With “Chicago Fire’s” ratings red hot, the NBC Universal prime-time drama got the go-ahead for a full 22 episode series that will continue to shoot in Chicago through March. Since ratings are the name of the game, chances are – dare we say? – good for a second season of “Fire.”
Not so fortunate, however, were the other two locally-shot series that have faded away. Fox TV’s “Mob Doctor” ended Monday after 13 episodes and the last episode of MTV’s undistinguished “Underemployed” airs Jan. 12. Both were victims of limp viewership.
Starz pulled down the curtain on “Boss,” starring a Kelsey Grammer in a dark, dramatic role, which handed him a Golden Globe for season one. “The show deserved to stay on the air,” said Chris Albrecht, Starz CEO who, with a leap of faith generally avoided in Hollywood, had greenlit a second round before the series premiered.
When The Hollywood Reporter asked Albrecht what went wrong, the former HBO chief said he didn’t think anything went wrong with the show. Except that it couldn’t build an audience.
“It didn’t resonate enough with the two constituents that are important to us: our subscribers and our distributors,” Albrecht said.
“The problem,” he said, “was we didn’t really see a way where the show was going to build. At some point, if an audience isn’t building, it’s going to drop off.”
The series ended with an average of 937,000 viewers over weekend premiere airings, down from its first year average of 1.1 million viewers.
At the time Albrecht announced the show’s demise, there was talk of a Starz “Boss” movie that would wrap the “Boss” story and which would have been filmed in Chicago. A movie is now doubtful, since the creator/writer, Farhad Safina, is planning a new comedy series co-starring Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence.
Since Chicago entertainment production was basically sustained by TV shows in 2012, there is hope that the word will be positive in May when NBC Universal announces whether or it not it renews “Chicago Fire.”
And let’s not count out Denis Leary’s comedy pilot “Sirens.” Fox TV shot a half-hour comedy pilot here last October for USA network. If “Sirens” gets the go-ahead, it would shoot this summer for a fall debut.
L.A.’s TV pilot season gets hot and heavy in late January and February when the networks go crazy for new shows. Chicago landed four pilots out of 86 greenlighted year and maybe the number will be greater this winter.
