died painfully short deaths, not even making it a full season.

But yeah, if she decides to do another show (and given her Broadway bona fides, she might just stick to a place that doesn't treat her like crap, although I suspect TV money is tempting), I'll be there.

Comments

[elsewhereangel.livejournal.com]

It's Wonderfalls Weekend at the Overlook!

[yendi]

Yay (um, what's the Overlook?)!

[elsewhereangel.livejournal.com]

It's my house. I forget you don't know these things.

[yendi]

:-) I suspected it might be something like that.

[amokk]

Is that before or after Jack Nicholson shows up?

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I found myself following that show (I use hulu) but not caring terribly if I missed it any given week. It amused me but I didn't really care about the characters. But there are a lot of otherwise popular shows like that, for me. I don't give a whit about Modern Family, frinstance.

[yendi]

*nod*

One thing it lacked was a weekly hook; for the most part, there was no serious continuity of interest (and they broke continuity on at least one occasion). That said, that wasn't the only reason, because The Crazy Ones (a much, much funnier show) also spent its first month largely continuity free, but was clearly a much bigger success. I think it was a combo of a bunch of factors (continuity, just not funny enough, etc) that worked together.

[sdaisyk.livejournal.com]

This was a comment in the TVline article (http://tvline.com/2014/02/05/hollywood-game-night-moving-to-thursdays/):

UPDATE: An NBC rep notes that Fox is not cancelled. We are looking for a place on the schedule after April 3.”
Comment by Tori Melching – February 5, 2014 06:25 PM PST Reply To This Post

Though I have no idea who the commenter is or if its confirmed elsewhere or not. Not that it will help anything given it that just means they might air the remaining episodes at some point.

[yendi]

Wow. LJ's letting people link to TVline again!

Yeah, I figure the "it's not officially cancelled" line is just so that they can cover their bases (or possible their contract -- I think they're obligated for a full season to air by a certain date).