‘2 Broke Girls’ Cancellation: CBS Scheduling Chief Says “It Was Time”
The highest-profile casualty at CBS this season was veteran comedy 2 Broke Girls, canceled after six seasons. Why did the network ax its utility player, which was still doing OK in the ratings?
“2 Broke Girls was a really good show for us for a very long time,” CBS head of scheduling Kelly Kahl told Deadline. “Our comedy development this year was very good and whenever your comedy development is really good, it puts a lot of pressure on some of your older shows. We felt creatively it was time and we had to create some space on the schedule to get some new product on.”
Was the decision entirely creative and scheduling or it came down to business? 2 Broke Girls, which is not cheap, comes from Warner Bros TV, and there had been rumblings about the network seeking a piece of the show’s lucrative backend.
“I think it was a creative decision more than anything else,” Kahl said. “It was not a show we own but we picked up (new comedy series Me, Myself & I and By The Book) from Warner Bros. So I don’t think it was a business decision, I think it was creatively we felt it was time.”
2 Broke Girls, starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, got off to a blazing start in the 2011-2012 season. While the sitcom, created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings, could not sustain early meteoric ratings heights, it has been a utility player for CBS. Its Season 6 Live+7 adults 18-49 average, a 1.8 rating, is just a tad below renewed CBS comedies Mom and Life In Pieces (both at 1.9) and above picked up Man With A Plan (1.6) and Superior Donuts (1.5). It also is CBS’ youngest-skewing comedy.
But CBS has no ownership in 2 Broke Girls while having to cover its cost (or most of it) because of the show’s age. Meanwhile, 2 Broke Girls was a key asset for Warner Bros TV, holding the record for the biggest off-network comedy series sale, earning WBTV $1.7 million an episode from TBS alone.
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