When Media Rights Capital (MRC) shut down production of Valentine and Easy Money a couple weeks ago, the company said that it would resume in a few weeks and that they were committed to finishing the series’ 13 episode runs. It seems they’ve changed their minds and the shows have now been cancelled.
Valentine is a quirky drama that follows a group of mythological gods whose existence depends on their helping mortals to find true love. It stars Christine Lakin, Autumn Reeser, Robert Baker, Kristoffer Polaha, Greg Ellis, Jaime Murray, and Patrick Fabian. Easy Money tells the tale of the dysfunctional Buffkin family that runs a small loan shark business in the Southwestern desert. Money features the talents of actors like Laurie Metcalf, Jeff Hephner, Jay R. Ferguson, Joe Peracchio, Katie Lowes, Nick Searcy, Kimberly Estrada, Marsha Thomason, Ravi Patel, Chris Browning, Jesus Mayorga, Gary Farmer, and Judge Reinhold. Both shows are produced by MRC who, earlier this year, made a deal with the CW to rent the network’s Sunday night airtime for the 2008-09 season.
Both Valentine and Easy Money debuted on the CW on October 5th. Though several critics praised Easy Money, most in the industry expected viewership to be quite low. In the past, the CW hadn’t had much luck attracting viewers to watch on Sunday nights, either by programming encores of their more popular shows or by airing new series. It seemed highly unlikely that this trend was going to change simply because another company was filling the timeslots.
For its premiere, Valentine attracted just 1.1 million viewers and a 0.3/1 rating/share among adults 18-49. A year earlier, CW’s now-cancelled Life is Wild drew 50% more viewers. Easy Money brought in 1.08 million people and a 0.4/1 rating/share. The year before, a repeat of America’s Next Top Model attracted 20% more people.
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But, as bad as the MRC shows’ premieres were, the news for subsequent weeks was worse. With only four airings, the numbers have dropped to incredibly low levels. On October 20th, Valentine hit a series low of 718,000 viewers and this past Sunday, Easy Money fell to just 667,000 watchers.
In mid-October, MRC shut down the production on both shows. The reason given was that the writers needed time to catch up on scripts. Based on the series’ terrible ratings, coupled with and MRC’s much-publicized financial and management issues, it’s likely execs were trying to figure out if it made any sense to resume production.
Word is that they’ve now made a decision. Valentine and Easy Money have been cancelled, won’t return to production, and won’t complete the 13 episode orders. Eight episodes of each show have reportedly been completed and the fifth episodes will air this Sunday night. The company is supposedly still committed to filling the CW timeslots so execs are likely searching for replacements. Will those perform any better? Stay tuned! 
Image courtesy Media Rights Capital.
More about:
Easy Money,
Valentine
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Easy Money was a good show. We have barely gotten a chance to get to know the characters. I agree with so many others, why do they rush to pull a show when it barely gets a chance to be seen? Every fall all the networks rush to put out all these shows at the same times then yank them before we have a chance to sample them. With DVR and Tivo it is alot easier to watch multiple shows. The networks need to recognize that not all viewers have the same tastes. While reality shows are liked by some, there are many of us out there that just like to watch regular shows. I am sick of game shows etc. on all the time. There are only a few shows that I really like and now two are being cancelled. Very disappointing.
Loved Easy money. It is just as good or better than any Showtime Or HBO series, maybe they will buy it.
I personally liked the show Valentine, mainly because I think Christine Lakin is so cute. I woudl watch anything she is on. Maybe this explains why the CW sucks so bad
I”m from Portugal and i watch Valentine from the internet and i think that show has a lot of caracter that could became an exelent show never done before.
The aperence of Autumn Reeser on the show has a great value and bring good vibrations for the show.
In my opinian, the show should go on until the end of season.
I loved Valentine. It was amazingly witty and i fell in love with the characters, yes the plot was a little thin, as they did the same thing every episode. BUT I STILL LOVED IT!
I loved Valentine. I was sad to find that it’s not on. It’s the only show I planned a night around to watch. I hope they keep making it and air it online or take it to a network like HBO. I would pay to see that show.
It had a sweetness about it that we really need on tv and the actors were worth watching. I hope the CW realizes that people liked it and it just needed some time to catch. I never did see commercials or ads for it so it was not given a fair chance.
Wish they continue Valentine. I love the love stories and I’m intrigued what will happen between Kate and Danny. Perhaps if they had introduced that love team earlier, they could have a wider audience. Hope another buys it if CW can’t make it work.
I watched all four episodes of Easy Money and loved the cast, production style, and writing. Once again spineless CW executives yanked a quality show that catered to adults over thirty. As with Life is Wild, the CW network seems to be unwilling to try to place well-crafted shows in a time slot where they might succeed.
I rather watch Valentine on Sundays then all the Rock III on Sunday or the variety of informercials on this channel. Used to be my favorite.
It is really disappointing when shows such as America’s Top Model is compared to a quirky modern retelling of Greek Mythology. Our society is on a downward slide towards the dumb scale . ..
This was an awesome show. They should bring it back!
I enjoyed watching Valentine. Certainly disppointed its been canceled. Even got my sisters to start watching it.
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