I’d speculated this morning that based on Wednesday night’s performance Chopping Block couldn’t be long for the world. It wasn’t. From James Hibberd:
NBC is pulling cooking competition series “Chopping Block” from primetime after three weeks, sources say.
The network informed affiliates tonight the reality series starring renowned chef Marco Pierre White will be removed from Wednesday’s lineup.
NBC is fortunate to have Jay Leno’s 10 p.m. talk show in the fall considering how many slots are getting cleared out this season. Counting “Chopping Block,” six series are definitely not returning — “Knight Rider,” “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Crusoe,” “Lipstick Jungle” and “ER.” A couple midseason reality shows, “Superstars of Dance” and “Momma’s Boys,” are also almost certainly gone. Four others are looking pale and shaky — “Friday Night Lights,” “Kath & Kim,” “Life” and “Kings.”
I think Chopping Block will move on Saturdays!
I enjoyed this show. They should air the remaining episodes on Bravo. That is probably where this should have been all along. By the way I think they were nearing in on all time low viewership for a non-rerun program on NBC. The all time low rating for a primetime program on NBC, I believe was the Saturday night XFL games.
so does this mean its gone starting this upcoming wednsday or what?
any idea whats going in that slot?
CHUCK FANS REJOICE!!!
If you read that article he lists all the NBC shows that are canceled and all the ones that look like they’re going to get canceled and HE DOESNT MENTION CHUCK!!!!!!!
Hibberd listed shows that either have been canceled or almost certainly will be (FNL will surely be canceled unless DirecTV writes another check). Chuck’s numbers aren’t pale and shaky, and you could by no means say it will certainly be canceled (as you could with Life), but sadly, Hibberd’s phrasing doesn’t at all increase the certainty that it will be renewed.
Friday Night Lights is repotredly renewed for two seasons.
http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/03/ask-ausiello–3.html
*reportedly
I can’t say that I am surprised this got the axe. I am no expert on TV programming. but after seeing the ratings of the first two shows this comes as no surprise.
To the life of me why doesn’t NBC move Chucks last few shows to Weds. They are putting L&O from the USA network on instead. If NBC states it going to renew Chuck who care if they move the night, but if they said they are going to wait and see move the show and give it a chance. Robert does NBC have many pilots in the works for the fall? If not I think Chuck is safe!
JR1234 — changing the timeslot of a show mid-stream and without warning can hurt its audience. People tune in on Monday, don’t see Chuck and go “what happened?” Then they miss an episode or two and before you know it, they’re gone.
Terminator’s ratings were cut almost in half when they moved it from Monday to Friday.
Outlander the Terminator comparison is a bad one because Fox announced the move well in advance and promoted it. The Terminator audience died (further) on Friday because its Friday not because it moved midseason.
But NBC aren’t going to move Chuck now because it throws up all kinds of problems for them. And Chuck fans should be doing everything in their power to make sure it doesn’t move because if, for example they put Law & Order CI on Monday at 8 instead and it does better than Chuck what are you going to do then?
On a Chopping Block note the show being pulled isn’t surprising and it seems NBC aren’t completely ignoring ratings just yet. You do however have to wonder if now was the time to try something like Burn Notice on NBC to see how it does. Its not as if you have anything to lose at this point.
It would be foolish for NBC to change Chucks timeslot at this point. I think there are only 5 or 6 episodes left this season. Not to mention, what if it fails in that time slot too?
I continue to say I think Chuck will come back with a reduced episode list next season. Chuck is a ratings problem but on the long list of problems NBC has with it’s other shows , Chuck is much further down on the list.
yaddo, that still says “any day now” which is basically what Ausiello has been writing for what seems like months.
Bill and Robert
With Jay Leno going to 10:00PM for 5 days a week, what do you think NBC will take as a successful rating for Jay in that time slot? I realize the show will be cheap to produce but what is your opinion is the rating that will keep it in that time slot. I am curious if they have a backup plan if it fails, knowing NBC they don’t but curious on what you think will make NBC panic.
I continue to agree with Alex on this, Chuck is best right where it is. You don’t want NBC to move it. You want NBC to promote it, and Chuck fans need to do as much as possible to get the ratings up. Look the show survived the Fall onslaught, and actually crept UP in the ratings. It took a hit with Dancing, but it didn’t crater. With a nice run of highly promoted episodes and the high profile guest spots coming in, I think the show can creep up again to the finale.
