Get Out and Stay Out

David Letterman is preparing to step down this month as the host of CBS's "The Late Show," with Stephen Colbert in the wings to take over after Labor Day.  It remains to be seen how Colbert will be different as a host, but I hope he features rock and traditional pop acts on the show, such as the Arctic Monkeys, Matthew E. White, and Madison Ward and Mama Bear (a mother-son act), like Letterman, who presented all three of those acts, did.  On the scripted side of of the TV spectrum, "Mad Men," now in 1970, is ending its run on AMC, with some surprising plot twists already (Pete reunites with his ex-wife after getting a high-paying job in, of all places, Wichita; Betty is dying of lung cancer!) before we find out what happens to Don Draper, who's surprised us  himself by literally walking away from his job and traveling across America.  Both Letterman and "Mad Men" will be going out with fond farewells.    

On broadcast television, other shows are being booted out the door without even the courtesy of the door being opened.  After languishing in "hiatus," "Marry Me" and "About a Boy" are being canceled.  Both are NBC sitcoms that aired on Tuesday nights.  NBC gave up trying to get Thursday night sitcoms right; it looks like Tuesday night's a goner for comedy as well.  And "One Big Happy," which took the place of "About a Boy" - the cancellation of which I am very angry about - is, as noted before on this blog, about a man who artificially inseminates his lesbian ladyfriend and pursues a romance with a  heterosexual woman simultaneously - is also gone. Gee, how could that have missed?  If Ellen DeGeneres' name hadn't been on the producer credits, would NBC have even greenlighted it? 

Cancellations at other networks include but are not limited to: CBS's "The Millers" and "The McCarthys," both of which prove that viewers keep their distance from sitcoms about families who could be next-door neighbors; ABC's "Cristela," about an up-and-coming Latina lawyer (which had as much success as an up-and-coming Democrat - no offense intended toward Hispanic female lawyers), and Fox's "The Mindy Project" (the results from this project are in and they're not good).    

The fall schedules for the 2015-16 season are coming out as I type . . ..