Thursday, February 11, 2010

Another Lesson in Killing TV Shows

If you haven't heard by now, it's official: Ugly Betty is getting canned after this season. And honestly, good riddance. The show's been pretty bad lately. Painful to watch, in fact. But, I do feel some sadness in seeing it go, particularly when I think of why it had to end so abruptly: a broadcast network's use of the usual time-slot-shifting-MO in the quest to kill another inconvenient show.

Yes, the writing for Ugly Betty really went downhill this season. But that's not why it lost its viewership. The fans were still willing to watch...if only they knew when it was on!

Ugly Betty started out on Thursday night. At the height of its popularity (and after viewers convinced ABC not to cancel it), Ugly Betty got quarantined to Friday night. And just when we finally got used to DVRing it on Friday and watching it over the weekend, ABC --always a step ahead -- bumped it to Wednesday.

I'm getting tired just keeping up with Ugly Betty in this post. So what viewer would have the patience to keep up with it on television (particularly in a year when the writing is a bit...off)? Thank you, ABC, for murdering yet another show. It's certainly not on the scale of Dirty Sexy Money, but the principle of the matter is still the same. I just hope Modern Family gets to stay put on Wednesday nights.

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