My Own Worst Enemy: Co-Star Tries to Understand TV Show Cancellation

The NBC TV show that brought Christian Slater to weekly television was cancelled after just four weeks on the air. Production on My Own Worst Enemy shut down after nine episodes and it looks like NBC has plans to air all of them. One of the series’ stars, Madchen Amick, is confused by the network’s decision to cancel the show and has a theory as to why it may have happened.

My Own Worst Enemy debuted on October 13th on NBC. The action drama follows a man (Slater) who has two distinct identities — Henry Spivey and Edward Albright. Henry, his wife (Amick), and children (Taylor Lautner, and Bella Thorne) all believe that he’s a mild-mannered family man. Meanwhile, Edward is a super spy who works under supervisor Mavis Heller (Alfre Woodard) and is partnered with fellow operative Raymond Carter (Mike O’Malley). Others in the cast include Omid Abtahi, Saffron Burrows, James Cromwell, Sarai Givaty, Mark Ivanir, Mindy Sterling, Missy Yager, Eugenia Yuan, and Louis Giambalvo.

Despite a lot of high-profile promotion, the premiere attracted only 7.27 million viewers and a 3.0/8 rating/share in the 18-49 demographic. The following weeks saw the ratings fall and the show consistently lost a large percentage of its lead-in audience from Heroes. NBC cancelled the show after a handful of episodes had aired.

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Many devoted fans are outraged over the network’s decision and are quick to point out that the existing ratings system is flawed. Speaking to the NY Daily News, Amick is quick to agree. She said, “The thing that’s so frustrating to me is that we were a hit if you take into account Internet numbers, TiVo, DVR — these Nielsen ratings they’re going by are archaic… It would be one thing if America just didn’t get it or it wasn’t that great of a show, but fans were excited and were watching — it had a great following.”

Enemy has impressive special effects and production values, a fact that may have contributed to the show’s demise. Amick notes, “Our numbers came in from the first episode and we were huge, but I think it’s hard times for everybody, and they probably just don’t have enough in the budget to believe in a show that cost that much.” Stay tuned!