CBS has pulled the plug on one of their family comedies but it’s not the one you’d expect. They haven’t cancelled The McCarthys yet but have dropped The Millers after four airings into its second season.
Set in Leesburg, Virginia, The Millers follows a local TV news reporter (Will Arnett) who’s been hiding his recent divorce from his parents. When they hear the news, his dad (Beau Bridges) his mom (Margo Martindale) are inspired to separate and each move in with their kids. The rest of the sitcom’s cast includes J.B. Smoove, Jayma Mays, Nelson Franklin, Lulu Wilson, and Sean Hayes.
Debuting last fall, The Millers aired on Thursday nights and greatly benefitted from having The Big Bang Theory as a lead-in. The comedy’s ratings were very good — but a large percentage of viewers tuned out between the two programs. It averaged a 2.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 10.9 million viewers.
This season, CBS moved the sitcom to Monday nights where it has 2 Broke Girls as a lead-in. Despite the addition of Sean Hayes to the cast, it’s been struggling in that timeslot and hasn’t been helping new drama Scorpion. It’s currently averaging a 1.7 rating with 7.28 million — a season-to-season decline of more than 30%.
The cast and crew of The Millers will reportedly finish filming one more episode before shutting down production. A new episode is scheduled for this Monday night but, depending on the ratings, it may be pulled after that. Reruns of The Big Bang Theory performed well in the 8:30pm timeslot before Millers returned.
CBS has the fifth season of Mike & Molly waiting in the wings but will likely wait until after the holidays to give it a proper launch.
It’s been a particularly bad season for new sitcoms thus far. Bad Judge and A to Z were cancelled on NBC while Selfie and Manhattan Love Story have been canned by ABC. Mulaney on FOX is sure to be cancelled and The McCarthys is sure to be dropped by CBS as well. Only ABC’s newbie Black-ish is doing well.
What do you think? Do you like The Millers? Do you think it should have been moved back to Thursdays?
What the heck? I love the show, have never missed an episode, and even have enjoyed the addition of Sean Hayes. I am so tired of so many amazing shows getting suddenly axed. I mean, thank God I love to read, because I am actually running out of television programs to watch, and with a full cable package, I didn’t think that would ever be possible. Well, I suppose I should enjoy the additional time I have to read books, and play games with my family, because the networks can’t be trusted to keep any shows long enough to be… Read more »
The truth of the matter is that if the practices been used today were used 25 years ago there are many great shows that would have been cancelled without a chance to build viewership. Examples are Friends and Cheers.
I feel bad for the cast, especially Will Arnett because it just seems like he can’t keep a show but this show never appealed very much to me at all. Didn’t seem very funny and the little bit that I saw wasn’t funny. Hate to say it, but I saw it coming.
Loved this show! The writing was good and I loved the characters. Why did I get the impression that the ratings were good? Perhaps if CBS would stop juggling their weeknight schedule’s around so much the audience could find the show! Love Sean Hayes, but he tends to play the same character in every show that he is in. Why was he needed?
I don’t know why people bash the show. It’s a heck of a lot better than the two broke girls. Everyone forgets this is going up against MNF. And you’re correct, 2 1/2 has gotten so raunchy it’s time for it to go. Move the Millers to another night and it will do better. Also Sean wasn’t needed.
I have great respect for Beau Bridges, and that’s why I gave this show a test drive when it premiered last year. But I hated the premise for this show, hated the execution of the premise, and am glad to see it go. I’m no fan of Sean Hayes, but he had nothing to do with it for me. As the writer pointed out, The Millers rode on the coattails of TBBT last year, and this year its true drawing power (or lack thereof) was revealed. Good riddance!
The Millers is just not funny. I was surprised it got a 2nd season but it’s ratings were lifted by being in the timeslot after TBBT. It couldn’t make it without TBBT lead in.
And yet Two and a Half Men is still on , lingering 5 seasons after it died .
