CBS has decided to push back indefinitely the premiere of Mark Burnett’s new reality show “Jingles.”
The series was supposed to bow Sunday, July 27, at 9 p.m. But a CBS spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the network has decided to hold off indefinitely on unveiling the show.
CBS brass felt they haven’t had enough time to promote “Jingles,” a competition show in which players try to come up with catchy ad slogans. The network has spent the last three weeks exhaustively pumping up new summer drama “Flashpoint,” reality competition “Greatest American Dog” and, to a lesser degree, the 10th season of “Big Brother.”
“Flashpoint” and “Dog” won their premiere time slots last week, although neither turned in a spectacular performance. CBS brass want to keep up the promotional drumbeat for both shows, leaving no time to sell “Jingles.”
It’s unlikely “Jingles” will debut until sometime in the fourth quarter, after CBS has seen how its new fall shows perform. The show remains in production.
For now, CBS plans to use the 9 p.m. Sunday timeslot for same-week encores of “Flashpoint.”
The network recently ordered more episodes of game show “Million-Dollar Password,” however, and might want to give the series a chance to air behind “Big Brother.”
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Comments (21)
CBS made the worst scheduling decision of the year by cancelling Moonlight, one of the best shows of 2007-08. Moonlight had drama, romance, action, great acting and writing, and Alex O'Loughlin, one of the hottest new stars. It came with a devoted fanbase and had the potential to become the big hit given the cahnce after a lopsided, strike-plagued first season
Shame on CBS! The totally blew it!!
Posted by ellieD | July 15, 2008 11:53 AM
CBS did make a huge mistake by cancelling Moonlight. on Nielsen ratings. There are tons of households that watch Moonlight but are not Nielsen families --SO WE DON'T GET COUNTED. CBS needs to give Moonlight a second chance and find another way to rate their shows.
Posted by chris | July 15, 2008 12:17 PM
I agree--I miss my Moonlight!! In looking at the previews of what else CBS has to offer--well---all I can say is they won't have me watching their shows. What is wrong with those people???
Moonlight was the best new show they had--I can not believe that somebody at CBS actually gets paid for making these decisions!!!
Posted by Paula D | July 15, 2008 12:26 PM
There must be someone in CBS that would reconsider Moonlight for some timeslot on the network. It has a proven audience by the way they fight tirelessly for the show. Even reruns would be good. CBS...Big Mistake....
Posted by Donna Philips | July 15, 2008 12:30 PM
So, what's new? Les Moonves, the most overpaid CEO in the country, continues to oversee idiotic decisions: Premier and schedule first-run summer fare on a Friday night - when viewing levels are at their lowest?
I support a shareholder revolt!
Posted by Lester | July 15, 2008 2:59 PM
Good call on the CBS thing. Not the first time
"so called" in the know types in positions of power make a wrong decision (aka: Cagney and Lacey).. not the last. Let's see, Pontius Pilate kills Jesus, Ice Burg kills big unsinkable ship and isolated network suits kill programming in general. Always makes me feel good when I make the right call and I went to school in Flori-DUH!
So lets see, any networks need a guy who knows programming and will work for less than $40M. No wonder so many watch so much junk on YouTube!
Posted by Bob | July 15, 2008 3:00 PM
Can someone stick a sock in the Moonlight fans' mouths? Flashpoint debuted to better ratings on Friday in the middle of the summer with repeats as the lead in. Ratings were NEVER good for Moonlight. It did not deserve another season.
Posted by Jason | July 15, 2008 3:14 PM
Good call Jason, spoken like a true programmer!
Posted by Bob | July 15, 2008 3:20 PM
It must be panic stations at The Eye now! No more Grissom on CSI! Swingtown is tanking...the less said about The Ex-File the better...looks like their best hope is a "reality" Dog Show...heeheehee ..Be sure your sins will find you out!
Posted by Impunity | July 15, 2008 3:37 PM
Check your sources Jason. I believe you are mistaken.
Posted by Jamie | July 15, 2008 3:52 PM
Until CBS pulls their heads out of their butts and kicks Nina Tassler to the curb, this is the sorry state that they will remain in. I have never in my life seen such a sorry lineup for a network. Their only hope was Swingtown and that turned out to be a watered down version of something meant for HBO in the first place. But it was conceived by some of Ms. Tassler's relatives so what are we to expect. I don't even slow down at CBS when channel surfing anymore
because I know it is going to be garbage. I get my local news from NBC stations now.
