UPDATE, 11:59PM: It’s bad news all round from Kevin Williamson. CBS has just cancelled his thriller series Stalker, shortly after Fox also pulled the plug on his Kevin Bacon fronted serial killer drama The Following. The writing had been on the wall for Stalker for quite some time. The show was pulled from the schedule for weeks, only returning to CBS earlier this month when there was no chance of it earning a reprieve.
Created by Kevin Williamson, Stalker follows the detectives of the LAPD’s Threat Assessment Unit who investigate stalking cases. Warner Bros Television and Outerbanks Entertainment produces the drama series, which stars Dylan McDermott, Maggie Q, Mariana Klaveno, Elisabeth Rohm and Victor Rasuk.
UPDATE, 11:23PM: As expected, CBS has officially cancelled comedy series The McCarthys. There was no real chance of a second season for the Laurie Metcalf starrer, but before now CBS had refused to declare the series dead – despite the fact that they yanked it from the schedule way back in January.
The McCarthys is a multi-camera comedy about a big Irish Catholic, sports-crazed Boston clan and the gay son whose greatest sin is not his sexuality but his desire to spend less time with his family. The comedy series is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Sony Pictures Television and stars Jack McGee, Joey McIntyre, Laurie Metcalf, Jimmy Dunn and Kelen Coleman.
PREVIOUS, 11:16PM: CBS is following the lead of both Fox and NBC in finally making calls on their bubble shows. The network is not officially confirming, but TVWise understands that they have cancelled freshman drama Battle Creek, which hailed from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and House showrunner David Shore.
Battle Creek tells the story of two very different cops, Detective Russ Agnew and FBI Special Agent Milton Chamberlain, who are teamed up to clean up the mean streets of Battle Creek, Michigan. The drama series is produced by Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Studios and stars Dean Winters (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Josh Duhamel (Transformers), Kal Penn (House), Janet McTeer (The White Queen), Aubrey Dollar (Women’s Murder Club), Edward “Grapevine” Fordham (One on One), Liza Lapira (Super Fun Night) and Damon Herriman (Justified).
Battle Creek is in a fairly unique position. The show landed at CBS in a competitive situation as Breaking Bad was drawing to a close as part of that deal CBS had to commit to airing all 13 episodes. That meant that they couldn’t yank the show from the schedule, something they undoubtedly wanted to do given the low audience figures the series has been logging in its Sunday night time-slot.
While the show was a flop in the US, series producer Sony Pictures Television can at least take some comfort in the fact that Battle Creek has proved to be a hit globally, with the studio lining up deals in numerous international territories. It never landed a UK deal but it was still the strongest title on SPT’s slate at last year’s LA Screenings.
This is expected to be the first casualty at CBS in the next 24 hours. The network is expected to formally cancel The McCarthys and there is some chatter that one of the CSIs (either CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or CSI: Cyber) will also be on the way out.
