I posted this in the Reba thread, but I thought it was interesting enough to let everyone here know about this. Very interesting news, because everyone assumed Reba was a lock for renewal.

TV Notebook
“Reba” cancelled?

EXCLUSIVE: Moonves Manhandles "Reba"
By Nikki Finke LA Weekly

So CBS thinks Reba McIntire is good enough to host the Academy of Country Music Awards live on May 23rd. (It's her 8th time.)

But CBS' Les Moonves doesn't think the 51-year-old actress-singer's show Reba is good enough for his new CW netlet -- even though it's the highest-rated sitcom on the WB.

I'm told the show's producer, Fox Studios, was shocked to hear the CW doesn't want the sitcom. That's because, last year, Reba was picked up by the WB for two years.

When news broke about the WB/UPN merging to form CW, Reba's executive producers informed the cast and crew that Moonves had sent word that he expected the new netlet would honor that deal. So the series' shooting ended on March 14th with everyone expecting to be back in the fall.

But I'm told that, in mid-April, the CW execs told Fox they wanted out of the deal -- the reason being that the show doesn't attract "the desired demographic" the new network wants tuning in. (Translation: no to Country-Western yahoos.)

Fox said no way, and that is where things now stand.

It's my understanding that, because of the old pick-up deal, it could cost the CW lotsa loot to make the show go away. Some believe this might just be a negotiation ploy to lower the license fee and other costs.

But I seriously doubt it. Officially, the show is not canceled yet. But the cast is devastated, and the crew have been told to grab any other work that's offered.

I've also learned from some Reba insiders that the show's season finale, which airs this Friday, was originally scripted and shot as a cliffhanger. But they tell me it's been re-edited to reflect Moonves's kiss-off, so it may be the series' finale.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/205/

If this is true, then I personally think Les Moonves is on crack... Reba is the WB's highest rated sitcom... werent they supposed to be combining the networks' best series to merge into the new one?

Grandpa Moonves strikes again. I am starting to agree with Howard Stern!

Seriously, this guy is on crack if he thinks that The CW is going to get anything like the CBS demographic.

The so called merger is a joke, he runs it - and he's gonna run it into the ground.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/deadline-hollywood/screwing-the-tv-viewers/13276/

Here is a NY Times Article that sort of follows up on what they are saying about looking for a certain demographic profile :

May 2, 2006
Not WB Nor UPN
By BILL CARTER
Only two months after announcing the start-up of the CW network — the result of a merger in January of two struggling part-time networks, WB and UPN — executives from CBS and Warner Brothers met with the marketing department of their new entity, expecting to make a radical change.

"We walked into that meeting ready to throw out the name CW," said Barry Meyer, the chairman of Warner Brothers. "We'd gotten so much grief from everybody. What does it mean? What is it?"

Good question. Some people thought CW might stand for "the country western network," said Leslie Moonves, the chairman of the CBS Corporation, who along with Mr. Meyer will oversee the new network. Other people suggested it might be "the conventional wisdom network."

Mr. Moonves explained that the CW name had been thrown together hurriedly because of the rushed nature of the merger last winter. The C came from CBS and the W from Warner Brothers. "And we certainly weren't going to call it the WC network," Mr. Moonves said.

Name aside, the prime purpose for establishing what both Mr. Meyer and Mr. Moonves hope will be a fifth major broadcast network is to ensure that the production studios each company owns, Warner Brothers Television and CBS/Paramount Television, will have a distribution outlet to make long-term assets out of the studios' programs.

One crucial decision that sealed the merger was an agreement that whenever a studio owned by the network's parents gets a show onto CW, the other studio will gain a 50 percent share in it.

But making the network credible to its prime audience of teenagers and young adults is critical to its success, the two executives said, and to do so CW will need to put on the best programs available in the marketplace, not merely ones owned by the parent companies.

So outside studios, including Touchstone — owned, like ABC, by the Walt Disney Company — and NBC Universal Television, also have pilot projects at CW.

