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The Day The CW Laughter Died
Posted by Seth at 5:25 AM on March 5, 2008
Bastard toddler network The CW has had a bit of a rough time rebounding after the writers strike, its slate failing to find traction with an audience comprised almost entirely of easily distracted tweenagers and confused elderly disappointed to learn they hadn't found a new home for Hee Haw reruns. Six of their series recently learned they had been spared the guillotine, including the always-dependable America's Next Top Model, the under-performing Gossip Girl, and the hanging-by-a-thread Everybody Hates Chris; sadly, however the same could not be said for 25 ill-fated staffers just handed their pink slips--curiously enough, printed on the netlet's branded green. From Variety:
More than 25 staffers have been let go -- including Kim Fleary, the CW's exec VP of comedy development, and her No. 2, senior VP of comedy Steve Veisel.
While the comedy department was eliminated, the CW has merged its remaining drama and current programming units into one scripted series department.
In deference to the fallen department, surviving staffers have mounted a silent protest, closing all official e-mail correspondences today with a single, frowning emoticon. The sad-face symbol is a simple yet potent reminder of all the single-camera, half-hour projects that will forever go undeveloped, the script notes never given, and all due to the avarice of corporate higher-ups who'd sooner let the laughter die if it meant guaranteeing 155 more cycles of weave-tugging, appointment Top Model TV.
- Strike, ratings slip lead to CW layoffs [Variety]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
videogoddess
Posted 7:24 AM 5/3/08
@Nomi Malone: A-MEN.
videogoddess
nojo
Posted 7:24 AM 5/3/08
@CatherineTrammell: Even more obvious: The C-what?
nojo
KNau
Posted 7:24 AM 5/3/08
They just didn't understand that when everyone said their programming was "laughable" they didn't mean it was funny.
KNau
SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley
Posted 7:24 AM 5/3/08
I'm just bummed that 7th Heaven didn't make it to their 15th season. That little albino boy was just starting to get hot. & now that I'm officially Mrs Robinson, I'm going to take a gin martini bubble bath.
SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley
CatherineTrammell
Posted 7:24 AM 5/3/08
I'm going to ask the obvious: The CW had a comedy department?
CatherineTrammell
Nomi Malone
Posted 7:24 AM 5/3/08
looks like canceling "veronica mars" has come back to haunt you, bitches.
Nomi Malone
livingblinditem
Posted 7:24 AM 5/3/08
Maybe they shouldn't have blown all their dough on this: [www.variety.com]
livingblinditem
MrRewrite
Posted 7:48 AM 5/3/08
still not too late to re-brand the CW as the 'Country & Western', network. wudn't that what everyone thought anyways? yee-hah! 'Nascar Housewives'?
MrRewrite
Leviticus_71
Posted 9:35 AM 5/3/08
Don't they have that cutesy little frog tap dancing his way into zero viewers? Or is that the WB? "I'll take channels not on my remote for $200 Alex"
Leviticus_71
Garrison Dean
Posted 11:17 AM 5/3/08
As long as they keep giving me HD Supernatural, I could give what they do with the rest of the network.
Garrison Dean
dluvvly
Posted 12:07 PM 5/3/08
Let's see...spend 10 years branding the WB into decent success in the impossible-to-enter market of television networks, then pull the plug (with successful series still up and running) and re-brand into, yes, the country-western network, as I also had thought at the time.
Lose all your good series fast (many by attrition), then replace them with drek.
Simmer, stir, and wonder why it's not working.
You want notes? Here's one: creative-types usually know more about what works than 22-year-old never-done-anything executives.
One more: There are 300 million people in this country. Some of them are likely to be talented, very talented. Stop putting people and content on television just because they've been on before.
dluvvly
BeAgrestic
Posted 12:07 PM 5/3/08
@Nomi Malone: Hell yeah it will! This is the same network that continues to order new episodes of One Tree Hill. When will the madness stop?
BeAgrestic
hack-a-rific
Posted 12:07 PM 5/3/08
@Garrison Dean: Kriiiiiipke!!
hack-a-rific
snarkordie
Posted 3:49 AM 6/3/08
@livingblinditem: Mmmmm - gummi bears.
snarkordie