Posted by LeslieAnne | July 15, 2008 4:00 PM
If CBS wants to add a winner to their LAMEASS FALL LINEUP, they could bring back Moonlight. BTW, Jason, the ratings and the demographic were good and they won their timeslot again and again. So BITE ME and the rest of the Moonlight fanbase.
Posted by Septbday | July 15, 2008 5:22 PM
Toss me in with the rest of the bunch that thinks CBS made a huge mistake in canceling Moonlight. It had (and still has) a large, devoted fan base, and it one a PCA award for Best New Drama. The casting of the show was also done very well. Unfortunately, I think a combination of network politics and being screwed over by the Nielson System resulted in the untimely end of the show. I miss it. It's been one of the few recent television shows I thought was worth watching. Most TV shows these days are crap. Too much reality show garbage being shoved in my face. I can't stand it.
Posted by Val | July 15, 2008 9:56 PM
How sad is that, they couldn't come up with promotion for a show where contestants compete to come up with ways to promote stuff. Again, these guys show us they are not very bright, why didn't they just let the contestants come up with a promotion for the show?
Guess they would rather waste their energies promoting bad show ideas trying to convince us to watch crap then promote good shows that could grow a large audience if they'd just promote them.
Posted by Stas | July 16, 2008 6:25 AM
Also don't forget, they've already changed the title of Project Gary to Gary Un-married. Blech. Guess they're going for the women. BTW I've seen the pilot and have one word: CANCELLED
Posted by Kev D. | July 16, 2008 7:08 AM
Worse than losing Moonlight was losing Jericho, but they're gone and shows come and go. If the money isn't generated then you'll lose more of your favorites. It is about making money after-all. Jingles was developed because television viewers are turning, in droves, to reality and game shows. Greatest American Dog has taken off and looks like it owns the time period. Million $$ Password is drawing a crowd and they are producing more of these. Price Is Right in primetime was a hit on Friday night; lost a bit when they moved it. But these are examples of what the general viewer is watching and, if anyone is to balme for you losing your shows, it's the average viewer's habits and not the programmers who have only the ratings to guide them and their advertisers. Yes, we probably need a better rating system than what Nielsen has to offer because I do believe the numbers are skewed, but until something else comes along, it's what we're stuck with.
Posted by Pam | July 16, 2008 8:43 AM
Yet more proof of CBS making dumb decisions. They shouldn't waste their time promoting “Jingles” because it's going to bomb anyways.
Gee, let's get rid of a show with 8 million+ viewers and put on some reality tv spew...
What a joke CBS is!
Posted by Aunt Kiki | July 16, 2008 9:04 AM
Another reality show, how original. Here's an idea for CBS bring back MOONLIGHT, you know the show that had a following of 8 million plus viewers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see you had a great thing going and in my opinion (and many others)you screwed up big time!!!!
Posted by beth | July 17, 2008 6:18 PM
So... CBS is pumping lots of money and effort into promoting the new shows, while trashing 'Moonlight' that they didn't promote enough... hmmmm.
Is this cause the new shows are not doing well? I seem to recall 'Moonlight' doing better than them with less promotion.
I wonder how much better 'Moonlight' would have done, if promoted half as strongly as these newer shows that aren't attracting as many viewers?
Maybe it would have been better if CBS had just KEPT 'Moonlight', put it in a more favorable time-slot, and promoted it like it should have been.
I can almost guarantee that CBS's current ratings problems stem from that "trash 'Moonlight'" decision! All those folks the Nielsen's didn't count must add up to a whole lot of folks to cause such a dent over 'Moonlight's canceling! Sometimes "cheaper" isn't always "better"!
As for ME... I turned off CBS since the last episode of 'Moonlight' ended, and can't find an intelligent reason to turn it back on again. Fall looks dismal with no 'Moonlight', so I guess my TV will stay off during the coming season, too.
You know - with all these 'Moonlight' viewers staying GONE - who sees the sponsors' commercials? Doesn't THAT cut into CBS's wallet, too?
Posted by OlWolf | July 18, 2008 9:48 AM
Jingles???? seriously folks ... what a dumb idea. And the casting is horrendous ... I could puke in my mouth at the thought of KimberMEMEMEME
as host of this show. SORRY, WON'T WATCH IT!
Posted by sally | August 12, 2008 7:30 PM
JINGLES....it just might catch on...here's an idea
for when the show airs...launch a viewer jingle contest (video) as a bonus !
Posted by loretta | August 14, 2008 11:30 AM