Commander In Chief gets the boot. Again.

ABC has pulled the plug once again on it's embattled series, Commander In Chief, for the remainder of the May sweeps period. When I last wrote of the series in April, CIC was set to return from it's first hiatus that had began in January, which saw the series ratings fall from from a very respectable 17 million viewers, to around 10 million upon its return. With ABC replacing series creator Rod Lurie after just two episodes had aired, and later parting ways with his replacement, veteran show runner Steven Bochco, and the series benching twice before making it through one full season, it's of little surprise that it's ratings took another significant hit upon it's second return to the lineup.

The most recent episode managed only 6.5 million viewers overall, and only 5 million for the 18-49 demographic which often makes or breaks television shows. Although there has been no official word of its cancellation, it's been reported that no new episodes will be shot, the remaining episodes will be burned off sometime after May sweeps, and that the show will definitely not be returning for a second season.

Commander In Chief is a textbook example on how not to handle a series if you want it to succeed. Firing the person who created a series that gets good ratings with its premier, and halting production for no good reason when that was supposedly the very thing you wanted to prevent when you fired said person, is the worst case of mismanagement in recent memory. By any network, period. It's really quite shocking that ABC could manage such hits as Lost, and Greys Anatomy, given how gravely incompetent their executives now appear. For shame, ABC, for shame.

Technorati tags: ABC, Commander In Chief, Rod Lurie, Television, Steven Bochco