Mr. Moonves emphasized that as a new network, CW wants to add at least a few new shows, if only to signal that it has something of its own to offer.

"At CBS scheduling meetings, I always say: Don't fall in love with the new girl, don't get carried away," Mr. Moonves said. "With the CW, I might say: It's O.K. to fall in love with the new girl, instead of the old wife."

The new network has seven pilots under consideration, four from studios not owned by one of the network's two parent companies.

Dawn Ostroff, the president of entertainment and chief programmer, said some of the promising shows included "Aquaman," a drama holdover from WB, and a comedy from Paramount, "She Said, He Said," starring Jessica Simpson's estranged husband, the gossip magazine superstar Nick Lachey.

From other studios, the network is looking at a reality show about forming a new all-girl singing group and a comedy from NBC Universal, "Aliens in America," about a Muslim exchange student moving in with a Wisconsin family.

The latter show reflects one strategic goal of the new network: trying to match its programming with the diversity of its intended audience. Ms. Ostroff said research the network had seen underscored how extremely diverse the 18-to-34-year-old television audience is.

"Thirty-five percent are minorities," she said. "And it's a big audience. There are 72 million Americans from the age of 25 down. That's the biggest group since the Baby Boomers."

For all the effort to carve out a new identity, however, much of what will be introduced this month on the first CW schedule is expected to be quite familiar to both advertisers and viewers.

"We could probably build a stand-pat schedule," Mr. Moonves said, noting that there were already enough shows working on WB and UPN to cherry-pick a cross section from each and fill the 13 hours that CW will program in prime time.

CW is not making anything official yet, but among the shows that Mr. Moonves and Ms. Ostroff said would almost surely be included on the new schedule are "America's Next Top Model" and "Everybody Hates Chris" from UPN and "Gilmore Girls" and "Smallville" from WB.

Other probable contenders include "Veronica Mars," and several of the shows from the Monday night UPN comedy lineup of "One on One, " All of Us," "Girlfriends," and "Half and Half" as well as "Supernatural" and "Beauty and the Geek" from WB.

But marrying the two part-time networks will not be as easy as simply picking the most popular shows. For one thing, each network had quite different identities.

Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming for Carat USA, a media buying firm, said that CW faced a serious challenge in making its shows appeal across the broad demographic it hopes to reach.

"The WB was not especially diverse creatively," she said, pointing to the lineup of angst-ridden, virtually all-white teenage-oriented shows that have dominated its programming.

By contrast, UPN grouped a batch of comedies with African-American casts on Mondays, giving it a stronger appeal to black viewers. But it has had more problems than WB in getting high prices for its programs.

WB took in about twice as much money from advertisers during the last upfront sales period. Now the two networks will have their shows mixed together. "We have to find the right flow," Ms. Ostroff said.

Still, there is no dispute over the necessity, from a business perspective, of combining the two struggling networks, analysts said.

"It was absolutely the right decision to merge," said Michael A. Kupinski, a media analyst with A. G. Edwards. Each network was losing money on its own, he pointed out. But mixing the networks, he cautioned, does not necessarily mean the new entity will instantly be more successful than the two were separately.

"One and one does not necessarily equal two in this case," Mr. Kupinski said — or even 1.5, he added.

Mr. Moonves agreed that simply putting the two networks together did not mean that the audiences from each would also merge. Some viewers will simply be set free and could migrate to other networks. Fox, as the other network with the youngest audience profile, could well enjoy some ratings bounce out of the change.

"We're making no predictions" about how CW will do in its first year, Mr. Moonves said. But he came awfully close.

"Day 1, we're going to be profitable at the network," he said. "Day 2, the stations we are on will be much stronger. And Day 3 we're going to have great programs that we'll each co-own. So that's a winner on three different levels."

So what about the name? At the meeting in March, the marketing department offered a list of about 15 potential names.

