LOS ANGELES, California — Attention TV programmers: Perhaps the biggest lesson of the fledgling fall season is that it takes more than sex to sell a show in prime time.
Days after NBC threw in the towel on its libidinous new comedy “Coupling,” Fox has pulled the plug on its porn-themed drama of forbidden romance “Skin,” marking a rare failure for Hollywood super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Also this week, NBC officially canceled its critically acclaimed but struggling crime drama “Boomtown” early in its second season.
All three series succumbed to the usual cause of prime-time death — low ratings — becoming the latest casualties of a fall season fraught with declining viewership overall, network impatience and what some in the industry regard as a high quotient of mediocre programming.
Acknowledging the recent surfeit of misfires was none other than NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker, who told an industry gathering this week that many of television’s newest offerings “just sucked.”
Zucker blamed his own network for the demise of “Coupling,” a British import he once championed as one of NBC’s most promising new comedies and a possible eventual heir to the “Friends” ratings throne.
“We didn’t develop the characters well enough,” he said, essentially embracing the complaint leveled by many critics that “Coupling” lacked depth.
Known for its sexually provocative dialogue and centered on the urban mating rituals of six attractive singles, “Coupling” sank steadily in the ratings against competition from CBS powerhouse drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
Likewise, audiences never connected with “Skin,” a Romeo-and-Juliet tale of romance between the daughter of an adult entertainment kingpin, played by Ron Silver, and the son of a Los Angeles district attorney who is prosecuting him. Fox yanked the heavily promoted drama after just three episodes.
Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety suggested some viewers may have been turned off, rather than turned on, by the show’s porn industry setting, or that the show failed to distinguish itself from another steamy new Fox drama, “The O.C.”
Still, TV pulp has hardly been the only victim of the cancellation ax.
CBS last month dumped David E. Kelley’s latest drama, “The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H.,” after just five episodes. Despite critical plaudits, the show starring Randy Quaid as a small-town police chief failed to catch on with viewers opposite NBC’s ever-popular “Law & Order” on Thursdays.
The Peabody Award-winning “Boomtown” suffered a slower death. After narrowly winning renewal for a second season in May, the show was placed on production hiatus, then benched after just two airings this fall.
TV Guide chief critic Matt Roush said that while few will mourn the loss of “Coupling,” many shows facing the chopping block deserve a greater chance to find their audience.
“The networks are showing no patience,” he told Reuters, adding that the Big Four broadcasters — ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — seem to be rewarding more ordinary, low-risk ventures.
“This season is a triumph of mediocrity in terms of what’s getting renewed and the shows that are basically seeming to follow formulas and be very routine,” he said.
He cited the example of the offbeat new Fox comedy “Arrested Development,” which he said is being “hung out to dry” by its placement at 9:30 p.m. Sunday following the younger-skewing sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle.”
“I’m really worried that a show like that isn’t going to get a shot,” he said, adding “Skin” should have been given more time. Meanwhile, Fox is sticking with “The Next Joe Millionaire” despite its lackluster ratings.
One problem plaguing all the networks is a considerable drop in overall TV audience levels this fall, compared with last year, especially in male viewers aged 18 to 34. That problem is particularly acute for NBC and Fox, which have staked their success on young adult demographics.