Rupert Murdoch's TV network gave the boot to its new Scott Baio sitcom on Monday, hitting the eject button on Rewind before the show even got a shot at the air.
Quick exits in prime time are nothing new. (Fox, for instance, yanked the blink-and-you-missed-it action series Lawless after one episode last season.) But getting canceled before the debut, that's rough--and unusual.
Fox Entertainment Group president Peter Roth said in a statement that "Rewind is a series that's still evolving." Not wanting to "rush the creative process," the fourth-place network is calling up veteran sitcom, Living Single, which previously had been relegated to bench-warming status, to fill its 8 p.m. Thursday slot. Fox launches its fall season the week of September 14.
Published reports Tuesday indicated that network brass (not to mention, all-important advertisers) just didn't like Rewind and didn't think it could pin its Thursday night hopes on the show. The comedy, about two marketing executives (Baio and Mystro Clark) who often find themselves spacing out to their own personal 1970s flashbacks, was being asked to go up against NBC powerhouse Friends to help launch an all-new lineup for Fox, including the comedy Between Brothers and the teen help-center drama 413 Hope Street.
Fox isn't saying if, or when, Rewind will ever make it to the air.
The sitcom was to be the erstwhile Chachi Arcola's grand return to prime time. The 35-year-old Baio was last seen doing a one-season stint on CBS' Diagnosis Murder in 1993-94. His other series include: Charles in Charge, Baby Talk, Happy Days and the estimable, Joanie Loves Chachi.
No comment on Tuesday from Scott Baio's publicist on the untimely demise of Rewind. Earlier, the actor talked to E! Online about the show. "The really cool thing is that when there is a flashback, you see all the clothes and hear all the music from the period," he said. Groovy.