NBC Cancels Ratings Challenged FREE AGENTS

NBC took the next logical step after canceling Monday's low rated THE PLAYBOY CLUB by canceling the even lower rated FREE AGENTS. FREE AGENTS was actually a U.S. adaptation of the more successful British series PARTY DOWN. The romantic workplace comedy simply seemed to be losing viewers with each outing, having just 3.3 million viewers for it's final airing, or 100,000 less viewers than THE PLAYBOY CLUB. Apparently, about 3.5 million viewers is the NBC immediate cancellation mark it seems. Previously, NBC claimed that they were unwilling to cancel either series, which they had big investments and high hopes for both.

In the case of the cancellation of THE PLAYBOY CLUB, you can expect NBC to air a cheaply produced news magazine hosted by Bryan Williams. At 10pm, NBC feels that they can get away with cheaply produced television, but earlier in the evening a cancellation of a higher budget series is a real concern.

On the bright side for NBC, two new series WHITNEY and UP ALL NIGHT both appear to be relative successes, and the network has now ordered full season orders. That has to be good news for Canadian born comic actor Will Arnett, star of UP ALL NIGHT, whose last series over at FOX, RUNNING WILDE was a huge flop in the 2010/11 season over there. NBC immediately saw some great promise in the current husband for comic actress Amy Poehler, and fitted him into the cast of THE OFFICE before finding him this new vehicle. All of this only proves that the right script and right actor will sell a show. Both THE PLAYBOY CLUB and FREE AGENTS failed because things were simply flawed with both shows.

Comic actor Hank Azaria had to be very disappointed at the cancellation of FREE AGENTS, he's a highly talented entity that provides voice work for THE SIMPSONS and other projects. He even mounted a Twitter campaign to save the show.