Things are looking grim for The Ex List
As Jason wrote the other day, this has been a strange TV season thus far, with only two shows having been given the pink slip. That said, I think CBS's The Ex List is not long for this world. There are a couple of really good reasons I say this, and just so you know, I'm not wishing for its demise. I can just read the handwriting on the wall.The Nielsen ratings from last Friday show that the shows around The Ex List -- Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs -- posted their highest ratings of the season to date. Nearly 10 million viewers watched the Jennifer Love Hewitt show, while another 9 million were glued to the Rob Morrow brotherly procedural at 10 p.m. In between, however, The Ex List drooped to a season low 5.6 million.
If you were drawing this on a chart, it would look like a U, with Ex List scrapping the bottom. These Nielsen numbers are dismal. It means people are tuning in to CBS at 8, tuning out at 9 and coming back at 10. CBS is not going to accept that. It's inevitable that something else will be plugged in to build a solid Friday.
There's another reason to think that The Ex List is on life support. Original show-runner Diane Ruggiero walked off the show before the season premiere. Having watched the first four shows, the quality of each episode is diminishing and it looks less and less like what Ruggiero does well. Bella's search for her former beaus is becoming tedious. The charm is going, going and soon will be gone. Perhaps if Ruggiero had stuck with the show, it wouldn't be failing like this.
So, between the ratings and Ruggiero's defection, I'm throwing in the towel on The Ex-List. Like many others, it seems, I'll be looking for something else to watch on Fridays at 10.

7 Comments