Were you watching the CBS drama Doubt? Doubt starred Katherine Heigl as a successful lawyer at a boutique law firm who finds herself romantically involved with a client who may or may not be a murderer. The show also starred Laverne Cox and Dulé Hill in supporting roles. Chances are pretty good that you weren’t watching it. And now you never will! Because no one gives a sh-t about Katherine Heigl anymore. Doubt has been canceled by CBS after the network only aired TWO EPISODES.
It’s February and the Big Four finally have made their first cancellation of the 2016-17 broadcast season. CBS has canceled legal drama Doubt, starring Katherine Heigl and Laverne Cox, after only two low-rated episodes, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The series, which was redeveloped and largely recast from last pilot season, will be replaced by a repeat of Bull in Doubt’s Wednesday at 10 p.m. slot on Wednesday, March 1. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders will take over the Wednesday at 10 p.m. slot starting March 8.
Production on all 13 episodes of the drama from former Grey’s Anatomy exec producers Tony and Joan Phelan wrapped before the holidays. It’s unclear when — or if — the 11 remaining episodes will air. Insiders stress it could return, but it remains unscheduled for the time being.
The series opened to poor reviews — THR’s Daniel Fienberg said “No doubt the cast deserves better” in the “weak” legal drama — and lackluster ratings despite heavy promotion. Doubt bowed to a weak 0.8 rating among adults 18-49, coming in last place among shows on the Big Four that night. In week two, the drama fell again, dipping to a 0.6 rating — below the series low of its time slot predecessor, Code Black (0.7 adults). Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, on the other hand, ended its first-season run with a 1.0 rating back in May.
Doubt becomes the first series to be outright canceled this broadcast season. As the ratings bar becomes lower and the definition of a hit becomes blurry, broadcast networks have taken to “trimming” episode orders or letting shows run their course without offering a back-nine order.
The schadenfreude of this, you guys. After leaving Grey’s Anatomy to be a big movie star (and burning many bridges along the way), Heigl got kicked out of movies because she behaved like a high-maintenance diva who would bad-mouth anything and anyone, and she burned a lot of bridges with film producers too. So she made a big deal about how she was deigning to return to TV only this is her second canceled series in two years. The first cancellation was the poorly-received Homeland-knockoff, State of Affairs, which only aired 13 episodes in 2014 & 2015. Now this, which didn’t even make it to the airing of the third episode before CBS pulled the plug. OUCH. At least she still has work shilling kitty litter and ZzzQuil!
Promotional images courtesy of ‘Doubt’.
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