The selections were aimed at being as hip as possible: the Evo network; the Now network. There was a proposal to call it NXTV (as in "Next TV") or XYTV (for the audience generations being spoken to), or something even more avant-garde: the Angle network.

Then the market research people chimed in. Based only on the attention the announcement of the merged new network had received, the name CW had achieved a national awareness level of a surprising 48 percent, according to their own surveys.

"It took us three years to reach a level like that with the WB," Mr. Meyer said.

So much for Angle or XYTV. When executives from the new network meet this month with advertisers at the sales presentations known as the upfronts, it will be as the CW network. Asked his goal for CW this season, Mr. Meyer said, "Two brand-new hit shows."

But Mr. Moonves, knowing how fickle the audience is, was not so demanding. "I'd take one," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/business/media/02network.html

I don't think Reba is cancelled then. The CW have made nothing clear, everything could be cancelled - so its not worth the speculation. Only 7th Heaven and Charmed are definatley gone.

If you notice that is why the article has a question mark in the title. No one said it was canceled. It says that Moonves wants to cancel it, but they have a two year contract and he may or may not be able to get out of it.

I don't think Moonves could convince the people at The CW to have it cancelled.

I am sure (ratings) money means more to him than whatever cooky idea he thought up.

As for the name, I know Moonves would not like this since his network is shafted a bit but WBC - it rolls from the tongue better than CW.

Grandpa Moonves strikes again. I am starting to agree with Howard Stern!

Seriously, this guy is on crack if he thinks that The CW is going to get anything like the CBS demographic.

The so called merger is a joke, he runs it - and he's gonna run it into the ground.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/deadline-hollywood/screwing-the-tv-viewers/13276/
Well, right now he has the #1 network on the air...has to be doing something right.

I don't think Moonves could convince the people at The CW to have it cancelled.

I am sure (ratings) money means more to him than whatever cooky idea he thought up.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Moonves is half of the CW. The C is for CBS, and Moonves runs CBS. The only thing that may keep it on the air is the two year contract.

I don't think Moonves could convince the people at The CW to have it cancelled.

I am sure (ratings) money means more to him than whatever cooky idea he thought up.
He runs the CW. If he wants it gone their's always a way to get rid of it. Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman once had a 2 year renewal but ABC canceled it before that renewal was up. They might have to pay some money but it has happened before.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Moonves is half of the CW. The C is for CBS, and Moonves runs CBS. The only thing that may keep it on the air is the two year contract.

Read this and see what you think: http://www.laweekly.com/general/deadline-hollywood/screwing-the-tv-viewers/13276/

Moonves seems to have more power than you think.


Sure, all those press releases back in January claimed CBS and Warner Bros. were supposed to be equal partners parenting the new bastard child of The WB and UPN networks. That’s how The CW got its lame name — “C” for CBS, which owns UPN, “W” for Warner Bros. What no one dared mention was how right from the beginning Moonves out-maneuvered Barry Meyer, the chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Bruce Rosenblum, the president of the Warner Bros. Television Group.

I hope that The Les Moonves Renews Reba This Season

Well, right now he has the #1 network on the air...has to be doing something right.

Yes but he seems to be trying to turn The CW into CBS' little sister, and they do not attract the same demographic.

Yes but he seems to be trying to turn The CW into CBS' little sister, and they do not attract the same demographic.
He's probably trying to change the demographics. The old demographics did not work. That's why the WB is dead. I don't imagine their will be a comedy night except for the urban black sitcoms that UPN has aired and Reba doesn't fit in with them and also Reba's ratings were awful this year. If it hadn't been for the 2 year renewal, The WB would probably be canceling it.

But to what? Smallville and Everybody Hates Chris don't seem to follow any pattern.

Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman once had a 2 year renewal but ABC canceled it before that renewal was up.

Now that one pissed me off.

Demographic changes piss me off when the network isn't dead. Nothing ABC did in the 97-98 season made any difference, so they could have let it go that extra year.