I think NBC was really set on trying this year to get the show to break out. I mean at least they gave it the Super Bowl promotion they did, and it did get good ratings for that episode. I think if the show can hold its own the rest of the season, NBC may (as Silverman seemed to indicate in that article, saying he knew the schedule changes hurt the show) be willing to give another season a shot.
Steve, Leno’s average tonight show 18-49 demo rating last fall was a 1.4. Since it is so relatively cheap to produce, it’s not clear to me at what level it’s a financial disaster. I think an average demo rating over the week of somewhere between 1.5-2.5 is likely. No word of any “backup plan” has reached me, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
The backup plan is probably running old Law and Order episodes every night of the week…
One wonders what kind of programming mastermind would decide to put this show on at the same exact time that “Hell’s Kitchen” is running.
One also wonders what took NBC so long to put Craig Plestis on the chopping block. Most of us figured out years ago that he couldn’t develop a reality show unless the other networks had already developed it first.
About the backup plan- how can they have a backup plan? It would involve having five extra shows waiting in the wings in case Jay fails.
Michael, you’re right, it’s highly unlikely any backup plan could involve 5 nights worth of already produced shows waiting in the wings. Maybe one or two pushed up that were being held originally for spring release, but not 5.
As for the “just run reruns”, unless Leno is a complete ratings catastrophy and gets below the 1.4 demo he averaged for the Tonight Show last fall, it’s unlikely that reruns are going to beat that average by much for M-F at 10pm. The two L&O reruns in 2009 did a 1.6 and a 1.7, but my guess is they couldn’t sustain those numbers going 5 nights a week.
Leno would need to bomb spectacularly for NBC to even consider pulling him off the air and by bomb spectacularly I mean he’d have to be well below what even Chopping Block achieved this week. I think the much bigger issue NBC has to be potentially planning for is what they do in two-years time if Leno fails – do they follow the Fox model and just ditch the 10PM slot completely or attempt to launch five new hours of primetime with scripted content, which would be incredibly expensive?
In the unlikely event that Leno does such bad numbers that NBC opt to pull him then I’m not sure how NBC would plug the schedule. It seems unlikely that they’d be able to get away with that many repeats every week so they’d really only have a few options
1 – Bring forward the debut of midseason shows, which creates problems come midseason.
2 – Fill the five hours with repeats, which as I said I don’t think they can do.
3 – Develop something incredibly quickly to fill the hole or at least some of the holes. In theory they can sit on a couple of quick turn around reality concepts in the event Leno bombs.
4 – Slot some of the NBCU cable shows into the slot. Burn Notice, Monk, Pysch, In Plain Sight and Criminal Intent from USA could all slot easily into the 10PM slot (or earlier if NBC wants to play with the schedule). Or if they’re really desperate they could strip Battlestar Galactica repeats across the week for the rest of the season.
But as I said I think the chances of them pulling Leno are slim although I think its much more likely they’d reduce the number of days he was on. It seems likely that Leno will do well on Thursday nights with the comedy block lead-in and he’ll likely do comparatively well on Friday’s so what NBC might do is pull him Monday-Wednesday and keep him on the air Thursday and Friday, which leaves them with fewer hols to plug.
As Bill and Alex have said, the chances of Leno doing so bad that it gets pulled are nearly zero. But this is NBC, so nearly zero still means it could happen. The problem then is if Leno has a contract where he gets paid no matter what. I have no idea if he does, but if he does, Leno stays on no matter what.
But, in case he doesn’t, here’s what I would do if I were NBC (you know, other than not put Leno on at 10.) I would plan several very cheap summer reality shows. At least five of them. Probably much more than five. This way they can be brought in to fill time. But they have to be even cheaper than Leno, otherwise they serve no purpose, since they almost definitely will not get better ratings than Leno.
Can someone tell me when Leno’s last week on the TONIGHT SHOW will be?
Also, has it been decided what date he will start is 10pm show?
Well, that didn’t take long. NBC better have some really good pilots in development next season.
The rumble at NBC is that CHUCK is still in for season 3. Strategy seems to be Monday nights for 13 weeks and then a potential move to either Sunday or Thursday. Take this information as bogus until someone confirms it.
Jack, where did you hear that from?
Chopping Block shows what happens when you completely miscast a reality show. There are two types of people who need to be on cooking competition shows: People with talent and people with egos and no talent.
The folks on Top Chef and Iron Chef are people with real talent. The trainwrecks on Hell’s Kitchen are all ego and barely there skills. The folks on Chopping Block were very boring and not that great of chef’s. None of them belonged in a real kitchen. And their conflicts weren’t trainwreck enough. None of the couples chosen on this show were primetime players.
