Update: While ‘Til Death is still off of Fox’s schedule, and has been since October, 2008, Fox has already purchased a full season of episodes for NEXT season. Yes, 2009-10. When they will show all these episodes is anybody’s guess. For the latest on Fox show prospects, click here.
Fox has pulled ‘Til Death from it’s schedule effective immediately. The show will be off the air for at least two weeks according to TVWeek, but would return for November sweeps. Repeats of House will air in the timeslot for at least the next two weeks.
This seems like the final straw for the extraordinarily weak performer that escaped cancellation last year by forces unknown to us. We speculated that it was extremely cheap and Fox was desperate for Fall shows after the writers strike. ‘Til Death is produced by Sony Pictures Television, so Fox would have no clear incentive for its syndication.
This season it has performed dreadfully as well, only marginally better than newcomer Do Not Disturb that was the season’s first scripted show to be cancelled. In our Renew/Cancel Index I had it lasting through the entire season because it reportedly had an order for a full season of shows. I may have been too optimistic.
Fox may say it’s coming back in November, but all claims like this need to be viewed with skepticism. Once off the schedule, getting back on is very tough.
I’d place the odds of it making any sort of comeback at greater than zero since it’s halfway to 100 episodes and crazier things have happened. But less than 50%
but, no way it shows up for november sweeps. I meant to write about this Tuesday since I sort of saw it coming based on the data. They burned off THREE episodes during the World Series rain delay on Saturday night and none of them were reruns!
Dead, second to go. Must be annoying when a rerun outrates you.
Back to You would’ve done better even if it was more expensive…
Vader, that’s a guess at odds with the facts from last season when their results were nearly identical.
I really think this show’s resigning last May was the equivalent of the Dodgers disastrous Juan Pierre signing. Pierre is an outfielder that produces at about 70% of that of an average outfielder while ‘Til Death did about the same. Both are absolutely puzzling and it’s hard to think that the network and the Dodgers can’t find better replacements.
I read somewhere (I think it’s Futoncritic) that it is benched for the entire sweeps, and that they will be showing the 4 post-strike episodes of House… which is wonderful.
wonder if they’re trying to take the look off the show and then cancel it quietly.
If I were FOX I’d re-run Prison Break or Terminator in that spot, monitor the ratings and see how fans respond.
Frank, I think the goal is to come out of Novemeber sweeps looking the best it can. I’d run the House reruns.
I’d air four unaired episodes of Wonderfalls. Or maybe Profit.
There are some higher ups at FOX that LOVE ‘Til Death, regardless of ratings, who have been pulling for it to stay on. I think they’ve pulled it out as long as they can and it’s done.
It was only a matter of time before someone mentions Terminator. While I’d be very happy if Terminator got more exposure, I also prefer to stay realistic – House repeats make more sense.
Yet; odd that reruns whip new shows. Quite imbarrassing. Terminator should be axed; that was quite obvious from the previous season. But there are two reasons for that:
1) fear of doing worse
2) the writers strike affects on the show
Plus the show is obviously expensive and gets near its set veiwership in comparrison to its budget. There will be a point in may where FOX won’t be able to break even if their not careful. They should run reruns like robert said and just try to pick a new pilot for next year. I mean it can’t get any worse than this.
I think FOX don’t have a replacement for this show or maybe they are just waiting for mid-season to cancel the show.
I think Terminator should be move and bring back to wednesday, it had ratings when it was on Wednesday.
Good, the whole point of the show was old married couple and new married couple, yet the newly weds disappeared for no reason!
David4, guess that is what made it so cheap
Bill,
The show had two big names that could at least most likely make it gain viewers down the road, whereas ‘Til Death didn’t. It still beat ‘Til Death last year, and I still stand by what I said.
ABCFanatic,
Terminator’s always aired on Mondays (except for the series permiere on a Sunday) and never aired on Wednesday. I do agree with you though that it would do better on Wednesday.
Fin,
Why don’t we axe Prison Break as well then? At least Terminator can offer some reasons for it’s ratings this season. Prison Break’s lost a million viewers each season it’s aired. The fact of the matter is, they will do better than anything else they have. I see Dollhouse getting taken out back behind the woodshed after 13 episodes and doing terrible in the ratings (no offense, Whedon fans). I don’t think Lie to Me will be very successful either. So unless you want House reruns all over their schedule, that’s why they haven’t pulled either of them and won’t.
Guess so, they don’t want to over-do the House popularity thing, like NBC did with Heroes. But stillthey have to find replacements for them both and quick.
It’s Til Death. The show has escaped cancellation twice. First after its bad numbers for Season 1 and then after the writers strike during Season 2. FOX will return the show probably in January to save it, but its highly unlikely to get a fourth year.
Never know; FOX is running reruns in primetime as part of their shedule from September; they don’t want to become a rerun channel, they’ve got to kept safe the shows they have now.
Fox has pulled ‘Til Death from it’s schedule effective immediately–
good News…
I wish they would bring back “Back to You’ it was funny ‘Til Death
is dreadful. I can’t understand why they kept it on so long.
Fox is sacred and for good reason; not only is there a credit crunch but there is also a fall in ratings but then again are networks now taking into account internet hits (profit from that) and if so how will we measure internet and tv next to each other?
why won’t they put terminator there instead?
It would be smart to put Terminator there if it’s going to be following Bones on Fridays when Idol airs. I know FOX wanted to move Wednesday nights whole lineup to Fridays when Idol airs. Dollhouse is supposed to air on Mondays with 24. So if Terminator is moving during Idol… best to get it out of the way now.