Now that one pissed me off.

Demographic changes piss me off when the network isn't dead. Nothing ABC did in the 97-98 season made any difference, so they could have let it go that extra year.
and a few years later that same ABC gave a 2 year renewal to the Drew Carey Show, a show that was clearly pass it's prime but they lived up to the agreement. Sometimes networks don't make sense.

OMG Noooooooooooo!!!! I already lost What I Like About You and Possibly Everwood and One Tree Hill, I cannot lose Reba too. UGH. This is just plain wrong now. It's because they wanna have room for that Girlfriends, and One On One. Yuck! And now I hear Girlfriends is getting a Spinoff this fall. Even more Yuck!

*Officially Depressed*

Reba isn't the powerhouse it once was in the ratings. This season it's down some 30% and last Friday managed only 2.5 million viewers, a series low. The current ratings are certainly not doing the show any favors right now.

Reba isn't the powerhouse it once was in the ratings. This season it's down some 30% and last Friday managed only 2.5 million viewers, a series low. The current ratings are certainly not doing the show any favors right now.

To be Fair, sitcoms on Friday are no longer working

To be Fair, sitcoms on Friday are no longer working

Reba worked great on Fridays just last year. Reba's at the age now where declines start to happen, but the declines for this series have been rather fast. The CW has to weigh the increased licensing fee against decreased returns and whether it's still worth it or not.

I also Think Reba worked Great in The 8:00 pm Central Time Slot

Reba worked great on Fridays just last year. Reba's at the age now where declines start to happen, but the declines for this series have been rather fast. The CW has to weigh the increased licensing fee against decreased returns and whether it's still worth it or not.

I meant this year sitcoms stopped working on Friday. Last year it was doing good, but this year sitcoms just struggled and couldn't hold its own. This Fall is looking to be a sitcom less Friday, unless ABC decides to bring back TGIF which I doubt.

I meant this year sitcoms stopped working on Friday. Last year it was doing good, but this year sitcoms just struggled and couldn't hold its own. This Fall is looking to be a sitcom less Friday, unless ABC decides to bring back TGIF which I doubt.
The CW will probably have wrestling on Friday nights.

I wonder What The CW has Planed For Friday Night's

I'm 100% sure Fridays will be reserved for WWE Smackdown while Reba will probably air on Sundays.

Fridays should be Wrestling. I expect there will be 4 comedies on Mondays and 2 on Sundays. Reba will be on Sundays defintely.

Yeah I don't think that The CW will air any sitcoms Friday. The WB Friday sitcom thing was strong for the first two seasons they tried it (2001 and 2002) but the past two years it went way downhill. Also ABC revived TGIF for a year I think two years ago but that did not work out. I'd bet that Friday would go to Wrestling or Reality shows.

Also, I don't think they would cancel Reba. Even if the ratings are not what they were. When you really think about it, Everybody Hates Chris would be their only other "solid" sitcom. Some of the other lesser UPN sitcoms might make it but only as filler.

Friday will almost certainly go to the confirmed-for-the-network WWE SmackDown.

OMG Noooooooooooo!!!! I already lost What I Like About You and Possibly Everwood and One Tree Hill, I cannot lose Reba too. UGH. This is just plain wrong now. It's because they wanna have room for that Girlfriends, and One On One. Yuck! And now I hear Girlfriends is getting a Spinoff this fall. Even more Yuck!

*Officially Depressed*
I am so glad that What I Like About You is cancelled. I've seen that show before, and it sucked. And that's why WILAY was the lowest rated TV show this year, so it's definately not coming back. Now Reba on the other hand, has always been The WB's highest rated comedy of this generation, it shouldn't end this way.

I'm sure it's cancelled now. They aired a montage of old clips at the end of the show tonight(which was the Season Finale).

Well, no, that doesn't mean anything. I swear I heard the producers got wind of the possible non-pickup and redid things to give it a little bit of a send-off just in case.

