NBC Pulls 'Michael J Fox Show,' Puts 'Hollywood Game Night' in Its Place
by EG
NBC continues to clean house as, just days after it announced the cancellation of "Sean Saves the World," the network pulled "The Michael J. Fox Show" from its schedule. The loss of the two sitcoms leaves a big hole in NBC's Thursday-night line up.
Fox's show hasn't officially been cancelled, but with seven of its first 22 episodes yet to air, the series leaves the schedule and goes into limbo. There's still a chance that the remaining episodes will air sometime in the spring, but there are no definite plans, and the series is almost certainly a goner in the long run.
The series enjoyed strong ratings when it debuted in the fall, mostly because of audience affection for Fox—and the network ordered a full 22-episode season even ahead of the premier--but the show's numbers slid steadily through the season, and observers had been predicting its demise for months.
The hole left by Fox and "Sean Saves the World" will be filled in the short term by the Olympics and "Hollywood Game Night," the celebrity game show produced by Sean Hayes—who gets NBC's consolation prize after the cancellation of his sitcom--and hosted by Jane Lynch. In the long term, NBC is in desperate need of quality comedies to prop up its Thursday night.