'Sean Saves the World' Out at NBC, Ellen DeGeneres In
by EG
This week NBC cancelled "Sean Saves the World," a move that surprised no one. The sitcom starring Sean Hayes had debuted to weak ratings in the fall, and its viewership never improved significantly, leading observers to conclude that the show was on borrowed time for months.
NBC never put in an order for a full season of 22 episodes, ordering instead just 18 episodes. Not even all of those episodes will ever see the airwaves, though. Only 14 episodes have been filmed, and only 12 of those have aired. Production of the series shut down as soon as news of the cancellation went public, so it appears that the final four ordered episodes will never happen.
On the same day that the network announced the cancellation of "Sean Saves the World," it announced a deal for a pilot called "One Big Happy" to be produced by Ellen DeGeneres; it's not clear whether or not DeGeneres will star in the series, only that she will serve as a producer of the show. The pilot will involve a lesbian who becomes pregnant, a premise that makes it seem like an obvious replacement for "Sean," in which Hayes played a gay single father.