If you’re going to cast a show like Chopping Block, I’d have couples that had run restaurants before that had received a little bit of buzz, but for odd reasons had failed. People who want this second chance at the ring. And they aren’t going to let another moron ruin their chance to get back in the game. But instead we get a bunch of newbies who don’t have what it takes to run a hotdog cart.
Chopping Block shows exactly what’s wrong with NBC – they copy the outer edge without figuring what the soul of a project it. Fire Zucker.
E, the week of May 25th with his last show being on the 29th.
If Southland tanks as bad as Chopping Block and Kings does it almost assure renewals for Chuck and Medium? NBC better hope it doesn’t tank because the network is looking weaker than it has ever been before. They need a huge hit to pull them out of this funk and it doesn’t seem like one is coming any time soon.
chuckfan, I work for an affiliate and we hear rumors. Don’t count on this being accurate until someone confirms it.
Brandon, I don’t really think poor performance of Southland will ensure anything for shows that are performing marginally (Chuck is a marginal ratings performer, not good, not bad, just OK). However, if Southland performs well, it will create a panic!
Brandon, Southland tanking doesn’t mean anything for Chuck. NBC could very well cancel their entire lineup if they want. The new shows are not competing with Chuck for one open spot.
Alex says:
March 27th, 2009 at 6:39 am But NBC aren’t going to move Chuck now because it throws up all kinds of problems for them. And Chuck fans should be doing everything in their power to make sure it doesn’t move because if, for example they put Law & Order CI on Monday at 8 instead and it does better than Chuck what are you going to do then?
With only 4 episodes left this year, you’re right that it’d be stupid to move it. For next year, though, I still say it has a better chance of picking up viewers on Wednesdays. It won’t beat whatever Fox puts there (whether it’s Lie to Me or House), but it can take out CBS’ comedies, since I doubt now CBS will break up the Monday 3 + whatever new one they have. I wouldn’t think ABC will move Dancing With the Injured…I mean, Stars at any point because there’s no reason to move when you’re on top. Not sure how it will, but it may even help Heroes pick up a few people, since you’d might have a small amount of crossover with people who will turn to Lost at 10PM. Next year, ABC has to reprogram the first two hours of the night.
Patrick, the thing to remember about Chuck is it actually did better in the fall than it is now. It started with low ratings for the premiere, but ended the fall run with almost 8 million viewers. I think it could do fine on Monday, provided it doesn’t have lots of weeks off the air.
Hopefully this means Knight Rider will return. KR has gotten so close to Chuck and Heroes during its last weeks that there’s no way you can renew one over the other.
there’s no way you can renew one over the other.
Yes there most certainly is. Networks are not run on a rule of “fairness.”
i hope knight rider will return. i think NBC would’ve done a lot better in ratings if it just played repeats of knight rider instead of chopping block.
Folks, Knight Rider is gone, it has absolutely no chance of coming back. NBC has enough shows currently in its line up doing better than KR did to completely fill its fall schedule without trying *any* new shows, which it obviously will.
Hot Pocket, in what area has Knight Rider gotten “so close” to Chuck and Heroes in the pas weeks?
128boy, perhaps Hot Pocket was referring to the casts and crews being so close at the NBC cafeteria?
KNIGHT RIDER is beyond done. They have already dismantled the entire production.
bill, their links are also literally inches away from each other on the nbc.com website.
rude.
You look at that list of tv shows and one automatically stands out as not belonging in that group. How ER, one of NBC’s highest rated shows, gets put on the throwaway list is truly a head shaker. Getting rid of your biggest audience grabber is about as bad of a momentum killer as holding onto a ratings loser, Kath & Kim, for a full season.
Matt as much as I think NBC could have ridden the ER train for another couple of seasons I actually think they’ve made the right to decision to declare this the final season and wrap the show. Its lost a lot of its ratings momentum and I suspect has only performed as well as it has this year because it’s the final season and has been full of returning and departing cast members.
hot pocket was saying they were close in the ratings. chuck’s last new episode had 5.7 and knight rider’s last new episode had 5.6.. they both had a 3.5 rating. even though heroes had 6.6 the last new episode, knight rider had 6.3 on feb 3, with a ratings high of 7.4. not counting the pilot movie that garnered 12.7 million..
