Take, for example, Gary Susman (TV Squad) who wanted to weigh in on CBS canceling The New Adventures of Old Christine and why ABC didn't 'need' it with the following:
Also, ABC's new fall slate includes a couple new 'Christine'-like comedies: 'Happy Endings' (about a couple that splits up but remains in each other's lives) and 'Better Together' (about two women and their very different romantic relationships). Not a lot of room for a third such show, especially given the network's popular Wednesday comedy block -- which contains sophomore series 'Cougar Town,' another 'Christine'-like show.
Really?
How are Cougar Town and Christine alike?
Oh, because they each star a woman who plays a divorced woman. Wow. Two divorced women on television. It's like a plague.
And goodness knows that there's only one divorced woman in the entire US so why do we need two on television?
In addition, Cougar Town is a one-camera show while Christine is a sitcom in the live audience I Love Lucy tradition. Courtney Cox plays a woman who finds calm in controlling the situation whereas Julia Louis-Dreyfus is playing a character who has no control which would include self control. They are both funny shows but they are two different kinds of shows.
Of course, there's another difference as well. As Betty's "Oh, No, CBS Didn't!" and Marcia's "CBS: Caucasian Bull S**t" pointed out, Christine featured the only African-American woman in a sitcom: Wanda Sykes as Christine business partner and best friend Barb. Faux diversity has resulted in the offensive Modern Family being praised but we see no diversity. We see a let's-laugh-at-the-stupid-Latina and two-gay-men-who-don't-kiss.
Hard to believe, considering today's sitcom landscape, that once upon a time Marla Gibbs, Nell Carter, Jackee, Telma Hopkins, Jasmine Guy, Isabel Sanford, LaWanda Page, Diahann Carroll, Ja'Net Dubois, Kim Fields, Queen Latifah, Marsha Warfield, Shirley Hemphill, Danielle Spencer, Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Hattie Winston, Lisa Bonet, Holly Robinson Peete and others were sitcom stars. It's pretty much been Wanda Sykes only for the last years and "CBS Cares" little about diversity which is why a New York City sitcom (How I Met Your Mother) is all-White in its regular cast.
"CBS Cares" little about ratings either and, proving that the networks control the Water Cooler Set, few bothered to mention ratings. The network controls them because the Water Cooler Set wants to come off in-the-know and part of the deciding class when they are nothing of the sort. The New Adventures of Old Christine won its Wednesday night time slot. It did so despite the fact that CBS moved the show to Wednesdays (two seasons ago) to bury it. It won its time slot despite the fact that CBS began pulling it from the schedule repeatedly. That's another trick CBS has long used to destroy ratings for a show that stars a woman. Unlike Love & War, Cybil, and countless other CBS programs including Murder She Wrote and Touched By An Angel, the trick didn't hurt Christine. New episodes would win their time slot even if the show had been off for two or three weeks.
Unable to destroy it, CBS finally canceled it and didn't even bother to come up with an excuse. And certainly the Water Cooler Set never pressed them on the cancellation. Now the News noted, "In a genuinely surprising move, the network did not renew orders for new episodes of The New Adventures of Old Christine. Arguably one of the best-written and best-acted comedies in prime time, Christine has showcased the unrivalled talents of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Wanda Sykes." That's exactly right and if others were less concerned about pretending to be players and actually doing journalism, CBS would be under pressure to explain the cancellation. There's no explanation for it.
Once upon a time, CBS valued diversity or could be shamed into putting it on the air at least. Norman Lear brought The Jeffersons and Good Times to CBS. Those were powerhouse hits for the network in the seventies. In the eighties, they'd have shows with a touch of diversity in the casts (such as Designing Women) but would falter with shows revolving around African-American families (such as a Gladys Knight starring sitcom called Charlie & Co.). In the late 90s, Cosby would briefly indicate CBS still valued diversity. Or rather that it briefly valued diversity. (Cosby is among the shows killed off intentionally by repeatedly changing its air date -- the Monday night success was transplanted to Wednesday and then Friday in its fourth season.)
Why does CBS decide to kill off a show?
Homosexual panic.
Truly. The suits start worrying they're coming off too soft if it's not Anglo, Straight Male dominance on the TV schedule. The Nanny especially worried them because it was championed by gay men at the network. (Hence the dance they made that show do on the prime time schedule.) They start pretending they're straighter than they are (truth be told, most of them aren't having any sex -- ask their wives and their attempted mistresses), that they're younger than they are and that they can capture the young males' attention.
And that's when they look at their lineup and see women they know far too well, women the rest of the country loves and cheers. But the CBS suits are ready to move on to another trophy wife, convinced that a newer model will make their tiny johnsons -- if not stand up -- then as least wiggle.
They'll justify it (as two did to us last week) by stating that they get more advertising dollars for shows that are hits with young male audiences. We snorted into the phones and asked how CBS would ever know about having shows that are hits with young males?
Then we pointed out that they chase after young males while failing to grasp that young males include all races and that many young males are not threatened by women. It doesn't matter to the CBS suits because 30 years ago it was a White, White world for them and they just knew what they wanted to watch and the world couldn't have changed in thirty years, could it?
If you really believe the world could change in thirty years (let alone has changed), you don't usually end up working for CBS which remains the most backward looking network of the Big Three. If you doubt us on that, take a good hard look at their fall 2010 line up and you'll see that the nostalgia for a world long ago lost goes far beyond their attempt to revamp Hawaii Five-0. It's a schedule only a fool or limp-dicked Docker Boys could hail as 'daring.'
