Uh-oh. Bad news for the divine Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose, who are the stars of Fox’s upcoming midseason comedy, The Return of Jezebel James. The network has cut back their order of episodes from 13 to 7, which they claim is enough to get the series through the rest of the broadcast season. ”We are big fans of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino and the extremely talented cast and are looking forward to airing the show,” an unnamed Fox representative told the Hollywood Reporter on Friday.
Posey stars in Jezebel James as a professionally successful woman who discovers she’s infertile. She enlists her younger sister, played by Lauren Ambrose, to carry the baby for her. The show is created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who was responsible for Gilmore Girls, a show legendary for its strong female leads and the quickest dialogue this side of Aaron Sorkin. Sherman-Palladino gave a lovely interview to Entertainment Weekly back in May that describes a lot about the show.
I’m not the most experienced in reading through PR jargon, but isn’t seven episodes a little too few to get from January through May? Lost, for example, is coming back in February with 16 episodes. I’ve actually seen signs for shooting of Jezebel James around New York lately, so obviously the sky isn’t falling, but this isn’t exactly a demonstration of faith. Can we hope that the combined female talent here can rule the day? Here’s hoping January brings some high ratings and Gilmore-like buzz.
