"Boy" Banished, "Battery" Unplugged
This week, ABC told Boy Meets World to get off its planet and NBC pulled the plug on Battery Park.
Dumping series that have worn out their welcome or failed to ignite interest will undoubtedly increase as programmers ready next season's prime-time schedule, which they will showcase to advertisers at "upfront" meetings next month in New York and Los Angeles.
The teen sitcom Boy Meets World, a onetime steady ratings earner for the Alphabet Net's once-hot "T.G.I.F" lineup, has seen a drop-off in its seventh season (does anyone care anymore about the less-than-titillating relationship between Cory and Topanga?). It's down an average of 3.1 million viewers in the ad-friendly 18-49 demo and ranks 88th so far this season. And with fellow Friday nighter Sabrina, the Teenage Witch flying over to the WB next season, ABC is in a position to revamp its entire Friday schedule.
An hour-long finale of Boy Meets World will air May 5 at 8 p.m. The episode, "A Brave New World," will have the show's star couple, played by Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel, contemplating a move to New York.
But don't expect the New York cops of NBC's Battery Park to be there to greet them. After airing just four of the seven episodes of the DreamWorks-Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties) production, the Peacock has deep-sixed the sitcom.
Despite a plum, post-Frasier slot, the Elizabeth Perkins comedy failed to arrest viewers during its midseason try-out. In fact, it did even worse than the show it filled in for, Stark Raving Mad, which is also considered likely to be dumped. Battery Park averaged 11.7 million viewers while Stark Raving Mad was pulled in an average of 15.5 million.
Another NBC dud expected to soon be pronounced really dead is Jesse. Meanwhile, with lots of half-hour slots to fill it's possible Daddio may get picked up. Michael Chiklis' midseason sitcom, about a stuck-home-with-the-kids guy, has retained more than 90 percent of the viewers from its Friends lead-in on Thursday nights. The four episodes that have aired so far--the net ordered five--have attracted an average 16.4 million viewers. Daddio was seventh in the top 10 list last week.
Starting June 6, NBC is trying out the experimental single camera comedy-drama M.Y.O.B. Seven episodes of the no-laugh-track half-hour about a runaway teen (Katherine Towne) searching for her birth mother are scheduled to air.
In the meantime, expect plenty of reruns of Will and Grace, Just Shoot Me, Frasier and Friends to fill the empty Thursday night slots.
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