Nick? that seems crazy. I’d put the odds of new episodes of Bones airing on Fridays once Idol is back as low. If that happens, that’s VERY BAD NEWS for Bones. Friday is where scripted shows go to die.
Robert,
That is and has been FOX’s plan the entire time. Let me see if I can find you the link. Ah, here we go:
http://www.fox.com/programming/fox09.htm
I agree it’s incredibly stupid because Bones is such a strong show. Perhaps they will make a Thursday Night lineup that doesn’t suck?
wow. but since both Friday night comedies have already been cancelled (i know one could argue ‘Til Death hasn’t been canceled yet, but…) that schedule has already been changed
Robert, right and they’ve picked up Terminator when they originally I guess planned on not picking it up! Since Dollhouse is going to remain with 24 (and pull a Fringe in commercials) where is Terminator going to air? Thursday? Friday after Bones makes sense. So might as well put it behind Bones on Wednesday.
the reason we don’t focus on mid season schedules early is because they are usually worthless due to changing so much. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pair Fringe w/24 and run Dollhouse afer Idol. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see that proposed Thursday night lineup held off until April (and Secret Millionaire perhaps all the way to summer).
I wonder what they are going to do with Bones. It is their 2nd best ratings getter after House. It is doing better than Fringe. Will people watch 24 when it returns or has it been too long? FOX with its 2 hour nights has trouble with scheduling when Idol comes back. 24, Dollhouse, House, Bones, and Fringe all likely deserve good time slots. Throw in Terminator getting a time slot and you’ve got a tangled web.
I’ve heard rumors of a Thursday night move for Bones. Frankly I’m shocked they aren’t considering Bones for Wednesday. Why kill a good thing?
Nick C, I think Fox want to pair idol with house on wed and fringe on tue
Richard, that WAS their plan. I’m convinced they thought BONES would lose more viewers without its partnership HOUSE. However BONES has done extremely well on Wednesday. Moving your 2nd best show to the Friday Night Graveyard is dumb. Adding Terminator to the Spring Schedule was unexpected (I still can’t believe they planned their Spring lineup with the idea Terminator would get canceled).
Terminator getting those 9 episodes for the Spring combined with BONES remaining their 2nd best show shakes it all up. FRINGE has done well, and they have extreme high hopes for DOLLHOUSE. The producers of BONES are fighting for it to keep it’s Wednesday night during Idol Season.
Then again maybe FOX will grow a pair and make a BONES/HOUSE Thursday Night. Keep Terminator on Monday, and have DOLLHOUSE and FRINGE take advantage of the massive Idol lead ins.
Bones has been supposed to be on Fridays for AI for years now. The creator was asked about it last year and he said that the chance Bones will ever actually air a new episode on a Friday is slim.
There is talk of bringing the unaired episodes of Til Death back to fill 1/2 hour slots around American Idol when that comes back this season. I’ve watched Til Death every week since it’s debut, I loved the first two seasons. Bringing in JB Smoove to replace the Woodcocks in the third season was suicide for the show. Garrett and Fisher would be very wise to dump this and have their talents be better utilized with another vehicle. It’s also highly rumored that Smoove has been promised his own series once his contract with Til Death is completed. That considered, it’s really no wonder that Fox stood by and watched as Til Death suffered a great deal with his addition to the show….he should think about what the powers that be could be inclined to do to his future vehicle.
‘Til Death is awful and should be cancelled. Unfunny, not clever, and never had a clue as to what it wanted to say. Brad Garrett deserved better than this mess. Only on Fox, would this horribly written sitcom have lasted this long.
I’m with Lynn. I really liked the first two seasons of ‘Til Death. However this 3rd season just sucks! Actually on a couple of nights this season they aired one new episode back to back with one unaired episode from last season. There is a very obvious difference in the quality of the two seasons. The unaired episodes from last season are still very funny, but the new ones are just bad. Replacing the Woodcocks with Smoove was definitely a bad choice, but it feels like something else changed to. Maybe they lost a head writer, or a producer, or something, but the whole feel of the show has taken a nose dive this season. At this point I don’t care where they put the show, or if they just cancel it outright, because I’m done watching it either way.
I loved this show — I thought the first season was great, but then they decided to get rid of the Woodcocks and they ruined it. Oh well.
Am I the only one who loved Til Death? I swear……….If I missed an episode I would watch it on HULU.
I’m usually a good judge of comedy and this show really made me laugh.
REALLY GONNA MISS IT!!
Gayle, you’re not the only one, but I suspect they could all fit in your living room.
I didn’t mind the show at all and looked forward to watching again. I’d rather see this one than old episodes of House, a show I have been watching but am getting tired of because it’s the same old format every week.
This is seriously disappointing. Fox screws around with schedule so much that fans might not know when there are episodes. Wow there were three episodes around the world series? I have no interest in the world series and wish I would have known somehow.
This was the one comedy a week that I always make sure to see. Me and my ex-girlfriend both looked forward to the show. Maybe it’ll find it’s way to DVD with the unaired episodes. Hulu doesn’t seem to show full seasons.
Oh forgot to mention, because of the may fox messes with their schedule like waiting a while before bringing in terminator, I thought it would just join us later. They were really irritating about it with 24 a while back. I was so angry I was close to boycotting Fox.
The way I finally knew it was cancelled was a skit on family guy where the racehorses are named after cancelled fox shows.
Paul
Paul, don’t worry, while FOX has yet to schedule any of the unaired episodes of Til Death, they renewed it for yet another season. They’ll show the episodes… eventually.