If anyone had any...doubts...about one or more of CBS' midseason dramas getting cancelled after a ridiculously short amount of time, I certainly hope no money was on the line. Katherine Heigl's latest shot at network drama, Doubt, has already been given the cancellation kibosh by the network after only two episodes have aired. The show hasn't even taken up .05% of anyone's DVRs yet.
Not only has Doubt already had its future taken away by being cancelled, but CBS has also decided to pull the drama from the schedule altogether, leaving 11 of 13 episodes unaired. And these are episodes that have already been produced, too, as filming was wrapped last year. At this point, CBS has not announced if any of these unseen episodes will make it to air at any point in the future, perhaps through its CBS All Access streaming service, or if they're being put on the shelf for good.
It isn't hard to see why CBS decided to pull the plug on Doubt, as the drama did not get very good reviews prior to its premiere earlier this month. And when it did air, the ho-hum Wednesday night audience of 5.31 million viewers was complemented by a much more paltry 0.8 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. The Live+Same Day audience drooped down to 4.03 million for Episode 2, with the demo rating dipping to 0.6, and that stat's reveal is undoubtedly when CBS execs started making phone calls and decisions. CBS audiences do often skew older than that age range, but enough of the younger generations tend to tune in for shows like The Big Bang Theory and NCIS, which keeps them on the air as much as their large viewerships.
However, it's a little harder to guess just how Doubt arrived on TV in a state where few were complimentary about it. After its initial pilot development, creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater were tasked by CBS with completely retooling things, with original stars KaDee Strickland and Teddy Sears getting replaced by Katherine Heigl and Steven Pasquale as the leads. Everything should have been polished and squeaky clean by the time audiences got to it, but that just wasn't happening. Not even the power of Laverne Cox could do it.
This is the second doomed network drama in a row for Katherine Heigl, who followed up her Grey's Anatomy fame (and controversy) with the one-season-and-done State of Affairs. She's kept her big screen career going, though, so she's got the thriller Unforgettable and the animated feature The Nut Job 2 on the way.
With Doubt no longer a part of CBS' Wednesday night schedule, viewers will see next week's timeslot filled by a repeat of Bull. That means Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders is getting its own premiere pushed back, according to THR, and the spinoff will now debut on Wednesday, March 8, at 10:00 p.m. ET. Head to our midseason premiere schedule to see when other shows will hit the small screen.
