After being called the “worst new show of the season” by USA Today, the Ray Liotta series Smith has come up in first place. Unfortunately, not in the way the show cast, creators and fans would like. Smith is the first new show of the season to be cancelled, after just three episodes.
Smith starred film actor Ray Liotta as Bobby Stevens, a man leading a double life. During the day, Stevens plays a typical suburban family man while at night he’s an expert criminal who pulls off elaborate crimes with a crack team of thieves. Other series stars included Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker, Amy Smart, Johnny Lee Miller, Franky G and Chris Bauer. The series was the brainchild of ER creator Frank Wells.
Though CBS hasn’t “officially” cancelled Smith, the show has been pulled from the Tuesday night line-up and it’s not likely to return (especially as we enter the November sweeps period). The third episode garnered a low 8.4 million viewers, a significant loss from the number of viewers that watched the episode of The Unit that aired before it. Smith garnered a decent 11 million viewers at its debut on September 19, 2006 (nearly tying Boston Legal) but, has been losing viewers each week since. Networks know that when that “slide” starts, it’s unlikely to reverse itself.
For the immediate future, CBS will air a rerun of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in Smith’s place on Tuesday, October 10, 2006. Repeats of Criminal Minds will take the slots on October 17th and 24th. No word if CBS will “burn off” the four unaired episodes of Smith but at this point, it looks unlikely. All mentions of Smith have been deleted from the CBS homepage (though you can still reach the Smith pages here.).
CBS will debut the new 3 lbs. series in Smith’s old space starting on November 14, 2006. The Stanley Tucci show was supposed to debut as a mid-season replacement series but has been moved up. The House-like show centers on the relationship between a rising-star brain surgeon (played by Mark Feuerstein) and a brilliant but unpredictable surgeon (Tucci). The network is reportedly pleased with how 3 lbs. is looking and has just ordered four additional scripts. 
I’m almost certain this comment will never be read by anyone at CBS or any major media franchise what with it being a year and a half since the show aired but I just wanted to register my utter disappointment that a new show as challenging as Smith was cancelled after only 8 episodes. I watched the pilot last night on the UK’s ITV4 and while I wasn’t shocked that Smith completely outshone ITV4’s regularly abismal programming I was shocked to discover that not only did the show get axed but it got axed in the states after 3 episodes.… Read more »
hello everybody from france!
If you have french TV on your satellite or cable tv you can watch the show right now on TMC (tv from monte carlo every saturday night, first act today, but of course unfortunatly in french version maybe a chance for all of you to learn a little french !!!!!)
happy new year to all of you.
Ciao. Pedro
how can i buy all the episodes of SMITH?..i like the moie so much..
This is a true travisty, in my humble opinion Smith was one of the if not the best show to come from CBS in a long time and am outraged that it would be cancelled when so much sh*t is’nt. I recomend all reading this visit CBS.com feedback (bottom of page) and plead with CBS to put the show back on the air
Laurence
The last episode aired on Hallmark in the UK last night – I believe it was the 8th. Smith was far superior to most home-grown dramas here, and far more believable than say Prison Break. Were any more episodes made?
What a travesty!
Here in the UK we got about 6 or 7 episodes so we did better than our US cousins. BUT having said that I would almost have preferred it if ITV had not bought the series at all as they KNEW that it was never going to reach it’s conclusion.
Smith is/was quality TV with quality writing, acting, production values & cast. And looking at the bilge that makes up the UK schedules it makes me sick
🙁
Yes, Smith was cancelled in October 2006. If you saw more than a few episodes, you saw more than most in the U.S.
There’s a link at the bottom of the article to purchase the episodes on iTunes. I believe you can also get a synopsis of what they planned to do for future episodes.
Shouting from the Birmingham in the UK.
Both myself and my chap couldn’t understand why Smith was not on TV the past couple of weeks, just thought we had missed a message at the end of the show saying that the programme would follow in 2 weeks or something, so I searched the Interenet to find out why.
Then I see this that Smith has been cancelled…..is this true?? cancelled forever??
When was this announced? I don’t remember being informed that the programme had been cancelled?
Please can someone answer my questions?
Yours truely upset!
Im from the uk and only started watching this a few weeks ago – I’m gutted it was a great show – diff from all the rest – please get it back !!!!
WHY CANCEL SMITH?
IT WAS SOMETHING I CUD ACTUALLY SIT DOWN AND WATCH WITH A NICE COLD BEER , WHERE CAN I SEE THE REST OF THE SERIES???????
this show could have as big as C.S.I.
Bring it back.
Ray Liotta and Johnny Lee Miller had great charisma on screen.
From all the way over in Scotland – PUT SMITH BACK ON !!!!!
I have the first 7 episodes and they’re the best ever – BETTER THAN YOUR PRISON BREAK & LOST!!
Please get it back
I hope CBS will have the insight to give Smith another shot.It was the first show in along time that made me feel as if I had a life.I wished I was Ray Liotta,I was alive again during the show.
CANCELLED! I’ve only started to watch Smith in the UK n I think it’s a great show.
It’s still being shown in the UK and I catch it when I can.
Anyone think that they are going 2 bring the rest of it on DVD?
This was the best show eeeevvvveeeer. When i was i brasil i watched all the 8 episodes. This was the only and i really mean the only show ever i stayed home for bought my beers and snacks and my night was great. Must be another reason for canceling because it seems almost every guy on the planet loves the show when they see it. (im from holland by the way)