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME….. I agree with you James…. Who takes off hilarious comedy and leaves that filthy crap on the air year after year. YES 2 1/2 MEN I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU! And actually it’s just 2 now… and they’re not even men anymore! W.T.H. CBS! R all your exec brain dead???????????
Nothing wrong with good old fashioned “Filthy Crap”. As long as it’s talented and funny. Otherwise it’s just crap
Not everyone is a 13 year old boy in an adult body. There’s a time and place for “filthy crap” and prime time TV is not it.
Really? Although I was being flippant with my toung in cheek remark it apparently set you off even more than the very idea of the show did originally. If you honestly believe that anything on censored channels (prime time or not) is actually in the category of “Filthy”. Relax…..It gets much better if you just relax and take a load off
It’s final season of Two and Half Men. Finally!
I too am amazed Two and a half is still going. The last season with Sheen had gone down hill all the way around. After Sheen I tried watching it twice and found the writing absolutely horrendous…..What passed for comedy was so telegraphed and silly that it became just boring. They really had to use the laugh track so people could tell where the funny was supposed to be…..Maybe it got better, but like the kid….I too tapped out
IDIOTS at cbs cancelling a Great Funny Show , what else is new . It’s nice to get Mike&Molly , but sad to see The Millers gone . What will happen to the remaining episodes already filmed ? Hopefully The Millers will be picked up by a Smarter Network .
The millers was a well executed comedy that gave us a break from the dirty and crude content of Two and a half men.it was a better fit for families needing a good laugh and it is a shame that CBS ruined this show by placing it on Mondays and not leaving it paired with The Big Bang theory the quality of both these show were perfectly matched together. CBS just doesn’t get it and continue to ruin good shows like The Millers and Unforgettable.
I don’t understand… “Black-ish” and “The Millers” are pulling virtually the same numbers, but, for CBS that’s bad??? I must admit, I don’t watch CBS much at all… I guess it stems from that old stigma that it’s “the old people network”… I’m 30 now… I understand that they have most of the highest-rated network shows and some are quite good… With my work schedule, I relegate most of my TV viewing via “Hulu”… CBS only offers two of its current lineup via that format and they aren’t the two that I watch.., I’ve seen several episodes of “Mom”, “2… Read more »
so ABC casts Sean ” I Couldn’t Save the World” Hayes and low and behold, he couldn’t save this **** either
sorry, meant cbs
I really enjoyed the first season too, and then along comes Sean Hayes….Hey Sean, there was a VERY GOOD reason why your show was cancelled on NBC- no one wants to see you on tv anymore. That’s too bad because it seems like there just isn’t anything worth watching and I am not a fan of reality tv. Guess I better stick to watching the ID channel.
It’s not a big wonder why so many sitcoms are doing a quick crash and burn. When you take out dried up turds, then polish them and try to pass them off as something new….It’s basically easy to see it’s just a ****. So many sitcoms seem to follow many of the formulas that came before (Which often seems to have DNA leading back to Cosby, Seinfield, and the Honemooners, but not the talent). It often seems like they just keep to something they deem safe. Safe isn’t funny. You need to stretch the limits in one fashion or another… Read more »
You said, “Despite the addition of Sean Hayes to the cast….”
Nope, BECAUSE of adding Sean Hayes to the cast.
That’s when we stopped watching. We saw the episode where he was the guy running the old folks home, but when he and Margo Martindale moved in together.
(One of my favorite actresses – “It’s in the glay-ass…Nawt in the bahhhtle….Is why we can drank and not get sick. Hold own, hunny. Here comes the bad pahrt….It’ll be over soon.” – LOVE HER!!)
Anyway, that killed it for us. It was a decent time-filler before that.
The casting of Sean Hayes was the real reason why The Millers got canceled. Very bad move on CBS’ part to renew a downright horrible sitcom. Looks like Beau Bridges might be heading back to do Masters of Sex while the other cast members may need to find new TV gigs during the 2015-16 TV season. Still no word on when the upcoming season of Mike & Molly will premiere but it should fill the void either on Mondays or Thursdays.