The first 2017 cancellation has occurred!

One of the evolving aspects of the new media culture is the reluctance of television networks to decisively “cancel” TV shows.  There used to be an annual deathwatch to identify the first series to be axed, with speculation based on quality, time slot, and the star power associated with the show.  But in recent years, the wait for the first cancellation of the TV season has been attenuated by networks refusing to make a firm irrevocable decision about the fate of all of its series in favor of the more flexible option of simply not ordering more episodes of a show and letting the series die a peaceful death.

The 2017 TV season has apparently claimed its first fatality, as CBS has pulled the plug on Me, Myself, & I, its high concept comedy about a man facing issues at three different stages of his life.  The show wasn’t “cancelled,” but its time slot will be given to another show; the fact that the other show is the critically reviled “Man With a Plan” (Metacritic rating 36; named one of the 10 worst shows of 2016) indicates that the network has lost faith in a show.  Of course, they say the show will return, but if so it is likely to have its episodes burned off during the wasteland of January.

What I find a little odd about this is that Me, Myself & I didn’t look like a candidate for the first cancellation of the year.  The show had an unspectacular but decent Metacritic score of 57, with a respectable User Score of 6.3.  The show starred Bobby Moynihan, a popular alumnus of Saturday Night Live, and John Larroquette, a TV acting legend who won four consecutive Emmies as a Supporting Actor in a Comedy for Night Court.  The first casualty is usually a low brow comedy critics hated (2008’s Do Not Disturb, Metacritic score of 21), or possibly a high concept drama with expensive production values (The Playboy Club, 2011).  This season, for example, ABC’s Ten Days in the Valley hasn’t been cancelled, but being moved to Saturdays is not a sign of support by the network.

I watched the first three episodes of Me, Myself and I, and I enjoyed it while being aware of its limitations.  While the show could have the pilot episode, and first few regular episodes, deal with plots that would engage the main character as a youth, a middle-aged man, and a retiree, I couldn’t see how the show could develop its characters moving forward.  I also felt the show did a bad job of handling the main character’s occupation as an inventor, which seemed to revolve around him coming up with “wacky” props that all seemed silly.

I did stop watching the show, but only because my DVR only permits me to watch one show and record another, and once Supergirl and Lucifer were going head to head during the same time slot, I had no choice.  I could have watched the show on demand, but quite frankly I didn’t care. 

In looking over the list of each season's first show to be cancelled, one stands out.  In 2002 ABC ran a show created by Ben Affleck called Push, Nevada.  The show was reminiscent of Twin Peaks, but with a gimmick; every week there would be a clue, and once all the clues were revealed the first person to figure out the puzzle would win a cash prize.  The show was critically well received, with a Metacritic score of 70, way higher than any other first-to-be-cancelled show since 2000.  I enjoyed it, but for whatever reason ABC pulled the plug after 7 episodes.  However, under federal rules they had to complete the contest, so the actor who played the lead character appeared during a break on Monday Night Football and dumped the rest of the clues all at once.  I liked it.

For reasons that escape my understanding, Me, Myself, and I’s partner in the early Monday time slot for CBS, the incredibly lame-looking 9JKL (Metacritic score 36, User Score of 1.8), has not been relegated to a January burn-off.  In fact, it will take over Me, Myself, and I’s time slot while Man With a Plan will take over its slot.  Me, Myself & I had an initial rating of 1.6 which fell to 0.7 (among viewers between 18-49).  Last week the Monday lineup lost Big Bang Theory as a lead-in as it moved back to Thursdays, which caused the following CBS line-0up to fall in viewership.  9JKL had a rating of 0.8 on October 30, the same week Me, Myself, & I was 0.7, so I guess that extra 0.1 was enough to keep it on the air.

While I wasn’t a fan of Me, Myself, & I, I am sad it was the first casualty of the 2017 TV season.  Larroquette was a joy as always, and the premise was not the usual cookie-cutter product most TV series are (for example, 9JKL is about a son moving in next door to his parents; wasn’t that Everybody Loves Raymond’s plot?).  Buck up, all you unemployed actors; the new TV pilot season is only a few months away!