Sarah whilst Knight Rider may have pulled similar total viewers as shows like Chuck that’s not important because total viewers aren’t (at that level) important. The demo numbers are what matter and Knight Rider’s numbers weren’t good I believe the finale pulled a 1.something in the 18-49, which is down on the poor numbers Chuck and Heroes did on Monday night.
Its also worth mentioning that comparing the show to Chuck isn’t generally speaking a sign of strength. Chuck’s future is far from secure at this point.
i know chuck is in trouble too.. but this site seems to be a lot harsher on knight rider, and lot less on chuck.. was just stating some facts there.
sarah, it was simply a joke, sorry if it offended someone. all kidding aside, Knight Rider has not come close to Chuck or Heroes in any category that matters iin regard to renewal, which is what Hot Pocket was clearly implying. Total viewership is worth almost nothing when considering renewal, and household ratings, which is what i assume the other numbers you quoted were, are worth absolutely zero.
Sarah, viewers and households do not matter. What was Knight Rider’s demo rating that last week? 1.7. While it’s not too far off of Chuck’s lowest rated episode ever (2.0), it’s extremely far from Heroes’ (2.9).
Sarah, in numbers that matter, the Knight Rider finale got a 1.8 18-49 demo rating, the one before that a 1.5, and before that a 1.3. Chuck fans are worried about this week’s 2.1 demo rating.
They are not even remotely close.
And while “harshness” is in the eye of the beholder, KN’s numbers have been much worse, so it’s fair to characterize them as being much worse!
yeah, i admit comparing it to heroes a bit of a stretch.
when i said ‘harshness’ i just meant all the backhanded comments regarding the show and the people who love it. that is all..
No one said or implied anything about the people who love it. And, please, the posts about Chuck fans are far from complimentary.
I know this is a pro Chuck site and I get it. I love the show. That being said, Southland looks great !!! I just don’t know if there is a place for it in the fall. The cast is really good. I recognize all of these people from past good work.
Kelli I wouldn’t really say this is a pro-Chuck site, it isn’t an anti-Chuck site either though.
Kelli, I prefer to think of us as a pro facts and analysis site.
Our analysis is always open to debate, we do our best to make sure that our facts are not.
The biggest reason why KNIGHT RIDER is gone and CHUCK is probably coming back is that KNIGHT RIDER received scathing critical reaction, while CHUCK receives almost 100% critical praise. NBC will be the platform for the best shows on television. CHUCK will be renewed.
no, jack. Very soon NBC will be the platform for the cheapest shows on television.
I’ve been thinking a lot about reruns lately – networks no longer show reruns over the summer like they used to – or even during the season. But, for shows like Chuck and Heroes, for example, it is difficult to acquire new viewers unless they see the earlier episodes. I feel like the summer is a great time – with mostly low quality reality shows to compete with – to hook new viewers by giving viewers a “new to you” chance to become interested in some new shows. Why don’t they do this? How else are they going to pick up additional viewers for these series that really build on previous episodes? I realize that with YouTube and Hulu and DVDs that these things are out there (although it is nearly impossible to find the first season of Chuck online). But wouldn’t you think that a person first needs to become hooked in before they will initiate a search for these episodes? Just some musings.
Repeating Heroes isn’t going to make much difference to its fortunes because its ratings problems are down to its poor quality and giving people a second chance to see the frustrating and poorly written episodes they missed first time around is likely going further alienate the audience. If I were NBC I’d be tempted to do everything I can to bury Season 2 & 3 of Heroes, what might be interesting though is rerunning the first season and reminding everyone why they liked the show in the first place.
For something like Chuck reruns over the summer could theoretically help but NBC in particular seems very keen to move into year round programming, which isn’t a bad thing at all but it cuts down on the available space for rerunning shows over the summer. Having said that through NBCU there’s a huge platform of channels open to NBC to air a lot of these shows.
I’d be interested to see how Life reruns would do on USA for example or Chuck repeats on Sci-Fi although Chuck probably isn’t possible given that it’s a WB show. But I think with the shows they own and like trying to find somewhere to rerun them and maybe find an audience isn’t a horrible idea but that’s primarily the fan (particularly of Life) within me speaking more than anything practical though.
I don’t get all the hype on here over Chuck, the show should be put out to pasture just like Chopping Block. Hell, even Hero’s has gone down the tubes. ER should have gone years ago, and Kings is outright carp. And speaking thereof, NBC is circling the drain faster that a dead goldfish in a toilet.
Will Chopping Block be shown anywhere else? I am interested to know who will be picked to get their own restaurant from Chef White.