Tuesday Night Book Club: CBS Writes Final Chapter on Reality Show

It looks like the first cancellation of the summer season has been made and CBS has done it. After only two episodes (up against ABC’s NBA basketball game coverage), CBS has pulled the low-rated Tuesday Night Book Club reality show from the primetime schedule. CBS is calling it a hiatus but the series is unlikely to return.

This one-hour reality series centered on the lives of a group of ladies in a typical middle-class neighborhood. The show followed them as they dealt with the everyday pressures of running their homes, raising their children, and basically living a “happy suburban lives.” The women all met for a weekly book club meeting which, of course, was more about their homes and secrets than NY Times bestsellers. Tuesday Night Book Club was promoted as a “real-life Desperate Housewives” but apparently didn’t attract a Housewives-sized audience.

A Boston Pops special was already scheduled for July 4th but the June 27 and July 11 Book Club timeslots will be filled with episodes of 48 Hour Mystery. CBS has yet to announce what will air after that though the drama series Smith (starring Ray Liotta) has that spot on the CBS Fall 2006 schedule.

It’s highly unlikely that TV viewers will get another chance to see the remaining unaired episodes of Book Club on broadcast television though its possible CBS may post them online.