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. 
HOW COULD THEY TAKE SMITH OFF THE AIR…..I LOVED IT…..PLEASE BRING IT BACK.
CBS SUCKS I TOTALLY AGREE WITH EVERYONE ELSE!!!SMITH IS A GREAT SERIES!!!!WATCH IT ON THE 101 ALWAYS!!!!
Wow, what a bummer. Survivor 37 lives, but this goes? What a bunch of crap. Smith IS a great show.
I’ve been watching the show smith with ray liotta on the 101 network. how in the world did that show get canceled? It’s like the movie Heat. I think it’s one of the best shows on i’ve seen in a long time. SAVE IT!
Most TV is so bad, it’s unwatchable. Bad plots, trite, and poorly acted. So often I find myself rolling my eyes.
Not with Smith. This is one of the best shows ever made.
CBS sucks.
Who was interviewed to determine the outcome of this show? Smith is awesome! I just heard about it last month and have been watching reruns on the 101. Cast was great. Plot was awesome. Definately DVR worthy. CBS cancelled the only two shows I tuned in for…Smith and the Unit.
Cant believe CBC canned this,this is the first I heard about it too and I soooo wish I could look forward for more.I keep rewatching these episodes. I think,3 episodes is a liitle knee jerk, but I guess they know a good show. Same thing with The Nine, such a good show and wish again.I hope the stupe the canned them gets canned soon.
I echo others’ comments. I was really in to this series and all of a sudden it was canceled. That demonstrates why series TV is in such bad shape. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Here’s to a great show with great writing and acting.
this show was awsome
voted the worse show of the season ,what are these people watching ,its fantastic ,bring it to england we,ll make a hit out of it.
Great show… have watched all 7 episodes on Direct Tv 101 about 4 times… each time I am angry that there is no eighth episode… lol. Want to know what happens to the characters… too many loose ends. This series beats about 90 % of the junk that passes for programming on the networks. Who is running the show?
Are all TV people crazy..!! This was one of the best shows ever..I can not believe they cancelled this show. It had everything going for it, what is wrong with you people! Please pick up this show SOMEBODY, want to see more. The cast was so excellent that most of them have their own shows now.
This was such an excellent show. I can’t believe that they canceled this. It was intelligent, and very entertaining. With an all-star cast, and creators of some of the biggest shows on TV, there has to be something behind the scenes that happened to cancel this show. It’s BS and it would have been a great way for Ray Liota to rise back to the top. I’ll miss this show. I especially wish they would have at least finished the season.
I JUST started watching “Smith” on DirecTV’s 101. WOW! I didn’t even know the show existed; I love it! Great move on DirecTV’s part!
Super Upset. Smith brought a fresh new taste to television. It was a unique series with a spice of suspense. I am truly dissapointed it was cancelled. For those of you that have DirecTV, you can catch the whole season on the 101 Network.
I truly hope another network picks this show up. I believe it was an excellent show.