Hasta La Viva Laughlin


by Paul William Tenny

Say Au-revoir to Viva Laughlin, this one is DOA. It didn't take a genius to know that a musical drama was going to get canceled exactly 1.5 seconds after people realized they were actually watching the show, and not a really bad commercial. Seriously, I love to say "whoever did this [insert act of depravity]" ought to be fired for it, but this defines the term - whoever green lit Viva Laughlin (Hugh Jackson producing or not) needs to either quit right now, or be reduced to janitorial services.

(The) Show was based on the hit BBC series “Viva Blackpool,” about a gambler who opens a casino but winds up in the middle of a murder investigation. The series repped part of the net’s attempt to create some buzz with shows that weren’t CBS’ normal fare. In this case, “Laughlin” included characters that sang (and sometime danced) along to hit songs to advance the plot.

While Laughlin is the first scripted drama to be axed this year, it is far from the first series to go down in flames. Fox's Anchorwoman reality/comedy experiment was put out of its misery after airing just a single episode over a month ago and Kid Nation probably isn't all that far behind. Despite what you may be hearing from the studios and networks, a number of new series have found moderate success and have been given a full season order, including Private Practice and Pushing Daises.

I'd note however that Private Practice and Bionic Woman are no longer the highest rated shows amongst the fall freshman class - that honor now belongs to Christina Applegate and Samantha Who? which debuted to 14.42 million viewers placing it 10th in primetime ratings for the week, and 9th if you ignore baseball. 7th if you discount reality.
in Television

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