Shocker, The Ex List Canceled

Posted October 30th, 2008 by Michael

Oh CBS! You surely disappoint.  Don’t attempt to erase your first casualty of the fall tv season, The Ex-List.  I mean really?  Haven’t your marketing people told you that the interwebs have long memories even if your traditional TV viewer people do not?   There is no sign of the show existing according to your  website.  The link is gone according to you: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/the_ex_list/ But wait! Do a search on your site and just like magic, broken links! Ex-list search They have had it rough after the creator and executive producer, Diane Ruggiero, quit mid September.   Now, with the first sign of rating dips they pull the show?

It is no wonder viewers flee traditional TV like it is their duty.  Yes, there is some great content, but it is hard to tune in to a new show and get invested in the characters if the network is going to pull the program shortly after.  Network executives need to start thinking about television more like a book or a movie.   It needs to have a beginning and an end, not some cliff hanger content that provides no conclusion.

I am aware oof the possibility of the show returning at some random time to fill space, but I think CBS needs to take a lesson from Lauren Zalaznick of Bravo!.   She takes the marketing playbook seriously. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.  It works.  If you send you message enough times, people will listen. So here my message again, content needs to have a begining and end.

Tags: CBS, Network TV