CBS cancels 'The Will' after one airing

[Miss Golden]

CBS cancels 'The Will' after one airing
1/12/2005, 5:25 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — CBS lost "The Will" after just one night. This reality series, which logged a minuscule 4.2 million viewers on its premiere airing Saturday, has been axed by CBS, the network confirmed Wednesday.


Despite heavy promotion, "The Will" ranked 79th place in viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, making it CBS' lowest-ranked show of the week. (The week's most-watched show, CBS' "CSI," drew almost 29 million viewers.)

A rerun of CBS' Sunday crime drama "Cold Case" will plug the hole this Saturday, the network said.

A reality show whose 10 participants vied to be sole heir to the fortune of a 73-year-old rancher, "The Will" thus joins a handful of other one-shot blunders in TV history.

The most recent was "South of Sunset," a CBS detective drama with former Eagles rocker Glenn Frey, which debuted Oct. 27, 1993, then was never seen again. With a 6.1 rating, that show attracted what was deemed the smallest audience ever for a series premiere on any major network.

For the sake of comparison, "The Will" got a 2.9 rating.

[Brian]

This is not surprising that it got cancelled. But it is sort of surprising that it was cancelled so soon and drew so few an audience.

[David]

1 episode then cancelled? Ouch.

[bossradio93]

This is not surprising that it got cancelled. But it is sort of surprising that it was cancelled so soon and drew so few an audience.


That goes to show you Saturday nights are not the best nights to watch television since most people go out that evening or watch movies.

[TJL]

What happens to the money?

If the episodes don't air, does that mean the contestant who won doesn't get the fortune?

That would suck.

;)

[Brent88]

Geez!!! :eek:

But Saturday Night is DREADFUL. I knew it'd flop, just didn't think it'd get cancelled this early.

[Miss Golden]

It only had a 6 episode order, but that is so sad that they just couldn't burn off the episodes on Saturday Nights when no one watches TV anyway. Obviously CBS did not care about the show putting it on Saturday Nights where all the networks run repeats of shows or Movies.

To make matters worse, I have heard where "The Will" was the lowest rated premiere of a Prime Time Show in Television History.