TV Squad

• The cancelled Top Gear USA... who loves ya baby?
  

  Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Cancellations

  The announcement of the death of the remake of one of the world's most beloved car shows, Top Gear, was followed with an obvious reaction. Practically everyone who had heard of the original BBC show celebrated its passing with the same fervor as the Ewoks when the Death Star exploded.
  
  It's a natural reaction. It's hard not to assume that once we Americans get our grubby remaking mitts on something, we're bound to mess with it too much and screw it up. We've done it too many times to count. The last three Fawlty Towers remakes were the...
  



• Some shows still stuck in TV's waiting room
  

  Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Programming, Cancellations, Pickups and Renewals

  Are you wondering where some of your favorite shows like The Moment of Truth, the new American Gladiators and According to Jim are in your TV Guide? If so, please stand as far away from me as you can and try not to breathe any oxygen in my direction.
  
  These and other shows were left out of the big four's (unless you count the CW) lineups for the new 2009 schedules, but have not been announced as officially canceled yet.
  
  That means these shows are sitting in...
  



• NBC kills Top Gear USA
  

  Filed under: Cancellations, Reality-Free

  NBC had planned to bring the popular BBC and BBC America car show Top Gear to us yanks. Instead, NBC has decided to cut its brake cables in the middle of a brilliant power slide.
  
  The official Top Gear blog announced that NBC won't air their US version of the show as a mid-season replacement in 2009.
  
  This means the show and their hosts, Adam Carolla, Eric Stromer and Tanner Foust, are up to grabs for the highest bidder like a drug dealer's impounded Cadillac Escalade at a municipal car auction.



• On the 5th day of Festivus, TV gave to me...
  

  Filed under: Stargate, Festivus, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Reality-Free

  
  ... five canceled shows.
  
  Some shows, like critical darlings The Shield and Battlestar Galactica, are allowed to end gracefully; major story arcs are wrapped up and fans are left satisfied. Others are yanked from network schedules like unsightly weeds from a rose garden.
  
  The networks yanked a number of shows off the air this season. Most of them, like The Ex List, probably deserved the axe, but there were four that deserved more time to develop an audience and one that I'm really gonna miss....
  



• Top TV Stories of 2008: Second-year shows go down the toilet
  

  Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Festivus, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free

  
  As we do every year, we here at TV Squad are reminiscing on the top TV news stories of the year. What has 2008 brought us? Well, while we were all complaining about the lack of quality shows that debuted this season, we may have missed the second-year shows going right down the crapper.
  
  Let's start over at ABC. Three very promising shows premiered last season -- Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone,...
  



• Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone fans to get closure; Daisies viewers won't
  

  Filed under: OpEd, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free

  One of the worst words to hear for a devoted TV fan is the word "cancellation." Just having to type it makes me cringe. Hearing this word a year in advance allows fans, cast and crew to prepare and usually means that we will get a satisfying ending (I say usually because, let's face it, not everyone was satisfied with the Seinfeld gang ending up in prison or with the black screen at the end of The Sopranos... then again, can we satisfy all fans?).
  
  What makes the...
  



• Knight Rider to ride into the night?
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Cancellations, Reality-Free

  It's looking like yet another new series is going to quietly fade away. The new Knight Rider show has halted production in what is likely the beginning of the end for the sequel of the 80's series of the same name.
  
  The number of shows ordered by NBC has been ordered has been lowered from 21 to 17. The creators probably won't even have time to change the scripts, so I predict the season (and likely series) finale will end on an awkward note.

  Continue reading Knight Rider to ride into the night?

  Music and Variety, Short-Lived Shows, Cancellations, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free

  Mad TV came along at a time in American television history when America had an excuse to get out of the house and live healthy and productive lives on Saturday night.
  
  But eventually, the show evolved into a 60-minute scream fest of recurring characters spouting catchphrases over and over and celebrity satire that taught lessons about the proliferation of pop culture and ignorance. Important lessons, such as "Boy is Anna Nicole Smith dumb and fat!" and "Hey, is that Paris Hilton a whore or what?" Every episode felt like a hand...
  



• Rosie Live now among the living dead
  

  Filed under: Programming, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Cancellations, Ratings, Reality-Free

  It seems that the show NBC hoped would revive the variety show format was getting an autopsy before it even had a chance to get off of the operating table.
  
  E! Online reports that Rosie O'Donnell said her live variety show, the cleverly named Rosie Live, won't make it past the first episode, or as she so cutely wrote on her web site, "there will b no more."
  
  The one and only episode of Rosie's return from TV purgatory was dismal, to say the least. Friday's Wednesday's episode...
  



• What Kona is thankful for
  

  Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, TV on DVD, OpEd, Cancellations, Friday Night Lights, TV Squad Lists, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free, Life on Mars, The Mentalist

  It's Thanksgiving morning right now and I'm sitting in my dad's kitchen watching people cook. I'm thankful for so many things this year, but since this is a TV site, let's talk about the things in TV that I'm thankful for--things besides the murder that the poor Detroit Lions are going to face at the hands of the Tennessee Titans today.
  
  1....