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.
Valentine was an awesome show! It was something that acutally broughtme and my mother back together BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found the show Easy Money online recently. One of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t believe they cancelled it before the season was even over. It’s crazy. Such a great underrated show. If they brought it back I would definitally watch it.
I just started watching Valentine not too long ago, and i really liked it. Found it online since it hasn’t been shown in the country where i come from. Sadly I got really disapointed when i found out that it ended with the 8th episode. It’s so frustrating not knowing what happens next, and even worse knowing that we will never find out…
I wish someone would continue producing the show, but i suppose it is to late now…
[…] I was working on a fund-backed TV show in September of 2008, and we did indeed shut down in October. However, I have in the last year […]
i have to watch valentine on line because i don’t have these channels. I bet I’m not the only one so the show is probably getting way more viewers than you think. + Why was it on sunday at 9:00 everyone knows friday and saturday night tv is so boring you might as well go to bed early and its only on nights you need your sleep for school and work that all the good stuff is on. Show your brlliant comedies and sitcoms fri. and sat. dont put them in direct competiton with similar more established shows and i… Read more »
I enjoyed watching Valentine. Certainly disppointed its been canceled. Even got my sisters to start watching it.
This was an awesome show. They should bring it back!
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 . ..
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.
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.
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 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.
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”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.