Network head Nina Tassler does the post mortem.
by Travis Fickett <http://tv.ign.com/email.html> July 18, 2008 - CBS head Nina Tassler is no stranger to the anger of fans when a show is canceled. The story of Jericho has become something of TV legend now. When that series was canceled, fans sent thousands of pounds of peanuts to CBS and the show came back for a short second season. Unfortunately, that season didn't perform the way CBS needed it to, and the series was not brought back for a third season. Then came Moonlight, the vampire series starring Alex O'Loughlin. Like Jericho, Moonlight was atypical for CBS, which specializes in more realistic series and procedurals. Like many vampire series, Moonlight quickly gathered a passionate and devoted fan base. While the show was not much of a critical success, the fans mobilized to get the series a People's Choice Award. The series also had blockbuster producer Joel Silver in its corner. All of that turned out to be insufficient to justify what were - for CBS - low ratings. At the Television Critics Association event in Beverly Hills, Tassler addressed her decision to ultimately cancel the series. "Well, everybody knows I love vampires, witches, werewolves, warlocks-I love them all," Tassler said. "The stuff with-the response to Moonlight was actually more actor-centric. So I think it certainly measures our decision on the show, but-right now, like I said, I don't question the choice we made. As I said, I'm not getting as much mail, and most of those comments were actor-centric." She later stated that CBS would love to work with Alex O'Loughlin again. Tassler had earlier stated that the failure for Jericho to perform when it was brought back did affect how CBS would assess fan support in the future. But, here she stated " I think you're gonna have to look at each as a case-by-case scenario," she says. "And let's not forget that all of that, the e-mails, the barrage of the peanuts and the letters and everything, you've got people that are passionate and at no point are you going to say 'We don't want that.'" http://tv.ign.com/articles/892/892176p1.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
