Wednesday, January 15, 2014

ABC Cancels Mini-series "The Assets" After 2 Episodes

I have never heard about a network actually cancelling an 8 episode mini-series after airing only 2 episodes but it happened.

The Assets started off with a dismal 0.7 rating for its premiere last Thursday and managed to fall even lower last night, to a 0.6, which qualifies as the lowest rating for an hourlong original on the Big 4 networks this season and likely ever. In its defense, The Assets does not hail from ABC’s entertainment division but from ABC News as it is based on real events. The Cold War spy drama doesn’t have stars in it and didn’t get any marketing. There is no plan yet for the six unaired episodes.

I actually watched the first episode and was looking forward to seeing the next one but never got a chance. I like those kind of spy game TV shows set during the Cold War and this one was shaping up to be more Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy than Roger Moore era James Bond. In any case I hope they put the other episodes on Netflix and see if people watch it. In fact these kinds of mini-series should go right to Netflix and skip broadcast TV altogether. You just can't pull the key demographics that network shows need with a spy thriller set in the 80s.

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