After a four week run, FOX says the honeymoon is over for David E. Kelly’s The Wedding Bells series.
The Wedding Bells follows the Bell sisters, Annie (KaDee Strickland), Jane (Teri Polo) and Sammy Bell (Sarah Jones), who inherited “The Wedding Palace” following their parents’ divorce. The staff also includes Jane’s husband and company COO Russell Hawkins (Benjamin King), photographer David Conlon (Michael Landes), and wedding singer Ralph Snow (Chris Williams).
The series debuted on March 7th on FOX following American Idol. Over 12.4 million watched the initial episode. That sounds impressive until you realize that the comedy lost almost 16 million from Idol. Once Bells started in its new Friday night timeslot, viewership quickly fell even further. The most recent episode attracted only 4.5 million.
Production was shut down yesterday following the completion of the seventh episode. Four episodes have aired thus far and FOX maintains that the remaining three will see the light of day. The Wedding Bells remains on the schedule this week but was already scheduled to be pre-empted next week (for an airing of the movie White Chicks). It’s unlikely that the series will return.
A spokesperson for FOX said, “While we’ve been pleased with the show creatively, and David’s writing was first-rate, (Bells) just didn’t secure the ratings we’d hoped for.” Stay tuned! 
The writing was great. The situations were entertaining. The primary characters were compelling. The secondary characters were engaging.(I especially liked the two wedding singers and the chef).The sets and photography were pretty. So, of course, it had to go!
Your mistake, FOX, is the assumption that the American Idol audience would stick around for an intelliigent, well written show. You didn’t give it time to find it’s audience, by word of mouth, which is how I found it.
Give it another shot, FOX, and give it time.
This show was wonderful…it’s problem was not the show but the Friday night “death” slot from FOX. Please bring it back!
PLEAAAAASE bring back wedding bells. my hubby and I loved watching it together.PLEASE FOX BRING IT BACK!!!!
PLEASE DON’T CANCEL WEDDING BELLS!! I LOVE THIS SHOW!! IT IS VERY FUNNY. I LOVE HOW THE CHARACTERS INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER. PLEASE BRING IT BACK!!
I can’t believe that this Gem of a show is over. It was really a new kind of show that kept me looking forward to seeing it. Big mistake on Fox’s part. Instead of cancelling it why not try another night to have it on. That white chicks show sucks the big one, why not cancel that trash! I now turn my tv off at that time because there is nothing to watch. Thanks Fox!
I can’t believe this show would be canceled after such a short run. It definately deserves another chance.
I too checked the web to find when Wedding Bells would be back on and I find that it has been cancelled!!
I can’t understand the network mentality of going to the great expense of casting and shooting a show, only to pull the plug before all the shows have aired…..
This is a great show, funny, quirky, and I was looking forward to more episodes. Is there any hope for a rebirth?
I’m a guy and I even liked this show — it had a nice fast pace, snappy dialogue (a la West Wing, even) and was pleasantly quirky, like Ally McBeal almost. Okay, Missi Pyle is a little too much, and Costas Mandylor sort of fell flat trying to channel Antonio Banderas or whatever he was shooting for, but the core cast, premise, and first four episodes were all super… I actually thought this show was much better than most of what was out there. So what if it only got 4.5 million viewers? Who says that what’s popular is also… Read more »
My husband and I finally found a show we both liked. Wedding Bells was original and funny. We told people about it and they cancel it. I guess its back to hack and slash shows and no clean fun.
Like everyone else I am disappointed that Fox has axed another great show. Bring it back, please.
Too bad!!! My mom and I both looked forward to watching this show. It’s actually the ONLY thing we watch/record Friday night. I thought it was getting better each week and just recommended it to a friend of mine. Fox missed the boat on this one!
I am SO disappointed in the cancellation of the show! I was begging people to make sure they watched it. I’m so sick of the network’s jerking a show before it can make a mark. The same thing happened with “Mr. Sterling” on NBC. Perhaps one of many reasons NBC’s ratings are currently among the worst in their history. When are they going to learn that cheap reality shows and juvenile movies wear thin quickly?
I was so disappointed to learn that you have pulled this show. My husband and I have been searching for one show to watch together, and this was it. We loved the script, the characters and at the end of a long week we truly looked forward to watching it together, smiling and laughing.
Very disappointing…
why is it any show that even has a hint of intelligence or a plot line that you don’t have to be brain dead to follow it gets cancelled? Who are the people that decide this? It makes one wonder if they are really educated and with it in the real world – or is it just a bunch of nervous execs trying to find a show that is so stupid that canned laughter is the only reaspone that can measure what the “thinking” public could want. Honestly people, you’ve pulled another great show off the air. What happened? Did… Read more »
Dear Fox – PLEASE bring back “The Wedding Bells.” I’m at a loss. I had recommended the show to my friends as one of the best to be aired in quite some time. Maybe Friday night is the problem. We are sick of shows loaded with violence and smut. Ding Dong – why not try another night?