Yes, we know Nashville is canceled.  But, at the end of September, BuddyTV had the distinct honor of attending the FOX Fall TV press junket.  There were a plethora of interviews scheduled for everyone, and the show with the biggest interviewee turn out was Nashville.  Remember Nashville, everyone?  It was the reality show on FOX from the creators of Laguna Beach and The Hills. It's not really a reality show, but it does feature people living their lives as themselves, but the producers set up situations and conversations, and the cast members actually do different takes of their conversations.  Anyway, Nashville only lasted two episodes before tasting the cruel steel of the FOX guillotine, but that does not erase the fact that we at BuddyTV interviewed six different Nashville cast members. 

FOX's Nashville, a reality series/soap opera about several aspiring country music artists, was pulled off the air and put on temporary hiatus after only after two weeks, due to poor ratings.  One of the show's cast members, Matt Jenkins, recently revealed in his MySpace blog that he himself perceived the show to be a risky undertaking.

“To be honest I went into this whole thing realizing what a risk it was going to be doing a show like this... good and bad!” he wrote on an entry dated October 16.  “Having seen the first [two] episodes I certainly have mixed feelings about the experience...”

I don't mean to brag, but I told you so. When the fall season was announced, I instantly foresaw that FOX's docu-soap Nashville would be the first casualty of the new fall lineup, and it turns out I was right. After airing just two very low-rated episodes, FOX has pulled Nashville from its deadly Friday night time slot, though the network claims the move is temporary.

The official word is that Nashville “will be rescheduled at a later date.” However, that is probably code for “To save some embarrassment for being the first network to cancel a new show, we will claim it's on hiatus until we officially dump it later on.” In its place, FOX will air repeats of another new show, K-Ville.

Nashville, FOX's new docu-soap from the people who brought you Laguna Beach and The Hills, debuted last Friday with horrendous ratings.  The show flopped worse than anyone could have imagined, finishing last among network shows, three of which were re-runs.  That's not a good way to start your series.  FOX was looking to make Nashville a staple of its Friday night line-up and solidify the night as a viable ratings success in anticipation of The Next Great American Band's debut in late October.  Now that Nashville has thus far been a failure, how will that impact the future of American Band?

FOX's 2007 fall season is off to a rocky and disappointing start.  The network's new reality docu-soap, Nashville, debuted last Friday to dismal and discouraging ratings.  Nashville is FOX's first new program for the season.

Nielsen Media Research determined that Nashville came in dead last in its 9pm time slot.  The show finished behind five other programs including three reruns.

Nashville, which premieres tonight on FOX, is the first network TV show (as far as I can tell) that is delving into the world of reality docu-soaps.  By the confusing and annoying title “reality docu-soap”, I mean a show like Laguna Beach or The Hills that is technically about real people, but is also mostly staged and shot more like a film (or a film imitating a documentary) that a reality show.  Nashville follows young musicians and singers as they vie for stardom in the famed music breeding ground that is Nashville, Tennessee.  FOX is clearly trying to wrap Nashville into the American Idol niche, telling the true stories of up-and-comers who start in anonymity and move on to bigger things.  It's an interesting experiment, although I'm not sure it's going to work.