Sons of Tucson not cancelled but... | Canceled TV shows

Last week, FOX made the decision to pull their new Sunday night sitcom, Sons of Tucson, after just four airings. Several sites have reported that the show has been cancelled but in truth, it’s on hiatus.

Sons of Tucson follows a sporting goods store clerk (Tyler Labine) who lives in his car. He’s hired by three boys (Benjamin Stockham, Frank Dolce, and Matthew Levy) to play their father for a school meeting after their real dad goes to jail for banking fraud. In case of future emergencies, he moves into their tool shed. The series also features Sarayu Rao, Edwin Habacon, and Natalie Martinez.

When it debuted last month, the ratings for Sons of Tucson weren’t good and pretty much got worse every week. That’s not a surprise to those behind the show since they believe it was airing in the wrong timeslot.

A spokesman for the show said, “FOX bought Sons of Tucson in the hope of resurrecting the genre for the network and hoped to eventually build out a live action comedy block night. They looked to Justin Berfield and the [Malcolm in the Middle] creative team to do just this.”

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“They bought the show to put on at 8:30pm and despite initial audience testing results reporting against it, the network top brass decided to put Sons of Tucson on much later at 9:30pm, which draws a much different, less family audience. How does a family show do during a non-family hour? Well… not good.”

With such disappointing ratings, it’s no surprise that the network has pulled it from the schedule. Labine has signed on to another sitcom for CBS but Sons of Tucson is in first position. If FOX decides to renew it, he’ll be obligated to return to Tucson.

The series is scheduled to return on June 6th at 7:30pm. Unfortunately, that’s not a great timeslot either but it’s at least a little more appropriate for the show. If the series is to be renewed, it has an uphill battle — especially since most outlets are reporting that it’s already been cancelled and it won’t return from hiatus until after FOX has already announced its 2010-11 schedule.

Berfield isn’t ready to give up the series and insists that the series just needs time to grow and even offered to donate half his producer fee to charity if the show is renewed for season two.

Though the show hasn’t been officially cancelled, it looks like Sons of Tucson is going to need some serious charity (and ratings) to get renewed.

What do you think? Do you think the show has a realistic chance at being renewed for season two?

Image courtesy FOX.

More about: Malcolm in the Middle, Sons of Tucson