Setting a new base standard for hyperbolic comparison, The CW's midseason debut of The L.A. Complex fulfilled the destiny of its warm critical reception by bringing in embarrassingly low ratings—the lowest, in fact, for a broadcast drama premiere since ratings began. The showbiz-satirizing soap about a group of young self-aware sexy people trying to "make it" while living in a rundown apartment complex attracted only 646,000 viewers, or right around the entire population of El Paso. "Well, we really missed Melrose Place," said the city of El Paso as the rest of the country ignored them, actively tuning out after 90210 was over, yet still tuning back in for the perpetually low-rated Ringer, which managed to look like a runaway hit in comparison.

While this would normally be cause to predict that The CW will cancel The L.A. Complex immediately out of embarrassment, it's worth noting that The CW doesn't cancel anything—and indeed, achieving the benchmark of "Worst Ratings Ever" is already proving to be excellent publicity, not to mention oddly appropriate for a show about starry-eyed hopefuls being crushed by reality, meaning the network could turn this into a savvy marketing campaign if they were smart. Either that, or await the influx of Firefly white knights who can't bear to see Jewel Staite wasted on another failed drama.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-cws-the-la-complex-literally-scored-the-worst,73061/

Setting a new base standard for hyperbolic comparison, The CW's midseason debut of The L.A. Complex fulfilled the destiny of its warm critical reception by bringing in embarrassingly low ratings—the lowest, in fact, for a broadcast drama premiere since ratings began. The showbiz-satirizing soap about a group of young self-aware sexy people trying to "make it" while living in a rundown apartment complex attracted only 646,000 viewers, or right around the entire population of El Paso. "Well, we really missed Melrose Place," said the city of El Paso as the rest of the country ignored them, actively tuning out after 90210 was over, yet still tuning back in for the perpetually low-rated Ringer, which managed to look like a runaway hit in comparison.

While this would normally be cause to predict that The CW will cancel The L.A. Complex immediately out of embarrassment, it's worth noting that The CW doesn't cancel anything—and indeed, achieving the benchmark of "Worst Ratings Ever" is already proving to be excellent publicity, not to mention oddly appropriate for a show about starry-eyed hopefuls being crushed by reality, meaning the network could turn this into a savvy marketing campaign if they were smart. Either that, or await the influx of Firefly white knights who can't bear to see Jewel Staite wasted on another failed drama.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-cws-the-la-complex-literally-scored-the-worst,73061/


I actually liked the show. I am disappointed that it has been canceled. There was a cliffhanger that I wanted to see that will never be resolved.

it really seems like the cw is actually TRYING to replace each cancelled series with a worse show that will tank in the ratings and drag them down farther

the best thing they could do would be to bring back some of their original better shows (or some of their earlier pilots that they passed on), or pick up cancelled shows from other networks that are unsuccessful but still bring in way more ratings than what they have.

it really seems like the cw is actually TRYING to replace each cancelled series with a worse show that will tank in the ratings and drag them down farther

the best thing they could do would be to bring back some of their original better shows (or some of their earlier pilots that they passed on), or pick up cancelled shows from other networks that are unsuccessful but still bring in way more ratings than what they have.
They should bring back reruns of long ago WB dramas like Buffy, Dawson's Creek, 7th Heaven, Roswell, Felicity etc. They couldn't do any worse. lol

I was actually getting in to this show. Several of the characters had major flaws which made them interesting. It's a shame it did so poorly in the ratings.