The CW is looking lesser and lesser in my eyes. I was at first really happy by the news of the UPN/WB merger but IMO, Dawn Ostroff is just wanting to get all of her UPN shows onto a new network. They should of gone with a totally new programming head, IMO. I definitely see a lot of good WB shows cancelled because she likes UPN better. To me, the WB has far more press-worthy and critically acclaimed shows than UPN. Ugh.

It would suck to have Reba cancelled.

This sucks so bad! Now Living with Fran will never have a chance. :mad:

This sucks so bad! Now Living with Fran will never have a chance. :mad:

Living With Fran never had a chance anyway...

Did the show end in a clifthanger?

I am so glad that What I Like About You is cancelled. I've seen that show before, and it sucked. And that's why WILAY was the lowest rated TV show this year, so it's definately not coming back. Now Reba on the other hand, has always been The WB's highest rated comedy of this generation, it shouldn't end this way.

I will agree that WILAY deserved to be gone this Season. The show did get stale, but who in the hell are you to be quoting me and stating ur negative opinion?!?!?!? ANYWAY!

I think that The Last Show for This Season was a Class Hanger

Did the show end in a clifthanger?

No... but it ended with a montage of old clips from the show(like a look back). I hear that a cliffhanger was filmed, but wasn't used, which it would have been had it been only the season finale.

No... but it ended with a montage of old clips from the show(like a look back). I hear that a cliffhanger was filmed, but wasn't used, which it would have been had it been only the season finale.
I think the fact that they used this episode means that the show is over. I'm an Everwood fan and I heard they filmed 2 endings for that show too.

If WWE Smackdown! (or whatever it is now) is renewed and Reba is not, it would be a crying shame in my opinion.

If WWE Smackdown! (or whatever it is now) is renewed and Reba is not, it would be a crying shame in my opinion.

I hear ya! :(

I think the fact that they used this episode means that the show is over. I'm an Everwood fan and I heard they filmed 2 endings for that show too.

Let's just hope if Everwood isn't picked up for some god aweful reason, The WB airs the one that was meant in case the show was axed. NBC didn't air the right American Dreams Finale last year, and now we're left wondering forever. And you know how Everwood Finales are. They better give us some closure!

Let's just hope if Everwood isn't picked up for some god aweful reason, The WB airs the one that was meant in case the show was axed. NBC didn't air the right American Dreams Finale last year, and now we are left wondering forever. And you know how Everwood Finales are. They better give us some closure.
The final episode of Everwood doesn't air until early June so we'll know ahead of time if it is the final show.

The final episode of Everwood doesn't air until early June so we'll know ahead of time if it is the final show.

Oh great to hear that. The CW will release their Schedule on May 18th.

For last Friday
Reba (new): 1.7/3
WWE Smackdown: 2.4/4

You know, I was about to make a point here, but wow. I did NOT know Smackdown was dying (last time I was looking at ratings for the show, it was doing around a 3.0). 2.4/4 is barely better than what Enterprise was doing in this slot same-time last year

But that still won't give the producers enough time to end it right, if they find out it is indeed the series finale. They probably write out episodes weeks in advance. When The WB decided to cancel Angel they gave them like a 5 month notice.

Shows like Full House for example who got the cancelation announcement after the scripts were written, but before the last episode aired, all they could do was re-write one or two scenes and try to abruptly give us fake closure.

I don't think it is Dawn Ostroff, I think Les Moonves is more to blame based on article I posted a few days ago.

I do agree that its problematic to have the president of 1 network, make the programming chief on a merger. Les Moonves seems to tip the network more towards CBS/UPN than WB, I wonder why Dawn Ostroff was named programming chief when WB was the higher rated network?

At least, the REBA season (series?) finale wasn't a cliff-hanger. So, apparently,
it could go either way.

