It was announced today that CBS has “shelved� it's prime-time drama Smith and halted the show's production. Smith has not performed well in it's Tuesday 10PM timeslot and CBS took this to mean that Smith was not worth airing. Although the official statement is that Smith is only “shelved� production has been shut down and it is unlikely that any of us will ever see another episode again.
I have a personal bias here because I absolutely loved Smith, but CBS is making a very bad decision. There is an audience for Smith; it just needs to be found. Smith is gritty, smart and exciting. It has a great cast, led by a rejuvenated Ray Liotta. I admit my use of the present tense in the last two sentences is wishful thinking. I understand that Smith is gone and won't ever return. Just for argument's sake, I've made a list of the shows on CBS which I personally believe are better that Smith, just so we can get a full understanding on why Smith has been canceled. The list: 1.The Amazing Race 2.Survivor And that's it. I'm not saying CBS is lacking in quality programming; it isn't. But Smith was damn good, and it had a lot of potential for growth. So, ratings are a big deal, I get it CBS. But, really, you couldn't have given Smith a chance elsewhere in your lineup? You couldn't have waited, say, half a season to see if Smith picked up an audience? In the meantime, CBS will be showing reruns of CSI and Criminal Minds in Smith's old timeslot. While those shows will probably get better ratings than Smith, it's still shameful for CBS not to let it ride on a show they should have put some semblance of faith in. -Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer