CBS cancels 'Century City'
Thursday, April 1, 2004 Posted: 1540 GMT (2340 HKT)

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Hector Elizondo starred in "Century City."


LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- CBS has pulled the plug on midseason drama "Century City" after four airings.

The series, revolving around a high-end Los Angeles law firm in the year 2030, had little ratings traction in the Tuesday 9 p.m. slot, where it went up against Fox's "American Idol." In its final, March 30 screening, it wan fourth for the hour with an average of 7.7 million viewers.

The ensemble cast included Viola Davis, Nestor Carbonell, Hector Elizondo and Eric Schaeffer.

It was created by veteran "Law & Order" scribe Ed Zuckerman, who executive produced with Oscar-nominated "Quiz Show" writer Paul Attanasio and Attanasio's wife, Katie Jacobs.

CBS will fill the void from next week with "The Guardian," which had held down the Tuesday 9 p.m. slot until it was benched to make room for "Century City."

Never saw it but doesn't seem like I missed much.

I was on the verge of getting interested -- it was difficult to even find it since it kept getting moved and preempted by basketball -- but it never quite grabbed me. I liked little things about it, like one guy mentioning the "Havana Expos" or lines like: "We could be facing a global penis devaluation, like when we tossed out the gold standard!", but the stories themselves didn't really hold my interest.

Maybe if CBS had given it a consistent time slot and a little more time it would have caught on, but I don't foresee a mass of disappointed fans petitioning to get it put back on the air.

The concept seemed halfway interesting but I knew it was a goner from the getgo. It was a legal show with a gimmick and the gimmick didn't work.

I'm a fan of the Guardian and after I found out that the Guardian was a border show I decided not to watch Century City. Looks like I didn't miss much.