My favorite line on the show was, in reference to REBA's theme song, when
Van said: "Mrs. H is a survivor."

Living With Fran never had a chance anyway...
Ah, shut up! :lol:

Yeah probably because UPN has risen from the ashes these past two years and has become a network people wouldn't be ashamed to watch (The Mullets?), while The WB which was once a great channel with some of the best shows on television, has been sinking lower and lower these past two or three years.

Reba got a 2.0 last night. It still was in last place, but it was up over last week. Maybe that will be enough to save it. I've never made it appointment TV but I have watched from time to time.

I loved the Finale. I thought it was really a good one. The scenes with Van and Cheyanne doing their Vows again. And the scene that Reba had with BJ was nice too. I was alittle bothered that Kira and Jake weren't in it at all, but then they showed the retrospective and included them, so it was alright, and I understood that they wouldn't have wanted Jake in the Hospital during everything. I hope that wasn't the last of Reba, but if it was, it's alright because I felt that we got closure.

Did I miss something or we're Van and Cheyenne just faking getting back together. I thought that was part of the cliffhanger.

From Variety:

Meanwhile, it's apparently curtains for "Reba," the Reba McEntire laffer that airs on the WB.

While 20th Century Fox TV has a deal with the Frog for one more season of the show, the CW, which will absorb both WB and UPN in September, has told 20th it's not interested in bringing "Reba" back.

Neither 20th nor the CW would comment Friday.

But in order to get out of the WB's commitment to 20th, execs at the studio believe the CW will have to write 20th a hefty check -- perhaps more than $10 million. There's no word on whether the CW agrees with that notion.

Did I miss something or we're Van and Cheyenne just faking getting back together. I thought that was part of the cliffhanger.

They were faking it, but then Cheyanne knew he was saying the truth when he was saying the vows.

I've never watched Reba but I agree this is jacked up.

Les Moonves is a Grade A a**hole. Why can't they just commit to what they promised and air the show for one more season?

That would suck if the show were cancelled, and I hope another network picks it up.

From Zap2it.com :

RIP 'Reba'?
CW may jettison WB comedy; FOX picks a pair

LOS ANGELES -- The season finale of "Reba" aired Friday on The WB, and it's looking like the episode may have been the series finale as well.

Despite the fact that it's the only WB sitcom with even a semblance of health, and that producer 20th Century Fox has a year left on its deal with the network, "Reba" may not make the jump to The CW in the fall. The showbiz trade papers are reporting that the new network isn't doesn't want the show, which just concluded its fifth season.

If that's the case, The CW will have to pay a sizable kill fee to 20th Century Fox TV, which has a year remaining on a two-year renewal with The WB. Estimates of the cost vary, but the trades agree that The CW will be forking over an eight-figure payment to the studio.

"Reba," which stars Reba McEntire as a put-upon divorced mother, averaged about 3.4 million viewers a week this season, down from 4.2 million last year. Still, of the sitcoms that aired on The WB or UPN this season, only UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" has a bigger audience ("Reba" and UPN's "Girlfriends," which is on the bubble for The CW, draw virtually the same number of viewers).

The CW will announce its inaugural schedule, made up mostly of UPN and WB shows, on Thursday, May 18.

FOX's schedule announcement is that day as well, and the trades say the network has added two more dramas, "Primary" and "American Crime," to its schedule for 2006-07. (The network isn't commenting, however.)

The pickup of "Primary," about hostage negotiators (Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt) who also have a personal relationship, follows a sizable wave of buzz about the pilot last week. "American Crime," which comes from the Bruckheimer TV factory, is a drama about defense attorneys that features Victor Garber ("Alias") and Eamonn Walker ("Oz").

The two dramas join sitcom "'Til Death" and drama "Vanished" on the FOX schedule for next year.

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-rebavsthecw,0,4812859.story?coll=zap-tv-headlines

Hmmm... I hope "Reba" isn't officially over. I like the show.

Pav, any news/updates regarding this?