The wife and business partner of actor Hugh Jackman, Deborra-Lee Furness, has spoken out about the cancellation of their CBS series Viva Laughlin. Furness admits that they are disappointed by the cancellation and admit that they knew the series was a “huge risk.”
Based on the UK’s Golden Globe-nominated Viva Blackpool series, the musical drama Laughlin is the first project for the Jackmans’ Seed production company. CBS cancelled Laughlin after two episodes and the Nine Network, in the couple’s native Australia, dropped the series following just one episode.
After announcing the AFI Award nominations in Sydney, Furness said of the cancellation, “We are obviously very disappointed, but you have to take risks in this business. Doing a drama that is a musical is going to be a huge risk… but if you don’t take any risks, you know… If I’m going to fail, I want to fail spectacularly, and it seems like we did.”
Furness said that, despite their disappointment that the series wasn’t given more of a chance, the couple won’t shy away from taking on other projects. “Hey, that’s showbiz. The fact that it got cancelled after two shows, it happened fast and you’ve just got to dust your knees off and get on to the next one. We’re still looking at scripts and still developing and you just keep going.” Stay tuned! 
Hey! If something as ridiculous as “Scrubs” could make it on TV.. Why wouldn’t CBS give Laughlin a few more episodes just to see how things went….
Deb & Hugh Jackman are class acts, and they should be given lots of credit for trying something new. IMO, Viva Laughlin was certainly not the “worst show” on television and deserved a much better shot than CBS gave it. I enjoyed both episodes – campy, cheezy, and fun.