It's the economy, stupid!
That's My Bush!, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's live-action sitcom about a bumbling (supposedly) fictional President George W. Bush, was axed by Comedy Central Thursday after only eight episodes. The network blames the prohibitively high cost of producing the show, as well as its modest ratings.
"It's a great show. And critically lauded. But the cost per ratings point was just too expensive and unfortunately it was a business decision not to renew the show," says network spokesman Steve Albani.
That's My Bush!, starring Timothy Bottoms in a dead-on impersonation of the Prez and Carrie Quinn Dolin as long suffering-wife Laura, was both a parody of Oval Office politics as well as classic sitcoms. The series had a canned laugh-track, a wacky next-door neighbor (named Larry, à la Three's Company) and a know-it-all maid (think Alice from The Brady Bunch).
But the show had a difficult route to the small screen. The election cliffhanger delayed the start of the sitcom (it would have skewered the Gores if the Florida recount had turned out differently). The creators also drew the ire of politicians and network execs when an early draft of the pilot mocked first daughters Jenna and Barbara, who were deemed out of bounds.
Still, Comedy Central looked like it had elected a winner when That's My Bush! scored the best-ever debut in the history of the cable channel, drawing an average 2.9 million viewers. However, much like Bush's own polls, the show's popularity declined, averaging just 1.7 million viewers. Given the nearly $1 million per episode it took to produce the half-hour series, Comedy Central decided it was financially sound politics to pull the plug.
Despite the deep-sixing of the sitcom, Parker and Stone made like D.C. spinmeisters, putting the best possible face on a bad-news situation.
The South Park creators say they're going to produce a feature film version of the show titled George W. Bush and the Secret of the Glass Tiger.
Parker and Stone have already completed a script for the film, and have pitch meetings set up with executives at Paramount Pictures (which released 1999's South Park movie) and DreamWorks.
"In the movie, we're going to turn him into a superhero who battles the enemies of the country, in this case the Chinese," cocreator Stone tells Daily Variety. "We want it to look like a John Woo action movie."
Consider yourselves warned.