Paul Reiser's New Show Yanked by NBC After Only Two Episodes

By Christine Fenno Posted Apr 23rd 2011 12:09PM

Did you blink and miss Paul Reiser's big TV comeback on his old 'Mad About You' network? After airing just two episodes, as reported by EW.com, NBC has pulled 'The Paul Reiser Show' off the air.

Reiser played himself on the primetime series, which premiered April 14 to less than 3.5 million viewers. It was added to the Thursday night lineup, following 'Community,' as a replacement for the recently canceled 'Perfect Couples.'

The premise was a reality-sitcom hybrid on which the chatty star conversed casually with people in his life (some real celebs, and some actors portraying his friends -- a formula that spelled success for 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'), but the final product was not well-received by critics.

Larry David and reality megaproducer Mark Burnett ('Survivor') were two of the guests who played themselves.

Reiser, 54, co-created 'Mad About You,' the NBC hit series co-starring Helen Hunt (who won four consecutive Emmys for her performance as Jamie Buchman). The sitcom ran 1992-1999 and made both of its stars household names.

The new show attempted to capture Reiser, now a very rich dad with too much time on his hands, interacting with friends and family. The former standup comic documented one of his parenting moments for Huffington Post last year, defending Jay Leno in a piece about how he explained the NBC vs. Conan fiasco to his befuddled son.

Tags: nbc, paul reiser

Comments

(83)

Saturday 23 April

By Ernie D.

Vote down Vote up Report this

Thanks or no thanks to Jay Leno, Paul's show was canceled. Maybe he should have stick with Conan O'Brien.

By jp

Never liked him...never watched "Mad About You", so I don't really care. I saw him in Alien 2, he got killed in it and that made me happy because his character was a jerk.

By TOM

PAUL WEARS A WIG

Sunday 24 April

By Fading redhead guy

In the middle of episode 2, while it was on, is when they should have pulled it. Old fashioned stupid jokes insulting to anyone watching it. It lasted 1/2 episode too long.

They also pulled CHAOS? It tried to catch the satire of HUMAN TARGET but was poorly written (ep 1 had a dopey takeoff on a Hope/Crosby desert movie), though the cast was excellent.

Cheap tricks, disrespect for viewers, and what do you expect!

By dorahelen

channel 4 cancelled another very funny show THAT COUPLES SHOW...IT REALLY MADE ME LAUGH - I WAS NEVER SURE WHEN IT WAS ON...I MANAGED TO FIND IT MOST OF THE TIME...SOMETIMES 8:30 OR 9:30...ON THURSDAYS THEY WERE MARRIED COUPLES....

By Phil

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

The show was "Perfect Couples". I thought it was hilarious, what is going on at NBC?? They are in a downward spiral. Must be a lack of talent in their program development department. Bring back the people responsible for making NBC great in the 80's!!!!

By mrjacktarzan

I wonder if the time slot airing at the same time of the last half hour of American Idol had anything to do with the ratings...duh.

By Jerry Steinfeld

Who is This??

By roger

Again, that SUPER-RICH middle-aged guy with too much time on his hands is...not the norm. Never needing to work again. I cannot believe this crap. Would you?

It's almost like watching one of those big Wallstreet insiders/hedge-fund operaters that killed big-time on the demise of the crashing of America Stock Market years ago. Killed us all.
Yes, I am cheering him on....NOT.

By The Other J Lo

Maybe NBC should actually watch WATCH THE PILOT before airing a show.

By delacourte

You've got a point there. I think they buy these pilots based on "star power" or name recognition and then just hope they don't suck! Too bad they usually do.

By tj

we need to bring back some of the great tv. we need some shows like all in the family or the waltons or something that will make people laugh instead of all the crime shows that more or less show people how to get away with crimes!

By charlie

Boy, they sure didn't give him much of a chance, did they. It's so typical of networks these days. If the show isn't a hit out of the gate, it gets the gate!

By AP

This isn't anything new...back in the early 80s, CBS was moving WKRP in Cincinnati all over the schedule to the point where the CAST was joking "Guess I'd better buy a TV Guide so I can see when we're on THIS WEEK!" Whern CBS cancelled the show, their claim was low ratings numbers...the show was #7, leading me to believe the networks have no clue at all what works and what doesn't. At least Friends stayed on Thursday nights at 8 over on NBC for almost its entire ten year run, after the first half of season 1 when it ran at 9:30. Someone at least had the good sense to keep it where it was so people actually knew when to tuner in. We could use some more of that kind of logic these days. Are you listening, Jeff Zucker (as if the whole Leno-Conan thing wasn't enough to justify letting handing Zucker his own head on a silver platter)?

By steener122

No, if that show was on TV today they'd have cancelled it after 2 shows. I was JUST thinking that half the shows that were big hits in the 80's early 90's never would have made it these days because they started off slow

By Davie2743

Some folks just don't know when to throw in the towel.

By mickey

I saw part of the first episode. It reeked.

By lonestar

...it was awful, JUST AWFUL!!! I felt bad for Reiser and the rest of the cast...

By amused

Time to retire, Paul. Stick to the Producing.

They cancel these shows too quick. Most of the time I haven't even HEARD of them until they are cancelled. How can they expect HUGE viewership on the first two shows when they didn't even promote the show.

Page 4 of 5